Background on Greek coins.pdf - RebelText

hoards have the largest number of coins in them, at times many
thousands. Usually of silver, but sometimes of gold, they are
normally found in metal boxes. In this type of hoard the coins
are usually in the highest state of preservation, as they had not
yet been given out in payment to mercenary soldiers,
magistrates, etc.
A hoard is any group of coins, however small. Some hoards are uncovered by
archeological digs, but most are found by accident, unearthed in farmers’ fields
or at construction sites. Sadly, the physical links from the 4th century B.C. to
our 21st century have been lost. Archeological evidence accompanying
discovered hoards can provide clues about the coins, but usually this
information is not available.
About 25 years ago a number of important hoards were discovered, with the aid
of metal detectors that could search for coins buried at a greater depth than
before. Today, metal detectors have not gotten much better, but they have
reached greater perimeters of ancient frontiers. Thus, we have more Celtic
coins being found in the north of England, as well as larger numbers of Greek
and Roman types being found in places like Albania and Bulgaria.
Today, most of the finest surviving ancient Greek coins are in museums, the
best-known collections being at the British Museum in London and the
American Numismatic Society in New York. (Others include the Numismatic
Museum in Athens, the Biblioteque Nacionale in Paris, and the Museum of Fine
Arts in Boston.) However, many extraordinary coins—and a vastly larger
number of less extraordinary ones—are in private collections. Over the years, a
number of famous private collections have been auctioned off, and catalogues
of these coins have become collector items in and of themselves. Several
reputable auction houses and dealers make ancient Greek coins available to
collectors, through occasional mail auctions and, increasingly, via on-line
auctions. There are a number of major auction houses in the United States and
Europe; examples include Classical Numismatic Group (CNG) in Pennsylvania,
Gorny and Mosch in Munich, Harlan J. Berk in Chicago. The most
comprehensive source of information about auctioned coins, including
estimated and realized prices, text descriptions, and photographs, can be found
at CoinArchives.com.
We thank the creator of CoinArchives.com, A.J. Gatlin, for making parts of the
website available to us in electronic form, and to Paul Rynearson, for his many
valuable insights.
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