Die Münzen des Byzantinischen Reiches 491-1453 mit einem Anhang Die Münzen des Kaiserreichs von Trapezunt. Andreas Urs Sommer. Battenberg Verlag Regenstauf, 2010. 536pp, b/w illustrations throughout. Hard back, £48.
The reviewer first met Dr Sommer more than twenty years ago when he attended a meeting of the Club. Since then, in addition to obtaining a reputation as a professor of philosophy and in particular an expert in the writings of Nietsche, he has also found the time to build up what must be one of the largest collections of Byzantine coins in private hands, comprising approximately 4000 coins in all metals.
The author has produced a short but illuminating Introduction where he explains inter alia the purpose of the book, prices and condition, together with a historical overview. He makes it plain that he considers in his view that the emphasis on condition to be out of place in building up a Byzantine collection. If there is ever a second edition it would be useful if the Introduction could also be printed in English.
The book comprises a large part of his collection together with valuations in ‘s’(F) ‘ss’(VF) and ‘vz’(EF). In view of the considerable rise in the prices of Byzantine gold coins, particularly the rarer issues, in the last few years, some of the valuations should be viewed with caution. Common copper coins in a low grade seem, on the other hand, in general to be overvalued.
The reviewer is furthermore of the opinion that normal methods of grading fail in the case of the Byzantine coppers which are normally found in miserable condition and are often over struck on earlier issues, or very poorly struck to begin with. The reviewer prefers the classification enunciated by John Lhothka in his Introduction to East Roman Coinage (1949), of: unidentifiable (U); acceptable (A); desirable (D); very desirable (VD), and extremely desirable (ED).
Excessively rare coins only have ‘LP’(Liebhaberpreis) which means that you have to pay whatever the market demands. In addition, there are a few coins included which are not in the author’s collection. Whilst these are important rarities it is not clear why a greater selection of types not in the collection were not included.
The book is handsomely produced with at least one photo of each type to which reference is made, thus making identification easy - a considerable improvement on David Sear’s Byzantine Coins (1987). The photos, while adequate, would have benefitted by being in colour, but no doubt it was a question of cost. When I spoke to Dr Sommer about this book prior to its publication he indicated that whilst not supplanting Sear it would enable German-speaking collectors to identify and value the majority of Byzantine coins without recourse to any other of the major works. In this he has largely succeeded.
It is still necessary for anyone, however, collecting the Palaeologan series to consult Sear or one of the more specialized works. Furthermore, the emphasis on duplication has regrettably considerably limited the scope of the book. There would appear to be little reason to illustrate five specimens of, for example, the very common Sicilian follis of Constantine V and Leo 1V when many coins have had to be omitted, presumably because they did not feature in Dr Sommer’s collection at the time. Particularly useful is the section on the coinage of the Empire of Trebizond in giving examples of many of the sigla (issue marks) foun on the silver aspers. All in all this is a book which should be on the shelf of every collector of Byzantine coins. The reviewer uses it constantly, like many of the leading auction houses, as a standard reference.
Anthony Portner