ld186 - Dated Coins of Antiquity Release 2 COHEN Edward E.

DCA2 is a substantially complete and revised catalog of dated coins before the lifetime of Jesus Christ. Where a coin series such as the biblical shekels of Tyre crosses the millennium divide of 1 BC / 1 AD, the catalog continues to its last dated coin in the AD era. The coins of antiquity used various kinds of numbers and more than 50 calendar systems for dating that have no familiarity to most modern readers. Their calendars and notations for numbers varied among cities and even over time in the same city. For each dated coin, DCA2 reproduces the date as written accompanied by its BC or AD equivalent. DCA2 also cross-references each coin to other standard catalogs, including DCA, when previously published or when auctioned in the marketplace.

DCA2 is a major expansion from the first release, DCA, and requires a two-volume set. Volume 1 consists of dated coins from Europe, Northern and Central Asia including the Seleukid Kings and Queens, Syrian Cities, Parthian Kings and Queens, kingdoms such as Characene and Elymais under Persian Influence, Anatolia and Armenia. Volume 2 has the dated coins for Phoenicia, Mediterranean Islands, Southern Levant, Nabataea, Africa including the Ptolemaic Kingdom, monthly dated coins and exhaustive finder Appendices. At least one enlarged color photo accompanies nearly all coin types. DCA2 assigns new catalogue numbers to each type coin. Adjacent to each DCA2 number is the corresponding catalog number in the first release when appropriate.

Starting with the first dated coin by Zankle Sicily in 494/493 BC, DCA2 lists all coins displaying annual or monthly dates expressed in numerals or words. More than 100 issuing states or authorities are represented. The catalog describes nearly 1200 type coins struck in gold, silver and bronze, exceeding 10,000 different dated coins. DCA2 reports hundreds of dated coins and their sources that appear in no other catalog.

Several areas are especially noteworthy. A new denomination has been added to the first dated coins from Zankle. The Phoenician cities under Persian rule – including Arados, Marathos, Gabala, Sidon, and Tyre – show dozens of unreported dates, denominations and designs. The Tyre section for the Melkart shekels, half shekels and quarter shekels includes more than 15 unreported dates and overdates with photos that were not published in DCA or in the 2017 DCA-Tyre supplement. The rarity of individual dates for these shekels of Tyre is given. Guidelines also help the reader to distinguish the many similar coins of the Egyptian Ptolemaic Empire. For Nabataea, the listing has doubled in size.