EtTu Posted August 10, 2022 · Supporter Share Posted August 10, 2022 In my copy of ERIC II the pages 533 and 534 are exactly the same. I was wondering if it's just an error in just my book or every copy. If anyone else has that book, would you mind checking and letting me know? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Julius Posted August 11, 2022 · Member Share Posted August 11, 2022 Same here. I’ve had the book for several years and had not noticed. Although I like the information and photos, the book is just too large to be fun to use… so it’s hardly used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtis JJ Posted August 11, 2022 · Supporter Share Posted August 11, 2022 (edited) Never noticed that before, but can confirm. I've got 2 copies, and both of mine are like that. One of my copies, though, has a streak on the 533 images that looks like a printing error (don't know enough about publishing to know if it could be related). Glad I'm not the only one who has opened their copy of ERIC II (I love it for RIC and Byz, use it all the time) -- even if, apparently, I've never looked closely at those two pages before! Edited August 11, 2022 by Curtis JJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor DonnaML Posted August 11, 2022 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted August 11, 2022 2 hours ago, Orange Julius said: Same here. I’ve had the book for several years and had not noticed. Although I like the information and photos, the book is just too large to be fun to use… so it’s hardly used. Same here -- it weighs almost as much as I do! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sand Posted August 11, 2022 · Member Share Posted August 11, 2022 Yes. In my copy of ERIC II, pages 533 and 534 are identical. I like the book a lot. I like the descriptions of the Emperors and their coins. I also like the quality of the paper, and the color photos. I agree, that it's massive, so it's hard to read, if I'm lying on a sofa. If I were to put the book, on a pillow, then that may work, for the sofa. I wish, it were 2 or 3 smaller books, such as the size of the Sear books. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maridvnvm Posted August 11, 2022 · Member Share Posted August 11, 2022 We have a few members who were involved in creating and reviewing ERIC II. I have several plate coins in there as I recall. I must however admit to not having used it for anything other than casual use as it doesn't cover my collecting areas either sufficiently well or as well as other publications do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambr0zie Posted August 11, 2022 · Member Share Posted August 11, 2022 Semi off-topic - is it ERIC II dramatically different as opposed to ERIC I (this was the first catalogue of ancient coins I ever checked and I still like it. I see that volume II also covers Byzantine coinage - but this is not an area I actively collect so this section would be irrelevant for me. I like ERIC I a lot and as a beginner it greatly helped me. It's user friendly - especially for new starters - and that style of chronologically arranging rulers with small stories about their rule - brief description of their coinage - presenting the most common/interesting types was exactly what I was looking for. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maridvnvm Posted August 11, 2022 · Member Share Posted August 11, 2022 ERIC II attempted to be much more complete with regards to the coins produced than the original ERIC. ERIC II had an ambition to be a "fully comprehensive catalog". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor KenDorney Posted August 11, 2022 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted August 11, 2022 It was an ambitious project, but just not useable. I've got a copy but have never used it. Too big and confusing and cumbersome (in size and arrangement). Very nice pics though! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambr0zie Posted August 11, 2022 · Member Share Posted August 11, 2022 2 hours ago, maridvnvm said: ERIC II attempted to be much more complete with regards to the coins produced than the original ERIC. ERIC II had an ambition to be a "fully comprehensive catalog". Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc9 Posted August 13, 2022 · Member Share Posted August 13, 2022 Is Eric II the same as Aorta? On the back cover my Aorta it says Eric II with a gold coin next to it. If so, page 533 and 534 are different. ( first copy from 2011 ) Thank you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maridvnvm Posted August 13, 2022 · Member Share Posted August 13, 2022 Aorta is a heavily abridged ERIC II 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc9 Posted August 13, 2022 · Member Share Posted August 13, 2022 Thanks Maridunum. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtis JJ Posted August 13, 2022 · Supporter Share Posted August 13, 2022 (edited) 4 hours ago, mc9 said: n the back cover my Aorta it says Eric II with a gold coin Nope two different books. I haven't looked through Aorta yet... I'd like to... but that gold coin is my coin now! (Illustrated on covers of both books.) Note: It seems like I may be one of the only people here who uses regularly as a ref. I actually have been using it "all the time" since I first got a copy (right after publication). I actually find it pretty useful for both Byz and RIC, although sometimes it does take a little while to run down exactly where in the lists of types a specific coin is. Maybe I'd find it harder if I were trying to identify larger numbers of coins (Byz and RIC aren't my main areas of collection, though I do slowly but steadily collect coins across the full range covered). I don't have a hard copy set of RIC, so I find this a useful substitute (esp. since I use it to find the RIC numbers). Edited August 14, 2022 by Curtis JJ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EtTu Posted August 16, 2022 · Supporter Author Share Posted August 16, 2022 Thanks everyone for verifying that it's not just my copy. As I mainly collect Gallienus coins that was the first section I opened up to and was really bummed to find it was missing 42 coins. I have since downloaded the 3rd century section of the book from dirty old coins and that version has the missing coins in it. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor KenDorney Posted August 16, 2022 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted August 16, 2022 It occurs to me that while I do not use this book as a reference it can be of good use to some. If one is on a budget this is a good alternative to the whole RIC series as it cross references to that series. Of course some RIC volumes have been revised since ERIC and others are being updated now, so ERIC I guess is only partly useful for that purpose. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nerosmyfavorite68 Posted August 16, 2022 · Member Share Posted August 16, 2022 Is AORTA the tiny square (but thick) book? I got that for Christmas one year. It's still sitting on teh floor somewhere. (no real room for some book overflow). It's a nice extra book to have but I never use it. As someone who wears glasses, small isn't a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewomack Posted August 16, 2022 · Supporter Share Posted August 16, 2022 I had not heard of this book previously, but I see it contains 1,481 pages and weighs 9 pounds. Wow. That's not a book, that's a weapon. I could almost get rid of my free weights and just heft that thing around to stay in shape. Regardless, it looks like a reference worth having. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nerosmyfavorite68 Posted August 16, 2022 · Member Share Posted August 16, 2022 Wow, it must cost a pretty penny! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Julius Posted August 16, 2022 · Member Share Posted August 16, 2022 2 minutes ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said: Wow, it must cost a pretty penny! It’s not actually that expensive. I think you can usually find it for around $75 and I’ve seen it dip to $50 occasionally. The book has great color photos, cross referencing to RIC, and some interesting commentary of the availability/price of coins from all emperors (although any costing/pricing was obsolete the day after it was printed). It’s a pretty book, I like that I have it but it’s just to darn large and heavy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nerosmyfavorite68 Posted August 16, 2022 · Member Share Posted August 16, 2022 Wow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curtis JJ Posted August 17, 2022 · Supporter Share Posted August 17, 2022 (edited) @Nerosmyfavorite68 -- @Orange Julius is right about pricing. Even new, the book costs $75 from Rasiel's webiste ("Each copy is signed and numbered by the author" -- glad I got a second copy, since my first one wasn't signed!). It used to be much more expensive and some places still charge $100-150 (they probably bought copies when wholesale was higher). There are cheaper options for e-book sections (from $5; I thought there were free ones, too, but can't find them now). On 8/16/2022 at 12:08 PM, ewomack said: I had not heard of this book previously, but I see it contains 1,481 pages and weighs 9 pounds. Wow. That's not a book, that's a weapon. I could almost get rid of my free weights and just heft that thing around to stay in shape. Regardless, it looks like a reference worth having. Recommending numismatic references can be tricky (aside from established classics like RIC). It's hard to predict who will like the arrangement and find any given reference useful. As you can see, some people find it more useful than others. There are ~1-page intros to each of the many, many Roman and Byzantine emperors, family members, and usurpers. And the color photography is amazing. Apparently a fair number of the photos are from coins in private hands, so it's worth checking for "plate coins." I collect numismatic literature and like having a reference library, so it doesn't bother me much if I buy a $75 book and use it only rarely. (Especially if it's signed!) But I have used this book a lot (by my standards), though I don't specialize in RIC or Byz. You can buy sections of ERIC II as e-books for like $5 or $10. I'd recommend buying one and printing it out (since that's how you'd use the book) and seeing if you find it useful. *I thought he had made some sections downloadable free, but now I can't find them. Maybe someone else can.) (I saw mention in Google results of a forthcoming ERIC III, so maybe that's coming? I'm sure he'd answer if asked. He's very approachable in my experience.) Oh -- the least useful thing in my opinion are the pricing data. Ras is data-oriented, which is great, but I've always thought his was of averaging prices for a coin & comparing didn't make sense to me (basically lumping together gold, silver, bronze, and comparing prices across emperors with totally different distributions of metals in their coinage). But Ras has made some other remarkable contributions, such as the Coryssa database (formerly Coinvac): "Coryssa The world's largest ancient coin database hosting over 2 million coins." https://www.coryssa.org/index.php Takes a little practice, but it's a great tool for indexing ebay sales, etc., that could otherwise be lost for research purposes. https://dirtyoldcoins.com/research Edited August 17, 2022 by Curtis JJ 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Julius Posted August 17, 2022 · Member Share Posted August 17, 2022 ERIC I (the less comprehensive previous edition) is downloadable as a free pdf at the author’s website if anyone’s interested here: http://www.dirtyoldbooks.com/eric.html The first edition has some great color pics and interesting information, even if the attribution numbers are obsolete and the coin types shown are lesser. Worth a look at the price of free! 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EtTu Posted August 17, 2022 · Supporter Author Share Posted August 17, 2022 38 minutes ago, Curtis JJ said: @Nerosmyfavorite68 -- @Orange Julius "Coryssa The world's largest ancient coin database hosting over 2 million coins." https://www.coryssa.org/index.php Takes a little practice, but it's a great tool for indexing ebay sales, etc., that could otherwise be lost for research purposes. https://dirtyoldcoins.com/research @Curtis JJ What a great resource!!! Ive been searching for a picture of a coin I won on ebay early on in my collecting and never received. It was shipped and made it to the states, but then has been lost in USPS limbo. I was at the time using a PO box that I no longer have so there's no chance of it ever showing up in my mailbox. When I searched Gallienus, it was on the very first page! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benefactor DonnaML Posted August 17, 2022 · Benefactor Benefactor Share Posted August 17, 2022 From what I remember reading, Rasiel is out of numismatics these days and there will be no ERIC III. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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