Fig. 38. — Barclay V. Head (1844-1 9 14) of 

 the British Museum coin cabinet and author 

 of Historia tiummnrwn (pholo from Corolla 

 Numismatka) . 



is . . . to build lip in oiuiinc the history of the ancient 

 world as it existed from the seventh ccnturv before 

 our era down to the closing years of the third century 

 A.D., a space of nearly a thousand years." "" This 

 task Head accomplished masterfully within his 964 

 pages. 



At Reginald Poole's instigation, the British Museum 

 in 1873 began the publication, in catalog form, of its 

 collection of Greek coins. During a span of over hfty 

 years a work of impressive quality has been achieved: 

 by 1927 twenty-nine \olunics had been issued. 

 Maintaining EckhePs geographical sequence, the 

 titles include the ancient Greek coinages of Italy, 

 Greece, the Islands, Asia Minor, Egypt, and Cyre- 

 naica; still to be covered arc Gaul, Spain, and 

 Mauritania. While the first \olumes, on which 

 Poole and Gardner collaborated, adhered strictly to 

 the form of a catalog, the later volumes, written by 



'5" I'rcfarc to the fust edition, p. xvii. 



B. V. Head, G. F. Hill, and more recently E. S. G. 

 Robinson — with extensive introductory studies on 

 the monetary history of each geographical entity — 

 come closer in their concept to a genuine corpus. 

 Today this fine tradition is being continued by 

 K<-nneih G. Jenkins, Keeper of Greek coins in the 

 Mu.scum. 



In addition to the catalogs, the British Museum in 

 1932 published a selection of the most outstanding 

 Cireek coins in the museum. A Guide to the Principal 

 Coins of the Greeks (reprinted in 1959 in its 4th edition) 

 was compiled by' G. F. Hill on the basis of B. \'. 

 Head's earlier Coins of the Ancients (1880). 



Contrary to the opinion of some who consider a 

 catalog a waste of efTort, unworthy of any scholar, 

 such puljlications are invaluable. No corpus or 

 monograph could be completed without the aid of 

 accurate descriptions of countless specimens. Con- 

 sequentK', an increasing number of collections, 

 public and private, are made accessible to research 

 through such catalog ])ublications. Largest and most 

 impressive is Sjlloge numrnoruw Grnecorum. the title of 

 an international series of publications: British, 

 Danish, German, and, more recently, .American 

 catalogs puljlished separately in those countries. 

 This multi-volume work, which tries to apply to 

 numismatics the principles of the Corpus Vasnruin. 

 stresst's especially the importance of excellent photo- 

 graphic reproductions of e\ery specimen. Begun in 

 1931, it is still being published. 



Another outstanding work which contains numerous 

 |5hotc)graphs of coins is the catalog of the McClean 

 Collection oj Greek Coins (1923-1929), compiled by 

 S. W. Grose for the Fitzwilliam Museum of Cambridge 

 Uni\'ersity and used often as a reference book. In 

 the L nited States, the Museum of Fine Arts in 

 Boston, which possesses some of the finest examples 

 of Greek coins (most of which came from the E. P. 

 Warren Collection and were published earlier by 

 Kurt Regling in Die griechischen Afiinzen der Samrnlung 

 Warren, 1936), published in 1955 their own Catalogue 

 of Greek Coins, compiled by Agnes Baldwin Brett. 

 Also, the J. Ward C^ollection, housed in the Metro- 

 politan Museum, was published by .Sir George F. 

 Hill in 1901. 



One of the most interesting phenomena in classical 

 numismatic research is the transformation thrt)ugh 

 which the idea of a corpus has gone. Initially con- 

 ceived in the 16th century as a publication which 

 would encompass the entire classical world, it has been 

 confined in modern times, b\- the Pru.ssian .\cademv 



44 



BULLETIN 229: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF IIISIORV .\ND TECHNOLOGY 



