Ancient Coins of the Balkan Peninsula
Nikola Moushmov's (1896 -1942) Ancient Coins of the Balkan Peninsula and the Coins of the Bulgarian Monarchs,
was published in 1912, originally in "Old Bulgarian" (that is, using
archaic word forms that would confound automated translation software)
plus Latin translations of headings. It is particularly comprehensive
for Roman Provincial coins of Moesia and Thrace, rather like an old form
of today's excellent "Greek Imperial Coins" volumes by Ivan Varbanov.
The original book is arranged alphabetically by city and chronologically
by ruler within that city, then alphabetical by reverse type, e.g.
Aesklepios before Apollo, before Artemis, before Athena. [Note that the
English translation does not have the reverse types in alphabetical
order.]
There are 500 pages of listings plus 68 plates (on 6" x 8.5" pages), and
a total of 7460 numbered types. For comparison, Moushmov lists 43 types
for Geta from Nikopolis, SNG Copenhagen lists only one, Varbanov lists
108.
Moushmov is less than fully definitive on each listed type, and employs a
clever trick with the plates. He lists the various possible legends
for the ruler(s) at the beginning of their sections, then lists the
types (e.g "Concordia seated with patera & cornucopaie") for them,
but without associating specific legends of either the obverse or the reverse
with that entry. It is therefore most likely that there are a number of
different possible legends, legend breaks, legend configuration, bust
types, sizes or magistrate's name for any given Moushmov number. Such
differences are not vars. I would say that a var is only one which is
not listed in other, more precise works, e.g. AMNG, Varbanov, RecGen,
BMC etc.
Moushmov's photographic plates provide examples of most reverse types,
using the illustrations of generic types, so he uses, e.g. a coin from
Markianopolis to illustrate the same type from Nikopolis, Tomis and
Kallatis - a clever way to save space in his plates, but which may cause
confusion among beginners, so hopefully they will read this intro
first!
- Dave Surber, March, 2003
- Dane Kurth, May 2009
Return to the Moushmov index.
Entries are arranged by regions and cities. Entries in italics do not yet have images or plates linked in.
VI. ISLANDS OFF THE COAST OF THRACE
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