Don't be afraid to ask questions on this forum. None are too basic to ask because we've all had the same questions at some point.
RIC stands for Roman Imperial Coinage. It is a catalog that was put together in the 1930's to identify the Roman coins in major collections around the world. We use the catalog number just as an identifier. However, many coins have been discovered since the RIC volumes were written, so perhaps somewhat out-of-date, but it is what we have.
AE is an identifier for the metal of the coin. AE stands for base metal basically. You might see AE1, 2, 3 or 4. The numbers represent the size of the coin. Four being the samllest to around 16mm, 3= 17-19mm, 2= 20-22mm, and 1= larger base metal coins. Silver will be identified as AR, while gold is AV. Many of the coins will be identified by their denomination, i.e., denarius, sestertius, dupondius,and As.
There are several good research sites on the web, one of which is
http://www.wildwinds.com. You should possibly go onto this page and look up the RIC numbers just to familiarize yourself. To buy the entire set of RIC will set you back a pretty penny, so it's best to use the on-line resources when you need them. Another good research site is Helvitica's. If you need more on-line locations, just ask. We all use them and will be glad to help you out.
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Posted 02/29/2012 2:58 pm
