Note: In this blog I report that only one publication actually met my expectations it is that book that is pictured( it isn't a great picture)I recall in a recent  edition of the numismatists reading a suggestion that the ANA set up an academic program for numismatics.  Its a long over due idea I think.  I live in one of the few countries that has a university with a numismatics department. As a result many of the local coin dealers employ numismatists who have Masters degrees and PHDs in numismatics, and the locally published books are of a very high standard.   My recent experience with "new" numismatic publications further re-enforces the idea that some form of  academic accreditation is needed.     I spent approximately US$350.00 ( rough exchange rate) on three books and only one meet my expectations.  

This blog post is part book review and part ramble about two conversation pieces in my collection.  Very soon after developing my main collecting interesting I found to understand the central coin of my collection I had to understand the coinage of Ethiopia.  I have a number of books on Ethiopia, its history; both social and economic, in my small personal library.  All are useful but, from a collecting perspective, there is one book that is a must own for Ethiopian Coinage:  Dennis Gill's "The Coinage of Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Italian Somalia" Self-published 1991, ISBN 0 9627503 0 1.  This book is, as far as I know the only numismatic book covering Modern (predominantly 19th and 20th century) Ethiopia coins.  If you're a foreign coin collector it's a book well worth looking out for.   I went hunting for this book, and ended up paying more than was necessary for it. From memory I paid US$200.00. When I got the book I really appreciated the original authors invoice being included showing I had paid ten times the original sale price. Soon after purchasing it (about 8 years ago) another collector told me I could have written to the author and got it considerably cheaper.   I have no idea if that is still possible; Dennis Gill in the book lists his address as follows: