About This File
Everyone we've heard from liked the cover of last month's issue; it only tends to illustrate the power of really great art. For the opportunity to feature that magnificent Etruscan bronze horse, we thank Sotheby's of New York and of course William Herbert Hunt. Thanks for the superb color should be directed to Harlan J. Berk, whose advertising support made it and future color covers possible.
There is a somewhat mysterious quality that places work like the Etruscan horse on a special plane; in fact, we often sense that same quality gracing the images found on ancient coins. It is not always easy to put this quality into words, but we generally try to do so by describing images in terms of style. In this issue, and the next few issues, we will discuss certain aspects of style that are sometimes overlooked or under appreciated.
We are still making changes in layout and presentation of articles and features, so please bear with us as we experiment. Our apologies to Marvin Tameanko and David Hendin. who's articles last month suffered from the inevitable crunch.
The Celator fared well again this year in the Numismatic Literary Guild awards program. For the third straight year we received awards of merit in the Numismatic Newspaper and Magazine divisions. Our greatest pleasure this year was the selection of Matthew Rockman as "Clemy" award winner. That honor is bestowed upon the best new writer of the previous year, Matthew, a 17-year-old when his article about coins of the year 44 B.C., appeared in The Celator. holds great promise as a classical numismatist and we are proud to have been chosen for publication of his work.
As you read these lines, we (Bill Spengler and I) will be braving the unknown and immeasurable perils of the Turkish hill country, our quest is for information about the people and places that are represented on an enigmatic series of coinage known as Turkoman. We plan to visit, notwithstanding the whims of certain regional tyrants, such exotic places as Diyarbakr, Mardin, Malatya, Erzerum, Erzinjan, Sivas, and of course the jewel of the Ancient Orient - Istanbul - more comm only referred to by numismatists as Constantinople. Our adventure will take almost exactly one month including stops in Athens, Rhodes and London. We will be travelling the length and breadth of Turkey by automobile, as long as Petrol is available.
The dangers, some real and some perceived, include hungry wolf packs, highwaymen, separatists. Turkish buses, vicious camels, and a rather discomforting condition of the human constitution brought about by drinking bad water. We will, hopefully, have a lengthy report upon our return.
On the way back from Turkey we will be visiting COINEX in London and look forward to visiting with a host of new Celator readers as well as some old friends. The week leading up to COINEX is full of antiquarian activity and London bristles with collectors and dealers from all of Europe, Asia and North America. It is a truly international affair and a social event in itself. Although smaller in size and scope than the New York International, it is in many respects similar in that numismatists from a wide variety of nations meet in a sort of "Olympic" setting. We would not, of course, miss the obligatory visit to the venerable bastion of ancient numismatics, the British Museum. Taking in London during COINEX week is like a pilgrimage to one of the holy shrines of ancient numismatics, and very highly recommended for the adventurous spirit.
If you have any questions or problems during the month, Steve will be in the office from 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. CST Monday through Friday. At other times, our friendly answering machine will take your message.
Happy trails to you, until we meet again, have a refreshing fall season and take just a moment to let us hear your point of view!
Corrections: On page 33 of the September issue, in Marvin Tameanko's article, we inadvertently duplicated and pasted a copy block out of position. Lines 31 through 51 of column 1 should be deleted. They do appear in the proper sequence later on page 34. Photos on page 37 of David Hendin's article were also in error. The photos in column 1 and column 2 were accidentally swapped. The photo in column 3 is not a silver shekel and should be omitted. We apologize for the inconvenience.