The James M. Collier Collection of Greek and Roman Coins: A Selection

Professor James M. Collier was an ardent lover of the history and culture of Europe and the ancient world, and a passionate collector of ancient Greek and Roman coins. Born in 1943 in Bellingham, Washington, he pursued his early academic training at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) in Tacoma, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in History in 1965. After graduating from PLU, he worked for the Boeing Corporation as an engineer. When he was seconded to Washington, DC, on the Minuteman project, his office was located—quite fortuitously, as it turned out—across from the National Gallery of Art. For two years he spent every lunch hour at the Gallery, where he discovered his real love for art and art history.

Returning to the Pacific Northwest, he attended the University of Oregon and graduated with a Master of Arts in Art History in 1970. He then pursued a PhD in Art History at the University of Michigan, completing the degree in 1975. He was appointed an Assistant Professor in the Art History Department at Auburn University (Auburn, Alabama), where he eventually was tenured and became department chair. Over the course of his academic career, he lectured widely and published on the Italian Renaissance and Early Netherlandish perspective—the subject of his doctoral dissertation, entitled “Linear Perspective in Flemish Painting and the Art of Petrus Christus and Dirk Bouts.”

Professor Collier was published as an artist as well. In 1987, he left his teaching post and devoted himself to his passion for painting, studying at the National Academy of Design in New York City. He and his wife, Carole Anne Menzi Collier, moved to Amsterdam in 1990 and eventually attained dual citizenship. He continued to pursue and share his love of art and ancient coinage for the rest of his life.

The Collier Prize in Ancient Numismatics was first given by the American Numismatic Society (ANS) in 2022. Established by Carole Anne Menzi Collier in memory of her late husband, James M. Collier, the biennial award honors the best book, catalogue, or online digital work in the field of ancient numismatics (650 bc–ad 300). In 2025, the ancient Greek and Roman coins of the Collier Collection were sold at auction to fund the endowment; highlights from the collection are featured within.

“Ancient numismatics . . . intersects art history, political history, economic history, and religious studies,” writes ANS Executive Director Ute Wartenberg Kagan. “When done properly, it is a truly interdisciplinary field that benefits scholars willing to explore different disciplines.” The Collier Prize rewards this important, often underappreciated work and encourages the scholars who undertake it.

Foreword, by Ute Wartenberg Kagan
The James M. Collier Collection, by Dimitrios Gerothanasis
The Collier Prize in Ancient Numismatics, by Peter van Alfen

Introduction, by Carole Anne Menzi Collier

Catalogue:
 Magna Graecia and the West
 Sicily
 Macedon, Thrace, and Moesia
 Greece
 Asia Minor
 The Near East and Central Asia
 Africa
 The Roman Republic and the Imperatores
 The Twelve Caesars
 The Roman and Byzantine Empires

Abbreviations