All photos, drawings, and text are © Marshall Faintich

Click on any of the photos shown below to enter my world


Wildlife


Wildlife photos, written and photo essays, announcements and upcoming events, field trip reports


Astronomy


Astrophotography including lunar and solar events, planets, comets, and deep sky objects


Symbolic Messengers


Astronomical symbols on
ancient and medieval coins


Numismatics


Virtual Coin Cabinet



Numismatic Research

All of my coins have been sold


Archaeology


Research from Prehistoric Indian
through the US Civil War

General Photography


2009 Central Virginia Snowstorm

Landscape Photography

Books


A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Wintergreen
with an introduction to the area and to other local wildlife

by Marshall Faintich

The Wintergreen area is the 15-mile long Rockfish River Valley and the surrounding mountains in Nelson County, Virginia, located about 30 miles southwest of Charlottesville. This area includes the Wintergreen Resort community, the Rockfish Valley Trail, the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, and the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Rockfish Valley Trail is part of the Thomas Jefferson Loop of the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail system. Reliable birders have documented more than 200 species of birds in the area, and this 336 page guide has photographs of almost all of them, along with details about when and where to look for them. Marshall Faintich is the official photographer and the senior birding editor for the Rockfish Valley Trail.

“Dr. Faintich’s collection of photos and species occurrence data represents a remarkable addition to our knowledge of the avifauna of Virginia's Blue Ridge and western Piedmont.”— David Spears, Past-President, Virginia Society of Ornithology


Astronomical Symbols on Ancient and Medieval Coins

by Marshall Faintich

The coins of ancient and medieval Europe provide unique insights into the economic and political history of their period. In a time when few members of the population could read or write, the symbols depicted on coins offered a medium for communication, propaganda, and historical archiving. This work hypothesizes that astronomical symbols on ancient and medieval coins were often used as a way to record actual celestial events. The author provides more than 550 figures and line drawings of coins, maps, and astronomical events to illustrate this hypothesis. In addition, several appendices evaluate the historical accuracy of ancient and medieval coinage and offer additional examples not included in the main volume.

Read some reviews of Astronomical Symbols on Ancient and Medieval Coins

Amazon (US)

Amazon (UK)

Numismatic Bibliomania Society The E-Sylum Volume 13, Number 29

Numismatic Bibliomania Society The E-Sylum Volume 13, Number 26

Auckland Astronomical Society Journal, December 2010 issue, page 18.



About the Author

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