When I returned home from Indiana today not only did I have the coins I bought there but the mailman had some waiting here so I'm really behind on cataloging and photographing. I'm not sure why I started with this one (thought it would be easy???) but immediately ran across one of those RIC situations that will require more research. The coin seems to catalog RIC 28c page 100 (volume IX) or RIC 41a page 103 equally well. Both RIC listings quote Cohen 60. I have to like Cohen's way of only cataloging spellings rather than forcing coins into issues. If anyone sees something on this coin that makes it one or the other, please let me know. After driving 650 miles, I'm too tired for deep research so I'll put this aside for research after I get the real easy ones done. Either way it is a pretty coin with a few minor flaws that show more in photos or under magnification than 'in hand'. I like the dark tone. The seller says it came from a collection but I don't know how old. Most of the coins I saw from that group had decent surfaces so I suspect they might predate the current trend toward overprocessing new hoard material. It is a common coin but has a nice older portrait of the young ruler. I'm less impressed by the style of the reverse with the oversize calf on Roma. When I bought it, I thought I was getting a good deal but the scrapes on the face under the tone and reverse clash will keep this out of the collections of our picky brethren but it is welcomed at my place.
I think its a beautiful coin and I would welcome it to my collection anyday of the week. Scrapes and especially the clash, which I like on coins. I admit the calf is interesting but thats what makes it unique.
Jeeze Doug, I would be honored to have that in my collection. Let the picky brothers pass this by, because this bottom feeder would scoop that up in a heart beat.
Man, it looks like Roma would have been an awesome Indian leg-wrestler!! => that's one sharp lookin' coin, with super eye-appeal (nice score)
pretty! the minor flaws are just right on that one i think, make it look ancient but don't mess with the details.
This is a major factor with my collection. It is not that I prefer faulty coins but that a coin that looks this good despite some scrapes, scratches, cracks and, perhaps, less than popular dark toning is likely to sell for a fraction of the price of an FDC example. In the case of this coin, I'd say, judging from auction realizations I've seen, these faults lowered the value of the coin by several hundred dollars or, to put it another way, the price of the total of all 20 coins I bought in July. I know there are many that would prefer one $500 coin to 20 coins totaling $500 but I'm not in that league. When my heirs sell the coins, they won't get as much as they would have for the single FDC but that is their problem. My problem remains how to avoid buying duplicates (2 out of the 20 this time and I had my catalog and photos with me!). That is my problem. Senility is no fun.
