Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Blake Davis, post: 5189388, member: 91820&quot;]Macrinus sestertius - RIC 194 (R3)</p><p>Weight: 23.48 grams, Size: 31mm</p><p>Obverse inscription:&nbsp; IMP CAES M OPEL SEV MACRINUS AVG</p><p>Reverse inscription: LIBERALITAS AUGUSTI</p><p><br /></p><p>Let me add that I did address this in a prior post but was not able to put up a decent photograph of the coin. </p><p><br /></p><p>Over the years my thinking on collecting ancient coins has gradually progressed from mindlessly seeking better condition coins, (that were affordable - and that took LOTS of searching), to seeking coins that are interesting more or less regardless of condition.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1214020[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1214021[/ATTACH] My interest has remained with imperial sestertii of the family of Septimius Severus (also the travel coins of Hadrian).&nbsp; Of course as years go on there seem to be less and less available in any condition and sometimes I am not quick enough to make a desired purchase, but, as a friend from Seattle has said after beating me out on the purchase of a coin, another one will come along - sooner or later. </p><p><br /></p><p>This was an ebay purchase, from a reputable dealer ($350) about three years ago.&nbsp; At one time I would have turned up my nose at a coin in this condition - especially since I have another sestertius of Macrinus, and his coins are not directly in my decided upon specialty.&nbsp; But the coin is INTERESTING - it refers to an event, a distribution to the citizens of Rome, and it is the one and only sestertius of Macrinus that is noted in RIC as R3.&nbsp; And, yes I know that the rarity designations of RIC are a bit suspect, but this would be one of only a few R3 coins in my collection. </p><p><br /></p><p>Plus it is a platform scene and I do not have many.&nbsp; As a collector of sestertii with somewhat limited means - this was more than I typically spend - I find that there are just so many coins with reverses of Fortuna, Pax, Roma, Victory, Fides, Providentia and especially Felicitas that I can own in any condition - I say that tongue in cheek, but not completely.</p><p><br /></p><p>There is not that much to add - the coin is heavily smoothed, but whoever did it did a decent job&nbsp; - the reverse is in terrible condition but it is not tooled, which means a great deal in this time when more and more sestertii are being sold with obvious&nbsp; tooling that ruins the coin. </p><p><br /></p><p>Let me add this - and I will address condition v. rarity in a forthcoming post - I do think that focusing more on rare or interesting reverses made me a better collector of ancient coins.&nbsp; As I am about out of time I will address that as well in a forthcoming post.&nbsp; It would be nice to be able to afford both, but I find that I have less and less tolerance for the view that a collection should only only have coins in top grades. I also know that how to collect is a deeply personal choice, and there is no &quot;right&quot; way to do it. </p><p><br /></p><p>But I am interested in hearing more about this issue from other people.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in