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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TIF, post: 2226199, member: 56859&quot;]So... I had the irresistible urge for another mixed lot and this time went for some Late Roman Bronzes.&nbsp; Sure, it is possible to read books on LRBs and study RIC to better understand the classifications, but it&#039;s much more fun to have unidentified coins in hand while doing so.</p><p><br /></p><p>The lot I chose did come with a picture, one in which the coins were simply piled haphazardly.&nbsp; There were a smattering of campgates and I didn&#039;t have any of those, so that lot got my bid.</p><p><br /></p><p>The value of the lot was definitely in the campgates.&nbsp; Although none are high-dollar, if I sell most of them I&#039;d definitely pay for the lot and the leftovers.&nbsp; The remainder of the lot consists primarily of lower grade commemoratives which I&#039;ll probably keep just for funzies, perhaps giving some away to people who can&#039;t believe they can have and hold a ~1700 year old coin <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t have any dedicated books for LRBs but utilized Dane&#039;s amazing spreadsheet for campgates.&nbsp; Dane is the woman behind Wildwinds.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.catbikes.ch/coinstuff/coins-ric.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.catbikes.ch/coinstuff/coins-ric.htm" rel="nofollow">Her other site</a> is where you can find numerous painstakingly compiled spreadsheets.&nbsp; At first it was overwhelming but after attributing a few I got the hang of it.&nbsp; One thing was interesting:&nbsp; the majority of the campgate coins were listed as some degree of rare.&nbsp; As a group, campgates of most emperors are quite common.&nbsp; If you sort them further by a number of relatively esoteric details (dot on door, certain mints, etc), certain variants become &quot;rare&quot;.&nbsp; I don&#039;t know what her sample size was when determining rarity.&nbsp; However, I seriously doubt those degrees of rarity matter for most campgates... any interested party would likely value the individual coin based on condition and strike rather than a rarity grade based on relatively esoteric details.</p><p><br /></p><p>Of the eighteen campgates, sixteen were of Constantine I, one of Constantine II, and one of Crispus.&nbsp; Most were from Antioch.&nbsp; Most are of a similar common style.&nbsp; Many have quite a bit of silvering.&nbsp; I with one of them had open doors but these are all doorless.&nbsp; Obviously, I don&#039;t need to keep all 18 similar-looking campgates so I&#039;ll set a few aside and probably sell the rest at some point.</p><p><br /></p><p>When beginning the attribution process, the most difficult thing was figuring out the bust style&nbsp; (laurel vs diadem vs pearl diadem; draped, cuirassed, etc).&nbsp;&nbsp; For purposes of Dane&#039;s spreadsheet and rarities, details such as head wear, clothing, bust direction, little dots, field letters, and mintmarks were considered even though it didn&#039;t always result in a different RIC number. </p><p><br /></p><p>I learned a few things while attributing these campgates but have just scratched the surface.&nbsp; There is much more to read and understand.&nbsp; If you have any interesting tidbits about these campgate coins, please share your comments. </p><p><br /></p><p>Here are the first ten, with brief attributions.&nbsp; If you see any errors please let me know.&nbsp; The remaining eight will be in the next post since there is a limit to the number of images which can be uploaded to each post.</p><p><br /></p><p>Please post your favorite campgates <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Constantine I, RIC VII Antioch 78, SMATΓ, rarity R4</b> (???&nbsp; How rare can it be if there were three of them in this small mixed lot?):</p><p>[ATTACH=full]436938[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]436939[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]436940[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Constantine I, RIC VII Antioch 78, SMANTE, rarity rating R3:</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]436947[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Constantine I, RIC VII Antioch 78, SMANTZ, R3:</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]436950[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Constantine I,&nbsp; RIC VII Antioch 81, SMANTB, dot in doorway, R3:</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]436951[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Constantine I,&nbsp; RIC VII Antioch 84, SMANTE, R4:&nbsp; (pretty!!)</b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]436953[/ATTACH] </b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Constantine I,&nbsp; RIC VII Antioch 84, SMANTZ, R3:</b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]436957[/ATTACH] </b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Constantine I,&nbsp; RIC VII Antioch 63, SMANT, Δ-E across fields (9th officina; avoiding the &quot;unlucky&quot; theta, this officina used delta + epsilon, 4 + 5), R4:</b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]436959[/ATTACH] </b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Constantine I, RIC VII Antioch 63, SMANTΔ, R1:</b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]436961[/ATTACH] </b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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