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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Andrew McCabe, post: 3704909, member: 90666&quot;]I actually collect two types of coins, high end and low end but both of the same sort of material - Roman Republican coins. To this day, I continue to buy exactly the same sort of interesting cheap rarities as I did 30 years ago. I study them, enjoy them a while, research their types and provenances, fondle them, photograph them, think about them, then after some time, I&#039;ll often pass them on, by sale sometime or often by swaps with other collectors. In parallel with this, I continue to improve the quality of the core part of my higher end collection, funded by s small slice of my modest monthly income and/or by fostering some of my other coins to new collectors, once thoroughly researched. I love all my coins equally, those costing two figure sums and those costing four figure sums. This week I added two pieces, one at either end of the scale. One was a Julius Caesar portrait denarius, which though worn, has a portrait in the very best style for the series, and is a remarkably complete strike for the issues, with full crossed legends on the reverse and with apex and lituus completely clear on obverse: a coin of exceptional quality that exceeds many costing multiples:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]993225[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>The other was a cheap lead piece with a female head in very fine style with a notable hairstyle and drapery:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]993226[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>I recognised immediately this must be … Cleopatra (seller was not aware), which you can see by comparison with the denarius issue:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]993229[/ATTACH] </p><p>100% the same head, not just hairstyle and drapery and general layout but the profile of the face, same nose and lips etc. This is unlike any lead piece I&#039;ve seen in being struck from a highly detailed .. COIN DIE, not the usual hand cut crudity. For example the hair braids are very tiny and extremely detailed, with not only the braids detailed but also the strands of hair in the braid. So what is it? Caduceus, it has been suggested by a fellow CT member, may indicate her portrayal as Isis, or it may be a Roman influenced type. The piece is not a tessera as one can see from its edge shape, nor a seal which would have signs on sides or back. It seems to be a test strike of an unknown Cleopatra coin type with a bust that copies that on the Roman denarius type (or possibly, some think Greek drachm type).</p><p><br /></p><p>The point of this long discourse is that one can be a high end collector who regards his coins as part of his assets - and still do it intelligently and with great care about cost - and at the same time collect stuffs that clearly have no asset value whastsover. I&#039;ll spend some time working with the Cleo type and consult friends, to figure out what it is. And at the same time I&#039;ll enjoy my new Caesar portrait and respect that it has some real value for old age pension purposes.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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