It has been only a couple days short of a month since I got a new coin but the post office came through today and delivered my newest. What is unusual is that the new coin is a duplicate of the last coin as reported in the thread: http://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-when-mint-state-is-not-good-enough-memmius-denarius.237776/ When I saw the new coin on eBay it struck me as everything the previous one was not (that is good) and nothing that it was (not so good). To explain the purchase, I wrote a page for my website favorites series that has been occupying me recently so I'll adapt that for this note. This favorite require two specimens of the same coin to make the list and most of the reason these coins are here is how well they contrast with each other. This illustrates why I so often feel the need to have more than one coin of a type. These two are both Republican denarii issued by brothers Lucius and Gaius Memmius (sons of Lucius) Galeria in 87 BC. They are unusual in several ways including the fact that the brothers shared the issue which copies coins of their father from 106 BC. The other thing these two have in common is that neither is a very nice example of their type but they share relatively few faults. The top coin is nearly mint state but it left the mint barely qualifying for a grade of Fine by collectors. The lower coin has wear but would sell for nearly double the high grade coin despite having its own list of shortcomings. Our top coin was rather weakly struck on a flan that had been weight adjusted by scooping out metal from the surface that later became the reverse. Not only did the weak strike do little to erase the scoop but it failed to spread out the flan enough to get several important details. The lower coin may (opinions welcome here) also have been struck on a weight adjusted flan but, if it was, the only sign is a general weakness in the area of the beard of Saturn on the obverse. The strike was sufficient to spread the flan into the die receiving the EX SC and die ID marking :: (the D being retrograde) on the obverse and more (not all) of Venus driving the biga on the reverse. EX SC indicates that the silver for this special issue was authorized and provided by the Senate rather than the moneyers. The dies of this series are marked with letters which the catalogs call 'often retrograde' but I believe retrograde is the norm rather than the exception. Of course many letters look the same either way so it might be excessive to say, for example, that the O, T and V letters on those dies are retrograde O, T and V. There are a few coins with normal letters (e.g. E) but most are retrograde. The meaning of the dots is unknown to me. They are found in groups of up to six as on our lower coin. Certainly we should mention that the lower coin has some rather bad scratches and generally unappealing surfaces. Obviously I would prefer beautiful and highly detailed coins for my collection but not all specimens survived the last two millennia as well as our top coin and not all started out as perfectly as did the bottom one. If I were to get a perfect example of this coin would it replace this pair in my favorite count? I hate to admit that it might even though this pair of faulty brothers is quite a bit more educational than a single perfect coin could be. I am drawn to the story of Republican flans being weight adjusted so the proper number could be made from a given weight of silver and the rather harsh way this was accopmplished. I am drawn to the die numbering with retrograde letters and dots as well as to the indication that the issue was by Senate decree. These last two being missing from the top coin is, in my opinion, a worse fault than the scoop on the reverse. Since the issue is unusual in being issued by brothers, the top coin is more defective in being missing that initial L on the reverse than would be most coins only missing one letter. To qualify as a great coin, I would want full legends on both sides with a bold dotted and retrograde die mark. I would want all of Venus to be on flan. Surfaces, of course, should be at least as even as the top coin here. From the coins I have seen, fewer than 10% strike me as full featured and attractive (not perfect!). This is how two sad survivors of 2000 years managed to make it onto my list of favorites even if they had to work together to do it.
I was shocked that you used a grin emoticon. Then I realized you had typed three colons and a capital D for the die ID marking. Knew there was an alternative explanation. Regarding flan adjustment on the newest purchase, are you questioning whether the obverse gouge at the back of the head is pre or post strike? At first I thought the others (the shallower scratches towards the left) were just scratches but I'm not sure.
Great write up Doug, and a neat addition! I like the earlier purchase a lot, but understand why you have to duo.
i've got several pairs of coin i wish i could combine the best features of into one coin..but both nice coins DS!
