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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1959886, member: 19463&quot;]Technically, the obverse is the side on the anvil and the reverse on the punch.&nbsp; The reverse tends to deform into curved fields.&nbsp; Usually we think of the reverse die being smaller if there is a difference.&nbsp; There are coins that don&#039;t follow these rules including pincher dies that probably could be hit from either side.&nbsp; There are sestertii of the late Adoptive period that strike me as having the portrait on the punch but I can&#039;t prove it and still catalog them as normal.&nbsp; Many people still call the obverse the side with a head if there is one.&nbsp; Others will say the obverse is always the more important side so any coin showing Jesus has him on the obverse despite how the mint looked at it back in the day.&nbsp;&nbsp; Some issues have special rules or ask for common sense.&nbsp; Coins of the time of Aurelian always have the workshop letter on the reverse.&nbsp; Two headed coins of Vahabalathus and Aurelian have the shop letter on the Aurelian side so the Antioch mint (then under control of V.) considered Aurelian the reverse.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Another way of looking at it is, &quot;Does it really matter?&quot;&nbsp; These are collector terms that really mean &#039;one side&#039; and the other side&#039;.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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