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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;zumbly, post: 1838366, member: 57495&quot;]I&#039;ll have to restrict my comments largely to Roman coins during the Imperial period since I haven&#039;t spent much time looking at other types of ancient coinage.&nbsp; These are purely comments on my personal stylistic preference.&nbsp; I do occasionally buy coins that do nothing for me aesthetically if they appeal on other levels such as numismatic or historical significance.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>THUMBS UP</p><p><br /></p><p>2nd century sestertii : </p><p>The realism of portrait and obverse art on the sestertii from Trajan through Marcus Aurelius are the zenith of Roman Imperial coinage for me.&nbsp; Unfortunately the best of these are out of reach at the moment.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Flavian portraits : </p><p>Compared to the relative consistency of those from the Adoptive-Antonine period, you see alot more variety of portrait styles on Flavian (particularly Vespasian) obverses.&nbsp;&nbsp; This is not uncommon at various other periods, but I love that these portraits, different as they are, just seem to exude character.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Lettering : </p><p>I like the lettering on Nero&#039;s Rome issues in particular as excellent examples of Roman capitalis monumentalis on coins.&nbsp; I&#039;m also fond of the uniform blocky style of lettering you find on the post-reform Tetrarchic folles.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>THUMBS DOWN</p><p><br /></p><p>Post-Antonine Alexandria tetradrachms : </p><p>The portraits just got cruder as time went on, and I find the reverse designs dull and lacking in variety.&nbsp; I can&#039;t even bear to look at some of those obverses from the mid-to-late 3rd century.</p><p><br /></p><p>Late Roman Bronze and Byzantines :</p><p>It&#039;s one thing for the portraits to be unrealistic, but the style chosen for the portraits just do nothing for me.&nbsp; And I find most of the portraiture on Byzantine coins almost cartoonish.</p><p><br /></p><p>Ridiculously long and thick necks : </p><p>What&#039;s up with that?&nbsp; Some of them look like tree trunks with faces on them.</p><p><br /></p><p>I probably have lots of other likes and dislikes, but these are the ones that come off the top of my head.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Z.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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