Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2014953, member: 19463&quot;]JBGood:&nbsp; Look at the V in SEV just left of the tip of the laurel wreath on the portrait.&nbsp; As this die deteriorated that V became progressively more and more a blob of metal.&nbsp; This enables us to tell which coin was made first and which later since dies get worse but never &#039;heal&#039;.&nbsp;&nbsp; Dies were not hubbed so every one was one of a kind.&nbsp; tracking die deterioration is just one more toy which keeps us occupied.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is exactly the sort of thing I love to find.&nbsp; Your (Martin&#039;s) Ceres IICOS is the least broken I have seen.&nbsp; I believe there is a dot above the right arm on the V????&nbsp; My Ceres without the IICOS on reverse has a smaller break than most but a lot more than yours.&nbsp; Your coin with VICTOR IVST AVS has the greatest break so it was last of those shown.&nbsp; BUT, and I see this as a big thing, your VICTOR IVST AVS die is the same as mine using the so called &#039;first legend&#039; ending in AVG. </p><p><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dougsmit/image/136066702.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>How is it that the first legend reverse was used after the last made of the IIC legend coins?&nbsp; I now have to suggest that all these dies resided simultaneously in the mint and were combined somewhat randomly during the very early part of 194 AD.&nbsp; At least we have to allow for the mint combining old left over dies - perhaps near the end of the time the mint was open???&nbsp; All of these coins (-AVG, -IIC, -IICO etc.) were made in a very short span of time.&nbsp; We feel like a common coin is one with a half dozen known specimens.&nbsp; I continue to feel that the mint practice was to lock up obverse and reverse dies separately when the mint was closed (at night?) so we nee to be very careful making assumptions of sequence here.&nbsp; Too many people assume that the die use pattern proven one place (as with Boehringer&#039;s study of Syracuse) will hold true elsewhere.&nbsp; Not so.</p><p><br /></p><p>Has this been discussed elsewhere to your knowledge?&nbsp;&nbsp; I have not kept up with anything published since Roger Bickford-Smith died almost 18 years ago.</p><p><br /></p><p>I now return control of Coin Talk to those who do not live for Eastern coins of Septimius Severus.&nbsp; If you read the above all the way through and are looking forward to Martin&#039;s reply, there is no hope for you but remember that the hobby for some of us is finding light where there once was darkness.&nbsp; We are not trying to own the best coins but we are trying to understand them all.&nbsp; The problem is there are so few of us who care than when two of us get together like we can here (there is an ocean between us) Coin Talk is a great service to people like me.&nbsp; Thank you CT.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in