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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1887033, member: 19463&quot;][ATTACH=full]321054[/ATTACH] </p><p>[ATTACH=full]321053[/ATTACH]&nbsp; </p><p>When you are designing a coin die and want to include a lot of legend, you have two choices.&nbsp; You can write very small or you can get really creative.&nbsp; The top coin (both are from Nicopolis ad Istrum) used the smallest letters commonly seen on these.&nbsp; The lower coin started getting creative near the right end of the reverse legend were they made ligate pairs out of the omega nu and pi rho.&nbsp; Then they put in an omicron that touches the groundline.&nbsp; In the left field we see ICTPOV written vertically.&nbsp; I suspect about that time the cutter noticed that he omitted the C that should have followed the O (&#039;proc&#039; is Green for ad or &#039;on the&#039;).&nbsp; He put the smallest possible C in exergue.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Philip II at Marcianopolis approached the matter a bit differently:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]321055[/ATTACH] </p><p>After running out of room at the right side halfway through the city name MAPKIANO the cutter paired the letters to finish the word but still made a ligate pair out of omega nu at the end.&nbsp;&nbsp; All of these legends were made overly long by the inclusion at the left side of the name of the provincial governor then in charge (following upsilon pi or &#039;under&#039;) <b>VΠ CΑΒ ΜΟΔECTOV&nbsp; &nbsp; </b></p><p><b>Sab(inius?)&nbsp; Modestus</b></p><p><br /></p><p>This last coin is a favorite rarity of mine since it shows&nbsp; Aesculapius, god of the splitting headache.&nbsp; Philip, being a copy cat type of kid, has a smaller headache on the obverse.&nbsp; Serapis either was too big to play or was protected by his funny hat.&nbsp; His governor was listed as <b>VΠ ΠPACT MECCAΛΛEINOV&nbsp; &nbsp; Prast(ina) Messallinus.&nbsp; </b>Both cities had long enough names to fill the space without adding these names but leaving them off would have lessened my enjoyment of these coins considerably.&nbsp; More commonly, these coins just placed the letters that would fit and stopped without using such creative measures.&nbsp; Some dies are just more interesting than others. [/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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