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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1875846, member: 19463&quot;]The problem I see here is that these probably average one nice coin in 350 or so.&nbsp; Almost all are double struck or really messed up on one side or the other.&nbsp;&nbsp; This is supposedly because the two dies had to be exactly the same curvature for the coin to be struck with one hit so they intentionally double struck them tipping the top die a bit between strikes.&nbsp; Some coins show this more than others.&nbsp; Finding examples with strong faces on both sides and any amount of the legends will take a bit of looking or a lot of luck. </p><p><br /></p><p>My Manuel I has a beautiful reverse with full name on the left and the last half of Despotes on the right.&nbsp; Unfortunately, the two obverse strikes are offset a lot (right side lower by a quarter inch!) leaving a real mess.&nbsp; The same coin with both sides as good as the reverse would be well over £50 but I paid $11 for this in 2009.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]317135[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The Isaac II has all three faces but if you follow the circle of dots around Mary on the obverse you&#039;ll see how lucky it was to even have the MHP monogram at the left.&nbsp; The reverse is weak at the edges so legends are gone but I was of the opinion that the three faces were worth the $5 in 2005 (eBay).</p><p>[ATTACH=full]317136[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>I consider my Alexis III the best of my cups. It was hit so hard that it spread out more than most.&nbsp; Note the right reverse figure has two strikes of the halo on the left side and his shirt is repeated.&nbsp; Most of that figure is on the upslope.&nbsp; This is not the easiest coin to photograph. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]317137[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, there are a lot of later &#039;Bulgarian imitations&#039;, &#039;Latin Rulers&#039; and &#039;Empire of Nicaea&#039; coins that are a bear to ID.&nbsp; One of these terms describes the one below.&nbsp; I bought it because, for these, it struck me as above average detail and interesting.&nbsp; Is it Theodore of Nicaea??? For the $5, I decided to try it.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]317138[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Poor examples of these are sold to non specialists who think they are all cool since anything that ugly must be &#039;special&#039;.&nbsp; Other people who are clued into how to tell the rare ones from the regular ones cherry pick&nbsp; for details I sure can&#039;t see.&nbsp; I&#039;m not that specialist so I only buy them when the seller wants to be rid of them (cheap) and allows going through them to pick out the ones I feel can be identified by my level of amateur.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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