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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Marsyas Mike, post: 3277580, member: 85693&quot;]That debate between quality over quantity is one every collector has to answer for him/herself.&nbsp; I am trending, as the years go by, for quantity over quality (many if not most collectors go in the other direction).&nbsp; My first foray into ancients 30 years ago was before the Internet, therefore I was reliant on dealer catalogues, which tended to feature higher-end and much more expensive stuff.&nbsp; With the same money I can go much wider, geographically and temporally. </p><p><br /></p><p>All the coins posted here so far are just fine, I think.&nbsp; I&#039;d be happy to have them in my collection.&nbsp; And as Clavdivs mentions, there is just something about the connection between antiquity and myself that is just marvelous.&nbsp; I wish I had LaCointessa&#039;s patience, skill, and self-motivation to actually clean lots - I don&#039;t - but it is always a delight to see the hard work of others in action. </p><p><br /></p><p>The post gives me an excuse to post some recent acquisitions - first, to honor the original post&#039;s creator, Clavdivs - from a big lot of eBay junky stuff, this Claudius II antoninianus that has a very under-sized flan and a terribly off-center reverse, but also features the best portrait of Claudius II in my little collection - it shows, I think, the look of steely command that I&#039;d imagine the real emperor had (or at least wished he had).&nbsp; A tiny masterpiece that cost me $0.64 and may not be worth even that numismatically, but just thrills me.</p><p><br /></p><p>(Note the XII in the field - said to be a &quot;mint mark&quot; from what I found online (OCRE), but I wonder if it was yet another attempt to assign value to the crumby little coins of that era.&nbsp; Perhaps someone out there knows?)</p><p>&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]865741[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Claudius II&nbsp; Æ Antoninianus </b></p><p><b>(268-270 A.D.)</b></p><p><b>Rome Mint </b></p><p>[IMP CLAVDIUS] AVG, radiate head right / [PROVID]ENT AV[G], Providentia standing front, leaning on column, holding wand and cornucopiae. XII in right field.</p><p>RIC V-1 92 rad.; Cohen 233.</p><p>(2.90 grams / 15 mm)</p><p><br /></p><p>Almost a 1000 years later, another from this same batch is a first for me, a Byzantine trachy.&nbsp; As I&#039;d never handled one personally, I was thrilled by how large and lovely it was (it has a pleasantly greasy-silver cast to it, from being made from billon I&#039;m guessing).&nbsp; A coin featuring the Virgin Mary just before Christmas was appropriate too:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]865751[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Manuel I&nbsp; Bil. Aspron Trachy</b></p><p><b>(1143-1180 A.D.)&nbsp; </b></p><p><b>Constantinople Mint</b></p><p>MP - ΘV to left &amp; right of Mary, seated facing on throne back, holding head of Christ / / [ΜAΝϪΗ]Λ [Δ]ЄCΠΟ[ΤΗ] Manuel standing facing, holding labarum and cross on globe</p><p>Sear 1964.</p><p>(4.95 grams / 26 mm)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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