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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Blake Davis, post: 7830922, member: 91820&quot;][ATTACH=full]1345529[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1345530[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Antoninus Pius Sestertius</p><p>Weight: 24.45&nbsp; Size: 31mm</p><p>RIC 967</p><p><br /></p><p>Somewhere in my collection of United States coins is what was advertised as a &quot;poor man&#039;s double die&quot; - a 1955 Lincoln penny with some hints of doubling. The coin was purchased in 1997, at the monthly coin show in Parsippany New Jersey, where I had taken my eldest son, who was just getting interested in collecting coins.&nbsp; When I was his age, way back in the mid 1960&#039;s, I also collected US coins, and was able to pass on my collection, modest as it is.&nbsp; At neither time, in the mid 1960&#039;s, with 50 cents a week allowance, or in 1997, with three young children and a mortgage, could I afford a fully doubled, 1955 Lincoln double die, given how popular and pricey these coins are and were.&nbsp; 1997 was also the time I became interested in ancient coins, as a result of a dealer at the same local show telling me that the coin given to me when I was 16 was an authentic albeit worn antoninianus of Gordian III, worth $5 in 1977 when it was acquired, and not much more in 1997 when it was shown to a dealer at the show.</p><p><br /></p><p>The price of the 1955 double die reveals something about US coins that is not altogether true for ancient coins - error coins in the United States series tend to be relatively uncommon, interesting and can be costly.&nbsp; The same is not necessarily true in terms of value for hand struck ancient coins - errors do not always add significant value, in fact, it is possible that errors could detract from value in some circumstances such as where other details of the coin are destroyed. Also errors can be limited to single coins, if, as with the Antoninus Pius sestertius, the error is as a result of the coin being struck twice, with the coin mostly off the die the second time.&nbsp; Either that or it&nbsp; stuck to the die and somehow punched with another coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; The error on the Antonius sestertius photographed above is on inscription on the reverse, at about 2:00 o&#039;clock.&nbsp; The coin is almost certainly RIC 967 - Securitas seated left, holding sceptre, and resting left elbow on cornucopia, which forms arms of a chair. The full reverse inscription should be TRP POT XX COS IIII.&nbsp; It is certainly unique, in that mistakes of this sort are never made precisely the same way, and it is doubtful that the error adds significant value to the coin. It is, however, interesting.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The other mystery coin is below:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1345543[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1345544[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Mystery coin: 17mm, 3 grams</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; This coin was given to me as part of a group pf assorted ancient coins.&nbsp; It is made of some type of bronze like metal, its precise 3 gram weight and relatively perfect shape makes it doubtful that it is ancient at all.&nbsp; Its wear indicates that it was used as coinage unless it is a trade token of some sort.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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