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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1269342, member: 19463&quot;]Is the 30,000 per die number supposed to be an average or a target realizing that dome dies break or get retired for some reason (all the ones in use when a ruler dies)?&nbsp; I know from my studies of Septimius Severus that there are some dies that you see very frequently and others that you see one coin and that is all.&nbsp; You never know why but you can bet that every die did not get used to failure.&nbsp; Another thing to consider is whether we see evidence of dies being used to capacity.&nbsp; This would mean that coins are seen with worn dies, progressive cracks or other signs that they were not freshly made dies.&nbsp; For example, Septimius Severus changed the obverse legends at the &#039;Emesa&#039; mint in 194 so the 193 dies were retired.&nbsp; Of the coins I have seen from the 193 dies, at least half used one obverse die which is seen both fresh and worn.&nbsp; I have no idea why the other 193 dies were used less but not all got the same use (30,000 or 300 - either is possible depending on whether we have 1% or 100% of the coin made.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>After reviewing the photo resources available to me, I am amazed at how similar the coins of the Gallic Empire are to each other.&nbsp; I am not to a point of being able to pick out any coin and say &#039;mint 1&#039; or &#039;mint 2&#039; without thought and comparison while the four mints of Septimius strike me as 99% obvious.&nbsp; I wonder if Gallic experts find the opposite of this to be the case.&nbsp; I have never known, in person, a student of the Gallic coins.&nbsp; Does anyone on this list have 100 (1000?) Gallic coins?&nbsp; It would not be an easy set to complete even to a 90% level.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I repeat that I will be anxious to see the Oxford book.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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