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Message:: [QUOTE="Marsyas Mike, post: 5399093, member: 85693"]This is a wretched coin, even by my low standards.  But here is a quinarius of Cato the Younger struck in Africa.  It was about $6 but there comes a point where a coin is so horrible any price to pay is too much - I think this crossed the line.  But I do like the banker's marks. These are fairly common, for a Civil War issue, so I hope to upgrade someday (it can't get much worse!).  Interesting thing about these quinarii is that they seemed to have been worked hard - they are often very worn and have a lot of banker's marks. [ATTACH=full]1232852[/ATTACH] Roman Imp.  Quinarius Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (47-46 B.C.) Africa mintM • CATO • PRO • PR, wreathed head of Liber right / [VICTRIX], Victory seated right, holding patera.Porcia 11; Crawford 462/2.(1.53 grams / 14 mm)  "In stark contrast with Scipio, coinage of Porcius Cato virtually ignores the African realities of war against Caesar. His denarius and quinarius issues, depicting, Roma/Libertas and Liber on the obverse and the same seated Victory on the reverse (Cr. 462/1,2) represent a revival of earlier, almost identical, issues by another M. Porcius Cato, moneyer of 89 B.C....If Scipio presents a Rome willing to adapt, Cato presents the illusion of a Rome utterly Republican and utterly unchanged."Gabriela Vlahovici-Jones[/QUOTE]