Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Mike Willner, post: 551515, member: 11144&quot;]My son and I were new to coin collecting and he and him mom ended up purchasing an &#039;ancient coin&#039; at a flea market for about $40. It was not in great condition, and was billed as &quot;Constantine II&quot; with all kinds of declarations about &quot;hand carved bronze&quot; etc. on the 2x2. A brief scan of the web sites showed this was not a Constantine coin at all, and we figured it was just a fake. I shook my head and wrote it off as a relatively cheap object lesson to never buy from such people.</p><p><br /></p><p>Well, a year later and in possession of more collectting knowledge, I start getting curious about this little lump. The obverse is pretty clear, and now that I know what I&#039;m looking at I can se AVG, which indicates it is Imperial, and the ray crown is very obvious as well. The figure in the back is very worn, but the right arm is in a crooked position and on the hip, kind of unusual. and a sweeping curved thing up on the left. </p><p><br /></p><p>Well, now I know to take out my Sear and start looking at pictures. I find several imperial coins with rayed crowns and standing figures on the back. Off to the web to view some dealers pictures. Much to my surprise, I&#039;m able to isolate the figure as Salus standing feeding snake, and lo and behold, am able to attribute the coin as a Victorinus antoninianus, Sear #3169! My son was beside himself with joy (and surprise) that after all this time we were able to figure out what this coin actually was.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, while I still don&#039;t buy&nbsp; coins at flea markets, I now have had the &#039;thrill of the chase&#039; and the &#039;joy of discovery&#039;, even if in a minor way. And better, I&#039;m pleased to see my son spending more time with our collection seeing if he can unearth some previously unknown fact about our coins to match my accomplishment.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in