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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1262224, member: 19463&quot;]Portrait recognition is good but needs to be confirmed by legends.&nbsp; Perhaps it will help to understand the legend.&nbsp; The beginning AVTK is Autokrator or roughly the Greek form of Latin Imperator so it is common to all male rulers.&nbsp; Some used AK for Autokrator Kaesar.&nbsp; Similarly the end is CEB = Sebastos or Augustus so it does not help often.&nbsp; CEB also abbreviates Augusta so it does not even save you when it comes to gender but a legend ending in a single K rather than CEB suggests a son of Carus issuing as Caesar.&nbsp; That leaves the middle part that names the ruler.&nbsp; These coins decreased in size as time went on so anything as early as Philip I will be larger and generally easy to read since the workmanship was better.&nbsp; Most common is Probus which has the pi that usually shows well just as Claudius here has the K starting his name.&nbsp; You can get fooled by the lambda following the K which looks like an A making you suspect Carus or Carinus.&nbsp; More KLAVDIOC I have seen are given away by the end of the name IOC.&nbsp; Greek did not use a C for K sound and a letter that looks like a C is either what we call the Lunate Sigma (S) or a rounded off E which can often be weak in the middle and not show the cross bar.&nbsp; The last two rulers in the series were Diocletianos and Maximinianos which are usually hard to read because of small flans and the large number of small letters.&nbsp; The big clue is the number of letters since names like Probos, Klaudios and Takitos take up half the space as the long names.&nbsp; You will probably see a dozen of Probus for every single Carus or his sons.&nbsp;&nbsp; You will see some of the less common ones but start by seeing if the letters present could fit one of the common ones mentioned above before you get your hopes up for a rarity. </p><p><br /></p><p>The easiest one of the bunch to ID is the two headed Aurelian and Vabalathus which not only spells out their names but has year dates for both.&nbsp; My example here shows LA or year one for Aurelian and Ldelta for Vabalathus who controlled much of the Eastern Mediterranean when the coin was issued (but not much longer).</p><p>[ATTACH]136624.vB[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Rather than trying to read the letters, start by looking at the list of possibilities and eliminating the ones that don&#039;t fit.</p><p><br /></p><p>I see no reason to doubt the coin being genuine.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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