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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 3513277, member: 75937&quot;]Those are marvelous coins, [USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER] ! I&#039;m with you; I&#039;d say the majority of my collection is in the F-VF range, but appealing to me for one reason or another. Here are some recent purchases I found appealing for one reason or another:</p><p><br /></p><p>Severus Alexander and Julia Maesa pentassarion from Marcianopolis with Hygeia on the reverse. This was offered at a recent Frank Robinson auction and I liked the dual portrait, the retrograde E on the reverse, and the fact that the coin was well-centered with virtually complete legends and smoothly patinated. Hygeia&#039;s snake is particularly plump and animated; it takes little imagination to see it slithering:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]931939[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This similarly-themed provincial of Severus Alexander has a smooth, dark olive patina and is a bit off-center and with weakly struck legends, particularly on the reverse. Asklepios, though, is rendered in amazingly fine artistic style:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]931942[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This sestertius of Philip II isn&#039;t CNG Triton material, but it&#039;s lovely but circulated:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]932254[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>The same can be said about this as of Nerva from Frank Robinson&#039;s most recent sale. It&#039;s very high relief and its surfaces aren&#039;t as rough as this photo makes them seem:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]931946[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Another dual-portrait Severan pentassarion from Marcianopolis, but I found the reverse design quite interesting, with Apollo about to slay Python. It has seen considerable circulation and its patina is multi-colored, a calico of red-brown and green but I think it&#039;s pretty. The portraits are expressive, too.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]932253[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This Julia Domna provincial is worn and rather weakly struck, obscuring details and preventing it from appearing in the next Nomos sale. But I really like the reverse design of Dionysus and his panther. I like a smooth, glossy patina, too, which makes this one a winner.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]932252[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Lastly, I bought this one because I like the Artemis on the reverse; she looks cute in her thigh-length chlamys and boots. The fact it&#039;s quite scarce is icing on the cake. It has a beautiful, dark glossy patina that simply doesn&#039;t photograph well.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]931969[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Everything else I have bought recently was purchased not because of eye-appeal, but because it was either very scarce and I couldn&#039;t let the opportunity pass or filled a hole in one or other of my &quot;specialty&quot; collections.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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