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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 729572, member: 19463&quot;]For educational purposes:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dougsmit/image/119061545.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>My example shows the type and makes a couple of good points. The issue used a letter behind the head of Mercury on the obverse to identify dies used. Mine is L while the cover coin above is M. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Serrate denarii were usued with cut edges because some people considered that a protection against the practice of making counterfeit coins with a copper core below the silver exterior. My coin, however is plated or &#039;fourree&#039; as can be seen by the punch through to copper on the chest of Odysseus. You just can&#039;t trust anything these days! Plated coins are collectable today as contemporary counterfeits but carry a reduction in collector value compared to the solid silver &#039;real thing&#039;. My coin is genuinely ancient meaning it was made ~2000 years ago but it is not a &#039;genuine&#039; ancient made at the real mint. This is just one more reason it is good to buy ancients from a dealer you trust. In truth, there is a bit of a market for plated serrate denarii (as educational novelties) so the reduction in value is not as great here as you might expect but a solid one is worth at least 2-3 times as much in similarly worn and damaged condition. This is a popular type because of the literary connection and having Mercury who rarely appears on coins.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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