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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Cherd, post: 23564785, member: 24754&quot;]I&#039;ve been collecting ancient Roman coins (Caesar through Theodosius) for a while and, once I became familiar with the denominations, I got used to not paying much attention to diameter when making purchases. I recently got into British coinage and decided to start working on a collection (Ancient Celtic through Victoria).</p><p><br /></p><p>I went a bit crazy on a few recent auctions and picked up some coins. I also picked up a few medals for the more recent people, as I really like the size, artistry, and relief..... and I also do not mind that they aren&#039;t technically &quot;coins&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are the pictures that I was looking at when deciding on a few of the purchases, a Victoria medal and Richard II Half Penny:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1546453[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Well, my new stuff showed up today and, lets just say, I was a bit surprised by both of them for similar but opposite reasons! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie9" alt=":eek:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1546454[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>I was expecting the medal to be largish and the half penny to be smallish, but holy cow! I&#039;ll probably be avoiding half pennies in the future, as the size make them difficult to appreciate. However, in Richard II&#039;s case, this is probably the only denomination that&#039;s really in my price wheelhouse anyway. So I&#039;ll take what I can get!</p><p><br /></p><p>The bigger problem is the medal, as I didn&#039;t realize that it was so large that an oversized slab was required. I really like it, but unfortunately, it&#039;s gonna be a bit difficult to store it in the case that I bought for the British collection!</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1546455[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Oh well, call it a lesson learned. I&#039;ll definitely be paying more attention to this kind of thing in the future.</p><p><br /></p><p>While I&#039;m at it, I&#039;ll also show off this Oliver Cromwell medal that also came in the batch. This thing is fantastic, as it has a non-typical shape and way more relief than I&#039;m accustomed to seeing on coins. Plus, it cost me about half as much as I was expecting would be required to purchase a Cromwell coin..... and I&#039;m certain that I love it more than any coin that I would have ended up with! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie85" alt=":smuggrin:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> And best of all, the shape allows it to fit in a normal sized slab, so I can get it into the case... Hah!</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1546456[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Have you guys ever been similarly surprised by an item purchased from pictures?</p><p><br /></p><p>Also, I&#039;d be interested in hearing people&#039;s perspectives on coins vs medals, and whether you feel that it is legitimate to mix them in collections. (Not that it will change my approach, just curious)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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