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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2669133, member: 19463&quot;]It depends on which coins.&nbsp; There are rare coins, Imperial or Provincial, that are only known from one die set. Overall, I&#039;d say you are more likely to find matches in Provincials if you have several specimens but you are less likely to have those several specimens.&nbsp; All this depends on the assumption that dies were used until they failed and this simply is not true.&nbsp; Some coins might have been made for a special purpose so the order was placed for a set number.&nbsp; Some dies became obsolete when there was a change in the political scene.&nbsp; Caracalla killed Geta on December 26, 211.&nbsp; What day do you think the Rome mint stopped striking Geta coins?&nbsp; I suspect the perfectly serviceable Geta dies were melted before the body was cold.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Finding a die match on a very common coin (lets say a Constantinian bronze) would be pure dumb luck unless you found a hoard straight from mint bag to the dirt.&nbsp; Die studies of common coins are hard.&nbsp; Statisticians will explain to you how to figure the likely number of dies that were used based on the number of dies you find in a given number of specimens.&nbsp; If you have 100 coins and all are the same die, there probably was only one die.&nbsp; If you find 100 different dies in your 100 coin sample, chances are you have not seen anywhere near all the existing dies.&nbsp;&nbsp; Perhaps our CT statistician will fill in the details&nbsp; here.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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