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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1036367, member: 19463&quot;]Coin collectors are a strange lot.&nbsp; I&#039;m as strange as any.&nbsp; Evidence: My latest coin arrival is a not-so-special falling horseman bronze of Constantius II (337-361 AD).&nbsp; These are quite possibly the most common of Roman coins.&nbsp; There are a thousand minor variations and very few people are trying to put together a set (impossible, anyway).&nbsp; The standard catalog, RIC rates this one as common but it is the first one I have seen in person.&nbsp; It is made distinctive by the fancy letter E with &lt; on the middle bar as used to distinguish its issue at the mint of Constantinople.&nbsp; There is a rare version with a dot next to the E but this is not that one so it is common.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Usually collectors like me like good looking coins with clear legends but most important is clarity in the mintmark at the bottom of the reverse.&nbsp; The mintmark reads CONS for Constantinople followed by a Greek numeral specifying which of the eleven workshops at that mint produced the coin.&nbsp; Unfortunately this example is not clear.&nbsp; I had to photograph it ten times to get this image that shows, even weakly, the top part of the workshop ID which I will guess to be H (Greek numeral for 8).&nbsp; Usually I avoid common coins with unclear marks but this one was going cheap on eBay so I bid on it and no one else did.&nbsp; I admit that part of the attraction was that the footnote in RIC mentioned this issue seems to have rough style and they rather rarely comment on style.&nbsp; It also appealed because of the E&lt; and the &#039;rough&#039; portrait with a big nose.&nbsp; After all, how great does a coin have to be to be worth $3.99 plus $3 postage?</p><p><br /></p><p>The point here is that we each should buy what we find interesting.&nbsp; I got $6.99 worth of run out of shooting the photo so many times to get the weak tops of the workshop letter to show.&nbsp; If I were to sell it, I doubt I would get my $6.99 back but I do not recommend ancient coins as a investment.&nbsp; I consider it more like a trip to McDonald&#039;s with fewer calories.&nbsp; If you like the coin, enjoy the photo; if not, there are a million other ancient coin types for you to consider a good number of which will cost you less than something you will have to hide from your dietitian.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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