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Message:: [QUOTE="Trebellianus, post: 2985704, member: 91569"]This was more or less my first "proper" show, very excitingly. Highly pleasant atmosphere. (I had the startling experience, on a few occasions, of speaking to dealers and realising I had no idea how to pronounce certain of the proper nouns I was imminently about to utter -- interesting side-effect of only ever reading about this stuff. (Lysimachos? Sassanian? Carausius?)) Anyway I didn't have the budget for much extravagance but was very pleased to pick up the Trajan below, which represents my first "good" sestertius -- the reverse has perhaps seen better days, but it's a historically interesting type, and there's a nice bold portrait on the obverse, plus a fully legible inscription. Its general largeness and high relief unfortunately don't come through in the photo. [ATTACH=full]735453[/ATTACH]Trajan, 103AD: O: laureate head right, drapery on far shoulder, IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P / R: Dacian seated left on armour, trophy to left, SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S-C Elsewhere, this Nerva is a crime scene, but I'll confess a guilty fondness for over-cleaned original-surface bronzes (and I feel one tends not to see them so much for earlier emperors like this?). The portrait here I think is actually very good considering the circumstances.  [ATTACH=full]735455[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]