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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TIF, post: 2249046, member: 56859&quot;]Definitely!</p><p><br /></p><p>In general, I prefer Provincials because of their variety.&nbsp; The reverses are usually something specific or meaningful to the city or place of issue.&nbsp; After browsing thousands and thousands of Provincials, it becomes easier to read the Greek and to understand their spelling and typical abbreviations. </p><p><br /></p><p>There aren&#039;t any comprehensive Provincial references so digging for information is a bit harder.&nbsp; There are many old catalogs and texts available in their entirety online, although often in other languages.&nbsp; Even if written in a language you don&#039;t read, it is possible (but tedious) to use them.&nbsp; My first stops are always CNG&#039;s archives and Wildwinds.&nbsp; CNG&#039;s database is particularly easy to search.&nbsp; For instance, for your coin I just typed &quot;Macrinus, AE, Hermes&quot; and found it quickly.&nbsp; If you didn&#039;t know who the reverse figure was, you&#039;d probably find it just as easily with &quot;Macrinus, AE, caduceus&quot;.&nbsp; Wildwinds&#039; search function is much harder to use with so I always try CNG first.</p><p><br /></p><p>If I get close, sometimes the cited references for similar coins can help. For public domain books/catalogs (old ones), you can find many of them in various archives.&nbsp; Flipping through .pdf books is a pain but it beats spending many thousands of dollars on books that you may only occasionally need.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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