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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2764727, member: 19463&quot;]Compare mine. I have very little wear but a horrid strike that left much of the body of Genius and hair of Maximinus without detail.&nbsp; I wonder if it was the last pour from a ladle and not evenly spread before it cooled. Metal sloshed out of the round mould leaving a little handle.&nbsp; There is a texture in the low part of the reverse (where the draped arm is not) that was the original surface untouched by the die. The rest of the reverse was smoothed by the pressure of the die and has really good detail with crisp letters and face of Genius only millimeters from the abysmal body.&nbsp; Opposite the body, the head of the portrait fared a little better but lacked the metal to take on the die design.&nbsp; This detail was not worn away, it never was transferred from die to coin.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]636160[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Your coin is dramatically two toned with a dark patina completely worn away from every high point on both sides of the coin.&nbsp;&nbsp; The flan is round and even so every bit of die detail was transferred to the coin by a good strike.&nbsp; Genius has a body and carries a cornucopia that my coin never had beyond a little texture change from the flat field.&nbsp; Your coin lost some of this great detail to wear which exposed the light parts beneath the dark.&nbsp; I would suggest much of this was done in the cleaning process.</p><p><br /></p><p>These are the same coin but so different one from the other that they are hardly recognizable. They are what I consider a perfect example of why many of us do not like to &#039;grade&#039; coins.&nbsp; My coin has little wear and really sharp detail where it has any detail at all.&nbsp; How would you grade it?&nbsp; If you were to apply the separate rating for strike (one to five) my coin should have no complaint if it got a 1/5 (2/5 if we are being super generous).&nbsp; I see nothing about your strike I would improve so it gets a 5/5 (or 4/5 if we are being super crabby).&nbsp;&nbsp; You have some laurel wreath detail but it is not crisp due to the wear.&nbsp; You coin depends on the color contrast to see letters (compare the gammas in the reverse left fields).&nbsp; The details are flat topped from wear.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m not grading these coins.&nbsp; Anyone who wishes to can.&nbsp; Do you count wear, strike and surface separately or combine them and a good dose of gut reaction we like to call &#039;eye appeal&#039;.&nbsp; The point is that the story of these two coins started before striking and has been developing ever since.&nbsp; I can&#039;t describe these coins in a reasonable size essay so I know I&#039;m not going to say anything meaningful by saying &#039;Fine+&#039;.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Opinions?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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