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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 7414775, member: 110350&quot;]Thank you, [USER=97383]@Al Kowsky[/USER].&nbsp; Perhaps needless to say, I agree with you that the visual appeal and 60-year provenance more than make up for the obvious wear on the coin, especially on the obverse. I think I got lucky in finding that particular&nbsp; combination.&nbsp; After all, I had been looking for a solidus I wanted to buy for some time.&nbsp; And given my self-imposed requirements, it wasn&#039;t easy.</p><p><br /></p><p>If I were to look for another ancient gold solidus that met all those requirements -- and it&#039;ll be a while before I can afford even to look! -- it might not be easy. For example, here&#039;s another solidus of Arcadius currently for sale on VCoins for a couple of hundred dollars more than what I paid (and, therefore, a couple of hundred dollars above my $1,000 line):</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://images.vcoins.com/product_image/273/Z/6/zE5Nn6Hdog4QB8r4qa2DRcZ3iY9T7m.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Overall, I think it has noticeably less wear than mine, and would probably receive a higher grade than mine. But Arcadius&#039;s nose has that &quot;smushed&quot; look often encountered on full and 3/4 face coins, and I don&#039;t think Constantinopolis&#039;s face is as finely engraved as on mine. So I actually prefer mine, even aside from the lower price. (I&#039;ve been informed privately that Dr. Busso Peus has a reputation for charging more reasonable prices for ancient gold than some other dealers, so I don&#039;t think there&#039;s anything fishy about the price he put on my coin, contrary to the implication in a later comment.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are a few more currently available on the retail market, from Zeno, Anastasius, and Theodosius II, two for a couple of hundred dollars less than what I paid and one for a couple of hundred dollars more:</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;<img src="https://images.vcoins.com/product_image/284/Y/6/yYD3A2xtaK45CX9cn6EmjRm87edMwH.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://img.ma-shops.com/henzen/pic/combined56364.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://images.vcoins.com/product_image/94/S/6/Sf8Nb5Jg4TbPB69e6LyKDks2oE3Yo7.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>I think all have less wear than mine, and I would be happy to own any of them, but if I were to pick one, I might well choose mine again (even leaving aside the religious iconography on the second one and I think the first, neither of which is obvious enough to contravene my &quot;no ultra-religious iconography&quot; preference, or bother me at all).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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