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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2052270, member: 19463&quot;]Icerain&#039;s lead in fit my situation so well I decided to appropriate it.&nbsp; On any other day I might have titled this &#039;Grade this Junker&#039; of &#039;Nice &quot;for this&quot; type&#039;.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sometimes I find myself buying coins because I see something in them that outweighs the fact that they are faulty.&nbsp; With people, we are told to look for the good and not be bothered by handicaps.&nbsp; In many cases I believe that attitude allows buying coins that are not mint state.&nbsp; I have a pet peeve about dealers who grade coins based on comparison to other coins and add the phrase &#039;for this&#039; rather than admitting that the coin is a junker.&nbsp; My last purchase of 2014 and first arrival of 2014 is one of those &#039;for this&#039; coins.&nbsp; It my be the best example in existence (I have seen worse), I make no claim on that but it does have a couple things going for it that others I have seen don&#039;t. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]377077[/ATTACH] </p><p>Constantius II, AE4, 1.42g, Rome mint (RMP*) Falling Horseman 3 &#039; reaching&#039; RIC 316, page 278 volume VIII.&nbsp; </p><p>On the good side, this is a great late Rome portrait from a time when the mint output was pretty much garbage.&nbsp; The reverse scene would be nice were it not for the flat strike on the head of the barbarian which is the important part since we want to be able to describe his headgear.&nbsp; I like the way both shields are shown from the edge without a second side making an oval as we usually see on these.&nbsp; You say, &quot;He&#039;s grasping for something nice to say about this piece of garbage.&quot;&nbsp; I admit that would be the standard take on a coin like this.&nbsp; Posting this in this way is to encourage someone among you to post your RIC 316 with full strike and full legends just to make me look the fool.&nbsp; Please do.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>This coin illustrates the question of what we are to do in terms of collecting philosophy.&nbsp; One answer is only collect things that exist in fleur de coin (better than mint state 5/5, 5/5 for those who like the new style grading).&nbsp; Another is to represent in our holdings the best examples we can find even if the best examples are closer to bargain bin rejects than things the high end dealers will fight over.&nbsp;&nbsp; This is a matter of Philosophy of Collecting.&nbsp; I like this coin but REALLY hope one of you posts an example with a full head on that horseman so I can see what I&#039;m missing.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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