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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 774410, member: 19463&quot;]Gallienus offers one of the most varied set of coins when it come to quality and workmanship.&nbsp; During his 15 years inflation took the so-called silver coin from poor silver to not much silver at all requiring addition of a thin silver wash to make the things appear to be silver.&nbsp; You can get coins that look like silver and coins that look like copper and anything in-between but they will be the same denomination.&nbsp; Workmanship varied along with the metal.&nbsp; Some coins are round and some are extremely ragged.&nbsp; Yours has a nice portrait die and little wear but the strike quality is not so great (esp. on the reverse).&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>He also issued coins from several mints but did not use mint marks so you have to become sensitive to the style differences to separate them.&nbsp; Finally, he issued a lot of different types.&nbsp; Oddly some of the most interesting ones came during the period of worst workmanship.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ll attach a range of examples.</p><p><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dougsmit/image/120711570.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="http://www.pbase.com/image/120711654.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="http://www.pbase.com/dougsmit/image/120711571.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Gallienus may not be the best choice for a first ancient for someone who comes from the grade driven world of US coins.&nbsp; There are rulers with more consistently beautiful coins.&nbsp; However when it comes to interest and variety, he is hard to beat.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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