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<p>[QUOTE="Orfew, post: 3493186, member: 74968"]For the coins I am focussing on at the moment...the Flavian dynasty, I use multiple approaches. First I check RIC. For this volume there are 5 general ratings C3 for extremely common, C2 for very common, C for common, R for rare, R2 (very few examples in the collections examined) and R3 unique in the collections examined. As the authors mention this should only be seen as a guide and not the last word on the number of surviving examples of each coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>After I have checked RIC I check BMCRE. In general if a coin is not in the British Museum it is rare. However, it is not enough to check the print edition because the last revision was 1976 and so one could expect that the catalogue would be incomplete as hoards of coins have emerged in the last few decades. So, you need to check the online site for the British museum.</p><p><br /></p><p>My next stop is OCRE. This catalogues coins of a number of collections but it does not include all known major collections. Still it is very useful for getting a ballpark idea of rarity.</p><p><br /></p><p>Next is Acsearch. I pay for a subscription so I can see what an example has sold for at auction. The difficulty here is that it does not cover all auction records. However, it is still useful for getting an idea of rarity. Keep in mind of course that large auction houses do not deal in low value coins very often. The absence of these from the search records does not necessarily mean that they are rare but that they have not been sold as individual coins by major auction houses listed on Acsearch. Another issue is that sometimes you can see 5 examples of a coin on Acsearch. Does this mean it is common? Not necessarily, it might instead be a popular or highly sought after type that comes up for sale in the major auction houses.</p><p><br /></p><p>I also search the member galleries at FAC. I have found this to be quite useful but again it only gives a general idea of rarity.</p><p><br /></p><p>In short, I do not use one approach to gauge rarity I use a combination of approaches. If I have exhausted all of the above examples and have only found 2-3 examples I am reasonably comfortable in calling the coin rare. It is through this method that I have discovered that I own the second or third known example of some coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>Of course another method is that I search the collection of [USER=82616]@David Atherton[/USER]. If it is a Flavian coin and he does not have it then it is rare indeed <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Orfew, post: 3493186, member: 74968"]For the coins I am focussing on at the moment...the Flavian dynasty, I use multiple approaches. First I check RIC. For this volume there are 5 general ratings C3 for extremely common, C2 for very common, C for common, R for rare, R2 (very few examples in the collections examined) and R3 unique in the collections examined. As the authors mention this should only be seen as a guide and not the last word on the number of surviving examples of each coin. After I have checked RIC I check BMCRE. In general if a coin is not in the British Museum it is rare. However, it is not enough to check the print edition because the last revision was 1976 and so one could expect that the catalogue would be incomplete as hoards of coins have emerged in the last few decades. So, you need to check the online site for the British museum. My next stop is OCRE. This catalogues coins of a number of collections but it does not include all known major collections. Still it is very useful for getting a ballpark idea of rarity. Next is Acsearch. I pay for a subscription so I can see what an example has sold for at auction. The difficulty here is that it does not cover all auction records. However, it is still useful for getting an idea of rarity. Keep in mind of course that large auction houses do not deal in low value coins very often. The absence of these from the search records does not necessarily mean that they are rare but that they have not been sold as individual coins by major auction houses listed on Acsearch. Another issue is that sometimes you can see 5 examples of a coin on Acsearch. Does this mean it is common? Not necessarily, it might instead be a popular or highly sought after type that comes up for sale in the major auction houses. I also search the member galleries at FAC. I have found this to be quite useful but again it only gives a general idea of rarity. In short, I do not use one approach to gauge rarity I use a combination of approaches. If I have exhausted all of the above examples and have only found 2-3 examples I am reasonably comfortable in calling the coin rare. It is through this method that I have discovered that I own the second or third known example of some coins. Of course another method is that I search the collection of [USER=82616]@David Atherton[/USER]. If it is a Flavian coin and he does not have it then it is rare indeed :D[/QUOTE]
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