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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Archeocultura, post: 3494142, member: 97204&quot;]I have been a collector of ancients for over forty years and first I fully relied on rarities given in RIC, until Curtis Clay pointed out that RIC largely if not fully depends on what Cohen found in the French market sixty to eighty years prior to the compilation of RIC.</p><p><br /></p><p>Nice examples of differing rarity can be found among the fouth-century coins from Arles. Some ten years ago, Philippe Ferrando thoroughly sought through existing collections, both public and private, discovered many dozens of previously unknown coins and found a great many where RIC said: R5! Many coins have come to light in recent years by metal detectorists, sometimes utterly changing&nbsp; the rarity of some types. </p><p><br /></p><p>When we look at the RIC rarity of the coins of Siscia, it is no big deal to fill a whole cabinet with R4 and R5 examples. Yugoslavia was a closed and relatively poor country, but in the past forty years has provided us with perhaps millions of ancient coins. So which variety can be said to be (still) rare?</p><p><br /></p><p>Reka Devna provided coins principally from Rome, but nobody knows how the treasure was accumulated, nor over which period of time. Yet, if I want to check rarity of my Antonine denarii, I always check RD!</p><p>BTW: Rarity has little or nothing to do with value. According to some dealers, all ancients are &#039;rare and valuable&#039;, but I always wonder for what type of collectors they mention such nonsense.....</p><p><br /></p><p>Most collectors have their own niches and through their expertise recognise extreme rarities or even new varieties so far unpublished. Such a variety is of no importance to 99% of the collectors, as they don&#039;t collect that particular area!</p><p><br /></p><p>Overpricing of common coins is a well-known phenomenon as well: Marc Anthony&#039;s denarii are usually extremely common, but demand a high price as everybody &#039;must have&#039; one. The same goes for Tiberius&#039; seated Livia denarii of which type there must at least be tens of thousands around!</p><p><br /></p><p>In this thread, almost everything has been said so far, with some very sensible comments - thanks for that!</p><p><br /></p><p>Frans[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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