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Message:: [QUOTE="hotwheelsearl, post: 7767519, member: 75143"]I love these VLPP barbs. I only have a couple, but they are very endearing and beautiful in their own right.Like [USER=120820]@Heliodromus[/USER] said, they are very impressionistic.I like to think that some of these were engraved by highly skilled local artists in their own style. Some barbs attempt (poorly) to copy official styles - these are little more than grunt labor that any slave could perform. However, there are those that were obviously modeled on an official prototype, but make no attempt to copy them. In other words, these are original creations by skilled artists who incorporated their own local art styles.[ATTACH=full]1331875[/ATTACH] This is my favorite. The letters on the obverse make no attempt to emulate latin letters at all. You can see Some "x" letters, some "c" and some "squiggle."The reverse is just "IIII" However, the portrait is obviously of a very fine style, a little basic compared to Roman art, but very attractive and shows an excellent command of the human figure. The reverse is very abstract. The two victories are reduced to line drawings, with wings that are little more than a row of dots.My favorite feature is the "VOT XX" shield. The celator made no effort to even attempt the letters - instead, he aligned four strokes in a vaguely squarish-circlish shape.This implies lettering without directly portraying it.[/QUOTE]