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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1206136, member: 19463&quot;]Some may recall I went to a show at Baltimore and wrote up the experience:</p><p><a href="http://dougsmith.ancients.info/coinshow2011.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://dougsmith.ancients.info/coinshow2011.html" rel="nofollow">http://dougsmith.ancients.info/coinshow2011.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>This past weekend was the next Baltimore show but I&#039;ll pass on a full update and just show a few coins that followed me home.&nbsp; This time, I only bought coins from two dealers (down from three - one the same as last time) but ended up spending twice as much simply because the dealer happened to have more things that appealed to me this time.&nbsp; The difference was a collection of denarii he had in stock that included mid grade coins (my preference since I don&#039;t pay ten times as much for a fractional improvement).&nbsp; I suspect these were from an old collection since most coins were toned but not all the same tone as would be the case if they were treated new hoard material.&nbsp; Most coins had a fault that kept them from being worth big money but they were far above the &#039;garbage&#039; many dealers at the show were passing off as what is necessary if a coin is 2000 years old.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>This post will show three Republican denarii.&nbsp; He had a dozen others but they were either too perfect for my pocketbook or duplicates of things I had.&nbsp; Feel free to post your similar coins for comparison.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH]127395.vB[/ATTACH]</p><p>First is a decent example of the early popular type showing Roma head backed by Castor and Pollux (Dioscuri) on horseback.&nbsp; As customary the issuing moneyer&#039;s name C. Terentius Lucanus is abbreviated.&nbsp; As a bonus this coin (c.147 BC) shows a minor type of Victory behind Roma&#039;s head.&nbsp; With a little less wear, this would be a high demand coin.&nbsp; It is only average in terms of centering and strike since it is generally easier to find these earlier denarii well stuck than later when sloppy workmanship became more common.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH]127396.vB[/ATTACH]</p><p>Next is a coin with much detail that entered my price range due to the flat strike that loses detail on the top of the head of Bacchus and the end of the moneyer&#039;s name Q. TITI.&nbsp; It still has nice details and the reverse is well enough centered to include Pegasus in full glory.&nbsp; By. c.90 BC, workmanship is not as high standard as it had been so I&#039;ll call this an average strike, too, but I&#039;m glad the selling dealer considered that flatness and obverse centering reasons to price it down.&nbsp; Many sellers would charge extra for the horse details here and hope buyers would ignore the problems.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH]127397.vB[/ATTACH]</p><p>Finally is the coin with the worst faults.&nbsp; One I was aware of when buying and the other was a surprise I could have avoided had I memorized the catalogs (but probably would have bought the coin anyway).&nbsp; Pan (moneyer&#039;s name was Pansa so he could not resist the pun) is described as a &#039;mask&#039; rather than a head by the catalogs.&nbsp; I can&#039;t say I see what parts are missing that make it a mask rather than a full portrait of the ugly old god.&nbsp; The problem is that these coins are cataloged according to the presence or absence of a minor symbol behind the head and that area is off center so you can&#039;t tell if the coin is Vibia 18 or 19.&nbsp; From style and comparing pictures I&#039;ll guess 18 but collectors like coins that can be cataloged fully and this one has a big issue there.&nbsp; The reverse is also faulty, I believe, because the reverse had a flan adjustment mark similar to the pronounced one I showed here last month (below).&nbsp; That coin was of this moneyer&#039;s father and Pansa coins often show them so I am guessing that the head detail loss on the the reverse figure might be from this as well.&nbsp; The reverse is &#039;special&#039; since it shows Jupiter seated but he is identified as IOVIS AXVR referring to the temple of Jupiter at A(n)xurus<b> <span style="color: #000000"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Verdana">(Terracina) </font></font></span></b>and probably shows the (now lost) statue there.&nbsp;&nbsp; The legend at the right C VIBIUS C F C N shows this is a coin of the younger moneyer listing that he was also the grandson of C. Vibius (N=Nepos) while his father had only been son C F (F=Filius).&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.cointalk.com/t176357/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cointalk.com/t176357/">http://www.cointalk.com/t176357/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;[ATTACH]127401.vB[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Getting to go to that show was my Father&#039;s Day present.&nbsp; There will be more ordinary coins to follow since I never can keep out of the half price boxes.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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