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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 7875379, member: 19463&quot;]more to catch up:</p><p>4. I particularly like Alexandria mint denarii.&nbsp; When I only had two and inquired about this one from the British Museum, they put me in contact with Roger Bickford-Smith who offered me $250 for it.&nbsp; Had I accepted, I would never developed the friendship that followed up to his untimely death and, worse, the coin would have ended up in the British Museum where went most of his coins following his death.&nbsp; BMC considered the coin a mule with reverse of Pertinax.&nbsp; Roger knew better.&nbsp; I miss him.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1357256[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>5.&nbsp; Staying with the RAB-S theme, This coin was sold in the sale of his lesser coins as would seem appropriate to everyone concerned but me.&nbsp; It was a relatively ordinary legionary denarius of the only slightly scarce LEG XXII variation from Rome.&nbsp; RAB-S told me in a letter once that this was the first coin he bought of Septimius Severus after he decided to specialize in SS.&nbsp; It was not his first SS but it was what he bought first when he went to a shop (Spink) and asked to see SS.&nbsp; They suggested it was a coin worth having.&nbsp; I agree.&nbsp; It is not the nicest of my three LEG XXII (plain) denarii but it is the one I like best because of its provenance.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1357257[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>6. Someone once told me there were only a half dozen of the rare LEG XXII PRI, Rome mint,&nbsp; type.&nbsp; That was not true; then, I only had the one with the hole but, since, I have seen <u>at least</u> twice that many.&nbsp; People who tell you something is rare usually forget to mention that they have not looked hard enough.&nbsp; I only have five.&nbsp; They may be the worst five???&nbsp; All mine are the same obverse die but there is another (on my want list).&nbsp; Of those I have seen, fewer than half have even most of the reverse legend.&nbsp; I believe, right or wrong, that while these coins may have been made in Rome they were shipped wholesale to Germany where the legion they honored was located.&nbsp; It would be nice to know where all the known specimens were found.&nbsp; We are still waiting for someone to find a pot with 30,000 of them buried somewhere up North.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1357267[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>7. (Today)&nbsp; I could not choose which of my Legionaries is my favorite.&nbsp; One near the top of the group is my only Rome mint example from LEG III ITAL.&nbsp; Mint State?&nbsp; No, I&#039;d call it VF but it is just a pretty coin by my standards.&nbsp; It is well struck and has nice capricorns.&nbsp; I&#039;ll take well struck over mint state any day!&nbsp; I consider any legionary with full legends better than any with only part no matter what the wear grade might be.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1357274[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>I have sincere doubts this thread will last the whole month but I know two of us not only have thirty but could continue through all of 2022.&nbsp; Septimius is an easy obsession.&nbsp; I started because sensible collectors turned their noses up at his coins and only wanted coins of the first century (either BC or AD).&nbsp; Today there are more people who specialize in flyspecking Late Roman.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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