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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Marsyas Mike, post: 3222091, member: 85693&quot;]Good advice, everybody.&nbsp; I&#039;d like to take a moment to address the actual coin in question.&nbsp; It is an antoninianus of Gallienus (most of you already knew that).&nbsp; When I first started collecting, intermittently, many years ago, I shunned this kind of coin in favor of actual silver (Roman Republic mostly). </p><p><br /></p><p>But my appreciation has grown for this sort of base metal late-empire material, and this OP coin in particular is, in my opinion, a winner.&nbsp; I say this primarily because the portrait is exceptionally well-done for Gallienus.&nbsp; Many of his coins can be quite crude, even cartoonish - these also have their charms - but this one is quite well-executed - again, I love that portrait.&nbsp; The reverse is rather unfortunate, but that is often the case with Gallienus &amp; family. </p><p><br /></p><p>Starting out with Gallienus has another benefit - he has so many reverse types.&nbsp; Hippocamps and stags and centaurs the whole Roman pantheon, pretty much - you name it, it probably wound up on one of his coins.&nbsp; The OP features Pietas, which is not the most exciting type, but you gotta start somewhere.</p><p><br /></p><p>Also, Gallienus (and his father) was one of the first emperors to really start decentralizing the mints - so there are a lot of regional varieties and types. </p><p><br /></p><p>Another interesting thing about Gallienus is that the fineness of his antoniniani varied so much you can get some nice silver ones and interesting AE-type patinas. </p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ll shut up now, but here is one I got a while back that really appealed to me because of the sandy desert patina and Apollo reverse type.&nbsp; The portrait is not as nice as the OP.&nbsp; I paid $6.25 for it.&nbsp; As Doug notes, 30 years from now, it probably won&#039;t be worth much more than that, if that.&nbsp; So yeah, don&#039;t collect this kind of material for the &quot;investment&quot;:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]839133[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>P.S.&nbsp; Don&#039;t forget the wife - 2 from Mrs. Gallienus (Salonina) - Venus from behind and a doe (note &quot;silvery&quot; and old bronze green surfaces):</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>[ATTACH=full]839138[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]839139[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>P. P. S.&nbsp; Don&#039;t forget the kids - here are 2 I just got.&nbsp; Valerian II was the son and heir of Gallienus, but he didn&#039;t make it that far.&nbsp; Antioch mint, with a rather startled look.&nbsp; Just posted this elsewhere, but again:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]839136[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]839137[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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