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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 8039735, member: 19463&quot;]To me, an interesting point of Alexandrian coinage is how varied are the number of types and number of coins seen from ruler to ruler.&nbsp; Leader in the number of really special drachms is Antoninus Pius but a great number of those types are extremely rare or even unique.&nbsp; Specialists show no shame in owning coins with faults or even worn to Good.&nbsp; It simply is not possible to assemble any number of Alexandrian bronzes in high grade.&nbsp; Silver/billon are not a great deal better.&nbsp; Commodus seems to have issued a very large number of tetradrachm types but his bronzes are harder to find.&nbsp; Severans before Elagabalus are similarly proportioned but the bronzes are extremely rare while the silver is only rare.&nbsp; The series ends when Diocletian regained control of the city following the usurpation of Domitius Domitianus but the number of tetradrachms we see for Diocletian and Maximianus seem to outnumber those for the rest of that century combined. It would be interesting to see a study done on the factors that led to the output in terms of coins as a whole and the number of types and denominations.&nbsp; Several rulers have a very limited number of types but those few are very common.&nbsp; Claudius tetradrachms with the reverse of Messalina are common but other coins of his are not.&nbsp; Hadrian issued many types but the one everyone seems to have is the Nilus reclining drachm.&nbsp; Numismatists study &#039;what&#039;, &#039;when&#039;, &#039;where&#039; and &#039;how&#039; but &#039;why&#039; is a harder question.</p><p><br /></p><p>Claudius with Messalina</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1392210[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Hadrian (most people into Alexandrian have a better one than mine)</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1392211[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>My only Commodus bronze is this diobol.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1392212[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Commodus tetradrachms are common with only a few like the rather common lighthouse types being popular.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1392217[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>My only Severan bronze is this Caracalla drachm.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1392213[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>After the middle of the third century, tetradrachms declined in size and quality of workmanship.&nbsp; The decline was gradual. This Philip I is among the last that I have and consider well made.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1392218[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Anyone who collects Alexandrians at all is bound to have a Diocletian billon tetradrachm.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1392214[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Some, we will never have.&nbsp;&nbsp; This is a plaster cast of the British Museum Pertinax Junior/Titania tetradrachm gifted to me by the late Roger Bickford-Smith.&nbsp; There are really terrible fakes of these in metal but I feel lucky to have a plaster one.&nbsp; I would love to know with certainty the circumstances that led to the striking of this coin.&nbsp; Assumptions are easy; facts, not so much.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1392215[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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