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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2216633, member: 19463&quot;]There are two kinds of collectors - those who agree with you and those who don&#039;t know what you are talking about.&nbsp; Most people understand grading to the point that they like EF coins better than VG ones but not everyone recognizes that there are some dies that are more artistic than others of the same date and type.&nbsp; Your Valerian is better looking than most Valerians.&nbsp; Many people will tell you that Greek coins are more &#039;artistic&#039; than Roman and early Roman is better than late Roman and everything beats Byzantine.&nbsp; That is not what we are seeing here. In any period and at any place some dies just came out better than others.&nbsp; Some of us show a preference for these better style coins and some would rather just have a higher grade from poorly engraved dies for the same money.&nbsp; This is not a matter of condition but of style.</p><p><br /></p><p>Below are a few coins I consider better than their peer group in terms of style.&nbsp; There is room for some differences in opinion on this.&nbsp; Post below coins you believe are more stylistic than the average for their type.</p><p>Caracalla (my favorite Severan die):</p><p>[ATTACH=full]433639[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Diocletian</p><p>[ATTACH=full]433640[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Crispus:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]433643[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Michael VII is OK here but I really like the Christ portrait with wavy hair:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]433648[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Greek is usually good so they have to be really good to make the list.&nbsp; This is a 10mm Syracuse hemilitron.&nbsp; It would have to be better were it a tetradrachm.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]433650[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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