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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;ambr0zie, post: 7940629, member: 80952&quot;][USER=125206]@JJ Walker[/USER] I also want to welcome you to CT and to this wonderful hobby.</p><p>I&#039;m also a beginner - just celebrated 1 year into ancients.</p><p>I fully understand (and like) your enthusiasm and I hope it will remain as this hobby is addictive, educational, <i>time and money consuming <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></i></p><p><br /></p><p>I think you did more than fine with your purchases at least the ones from this thread.</p><p><br /></p><p>Some random thoughts:</p><p>- since Ancients section doesn&#039;t have a separate Identification subforum (this might be a good idea) I agree that limiting ID threads is recommended. CT has 20 threads/page, there is a lot of activity here so threads might go soon to 2nd or 3rd page and it&#039;s likely that nobody will see/respond. I also recommend 1 coin/thread as you have more chances for a correct answer</p><p><br /></p><p>- for a while at least, forget about cleaning/restoration. You might ruin coins that are otherwise in good condition</p><p><br /></p><p>- you need to learn to identify coins yourself also, this is not a fast process so don&#039;t get discouraged! In time, you will recognize the portraits and the deities, especially on Imperial coins, I find those the easiest to identify.</p><p>For example this one - I knew it was Commodus because I recognized the portrait and I also managed to read the legend (this will also come in time)</p><p>M COMMODVS ANT P FELIX AVG BRIT</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1374348[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The reverse is also in good enough condition to see the image and some of the legend</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1374350[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Two people clasping hands, COS V P P in exergue (you need to read what does that mean), it has S C (so this tells me this is an Imperial coin, you also need to check why I concluded his although there is a notable exception) and also the round legend ends in VS ... or even better, ATVS</p><p><br /></p><p>So I am using this exceptional attribution tool, OCRE, that allows identifying coins using partial legends and you can filter more if you have multiple results</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/identify" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/identify" rel="nofollow">http://numismatics.org/ocre/identify</a></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1374352[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This is what I wrote and there is only 1 result</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.com.549" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.com.549" rel="nofollow">http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.com.549</a></p><p>So this is your coin and you already know a lot about it.</p><p><br /></p><p>If you can&#039;t read the full obverse legend (I could because I have a little more experience) you can use wild cards as well and type only letters you are 100% sure</p><p>m*pfelixavg*&nbsp;&nbsp; - as these are the letters that are very clear on your coin</p><p><br /></p><p>Another extremely useful websites are acsearch.info and coinarchives.com</p><p>With those you can look for designs.</p><p>So for example I knew your coin is a Commodus, I knew it&#039;s a sestertius due to size and I noticed the reverse type - clasping hands.</p><p>So I can use this info to try to identify the coin -</p><p><a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=commodus+and+clasping+and+sestertius&amp;category=1-2&amp;lot=&amp;thesaurus=1&amp;images=1&amp;en=1&amp;de=1&amp;fr=1&amp;it=1&amp;es=1&amp;ot=1&amp;currency=usd&amp;order=1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=commodus+and+clasping+and+sestertius&amp;category=1-2&amp;lot=&amp;thesaurus=1&amp;images=1&amp;en=1&amp;de=1&amp;fr=1&amp;it=1&amp;es=1&amp;ot=1&amp;currency=usd&amp;order=1" rel="nofollow">https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=commodus+and+clasping+and+sestertius&amp;category=1-2&amp;lot=&amp;thesaurus=1&amp;images=1&amp;en=1&amp;de=1&amp;fr=1&amp;it=1&amp;es=1&amp;ot=1&amp;currency=usd&amp;order=1</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Also brings me to correct result.</p><p><br /></p><p>Last thing for now - be careful about overpaying, it&#039;s easy to spend $200 for a $30 coin - not all coins described as RARE, EXCELLENT CONDITION etc are in fact like this. Give yourself time to learn, it&#039;s not a hobby where you will be skilled in 2 weeks. Learn what you like, study the market ... and it will be good.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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