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Message:: [QUOTE="John Anthony, post: 2777808, member: 42773"]Well here's my Baltimore thread. The highlight of my trip was seeing Doug Smith in person (it's been a couple of years) and getting his autograph on a couple of books for which he was the photographer. Thank you Doug! I carpooled down with another friend named Doug (dougmeister on CT) and had a great time talking coins and coins, and also coins, and for a bit of variety...coins. So, just a few highlights as I get a chance to take pictures. This first piece charmed its way into my heart for a number of reasons, and it's the sort of coin that truly raises the question of why we bother to grade ancient coins at all. These 4th-century BC staters of Arados are quite rare, so it starts out with a lot of points for scarcity. The flan is oval-shaped, and quite chunky, almost like an over-sized siglos. In fact, the Achaemenid influence is unmistakable. Many of the flans on these coins have weird shapes. So with round dies and irregular flans, one is always resigned to missing detail, but on this example, I loved how the face of the deity is present in good style and commanding expression - he is described as a male marine deity - evidently that's all we know of him. And the reverse was struck in such a way as to capture a good part of the galley and waves below. All in all, the extant detail, fabric, rarity, and feel of this coin won me over instantly. [ATTACH=full]641931[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]