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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1074683, member: 19463&quot;]Notice that consistantly these handshake coins show the fingers straight not gripping the other hand.&nbsp; When I was a child, I was taught that such a &#039;limp&#039; handshake was a sign of insincerity but that one should not try to break the fingers of the other person by squeezing too firmly.&nbsp; Such fine points are used to separate those who are &#039;in&#039; the culture and those who are not.&nbsp; These images suggest that the Romans played by different rules.&nbsp; I wonder today if non-USA, non-mid 20th century cultures that shake hands all play by the same &#039;grip&#039; instructions I received or do modern Europeans even shake hands at all???&nbsp; I do know that there are several variations on other greetings (e.g. cheek kissing - one, both or don&#039;t even think about it) depaending on where you are but I do not know if there is information here or if this is just an artistic convention and the real Balbinus and Pupienus might have wrapped their fingers around more as I would consider appropriate.&nbsp; Some will say such a question is silly but you need to realize that coins are one source of cultural information and some things are not recorded in etiquite books from the day so the coin may be the best clue we have about such matters.&nbsp; Don&#039;t get me started on this.&nbsp; We might get into the matter of hand/finger gestures which are similarly depicted better on coins than described in surviving texts.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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