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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 3133329, member: 19463&quot;]I would not participate in a thread like this had you not inserted the line above.&nbsp; Many coin collectors value coins only for their resale value but some of us have no interest in selling so all of our coins have the same profit potential --- zero.&nbsp; Rarity is not a really good measure either since there are thousands of coins known from one specimen.&nbsp; You will be told correctly that demand is more important when it comes to coin prices and we see evidence of this every time there is a sale of a popular coin known to exist in large quantities (Athenian owl tetradrachms, Tribute Pennies, Shekels of Tyre or even coins of &#039;rare&#039; emperors demanded by the hoards of collectors interested in only one coin per ruler).&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>My contributions to this thread are coins that &#039;float my boat&#039; but mean nothing to most people.&nbsp; They include oddballs and errors and things that I simply can not explain why but they are coins that mean more to me than the cash they cost and the cash any of you would pay.&nbsp; If for some strange reason you wanted to duplicate these, you would be looking for quite a while. </p><p><br /></p><p>My chief oddball (most valuable in a strange sense) is the Byzantine Anonymous A3 follis overstruck on an as of Gordian III that was a bit under 800 years old at the time.&nbsp; I have no idea how this came to be and whether there were a bagful made that day or just this one. Many Byzantines were overstruck on older coins and the weight of the Gordian as was just right for making an A3.&nbsp; I could write a dozen fictional scenarios about how the coin came to be and none might be as strange as the truth we will never know.&nbsp;&nbsp; I am aware of a few people who say they would like to have this one.&nbsp; One will someday.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]799622[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>In all honesty I get tired of hearing about acquisitions of certain Roman emperors or usurpers who did next to nothing to be more than a footnote in history books but are required to fill out a &#039;one per&#039; set.&nbsp; My next coin is valuable to me as the higher grade of my two coins of Pescennius Niger who contested for the empire with my favorite emperor Septimius Severus. He was not a usurper any more than Septimius was.&nbsp; Both volunteered to save Rome in the time of trouble following the death of Pertinax in 193.&nbsp; Septimius won and his coins are common.&nbsp; There are many too many types of Pescennius denarii for them to be as rare as they are.&nbsp; One theory is that they were declared illegal to own and melted by people afraid to be caught with them.&nbsp; We don&#039;t know.&nbsp; Common types like this seem to be known from a dozen or so specimens while many are known from only one.&nbsp; I have seen more than one example of this one in better condition than mine.&nbsp; How many exist?&nbsp; I had to have this one because Septimius also used (stole?) the reverse VICTOR IVST AVG - Victory to the Just Emperor.&nbsp; I do not know why so few people seem to want a Pescennius Niger.&nbsp; I have shown mine on CT several times but who has shown theirs in reply?&nbsp;&nbsp; Of the coins shown here, this one is easily upgradeable assuming you have the cash.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]799627[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>My other Pescennius Niger is a dog condition wise but the only one I have seen with the reverse misspelling EVINTVS in BONI EVENTVS.&nbsp; No one collects Pescennius by type (there are so many rare ones you will never get them all) so its market value is set by its horrid condition.&nbsp; There are worse coins with better spelling. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]799632[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>As a collector of ancient errors, I always value coins that combine errors.&nbsp; Of these, my favorite is this AE2 of Magnentius which is a double strike where the first strike was a brockage.&nbsp; That resulted in a coin with one obverse impression and three reverse impressions of which one was incuse.&nbsp; Usually the mint made no effort to correct errors but on this particular day this particular striking team did something that makes me smile.&nbsp; Value?&nbsp; Not a lot in cash since there is no demand but it means a lot to me.&nbsp; Rare?&nbsp; Very.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]799638[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>As a group, among my favorite coins are the Southern Italy/Magna Gracia coins struck with reverses that were incuse versions of the obverse.&nbsp; The idea was credited to the Pythagoreans who lived in that area at the time if not the Pythagoras himself.&nbsp; These are not errors!&nbsp; They were made that way intentionally.&nbsp; Various cities used various types.&nbsp; Mine is a bull stater from Sybaris.&nbsp;&nbsp; I had a slightly better one but sold it keeping this one which has strong evidence of double striking which I find interesting.&nbsp; It&#039;s value to me exceeded the normal one that was prettier without those extra lines.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]799647[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>My guess is somewhere over a million different ancient coin varieties exist.&nbsp; I am not counting errors and minor die variations.&nbsp; Who has a better guess?&nbsp; I also believe that a similar number of types once existed but have been lost to time.&nbsp; These coins were made by the millions over a period of a thousand years and many civilizations.&nbsp; That required a lot of coins.&nbsp; Dies were cut individually so it was just as easy to change something as to make each one the same.&nbsp; Louis Eliasberg is said to have formed a complete set of US coins up to his day.&nbsp; A complete set of ancients is not a concept we can grasp.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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