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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2961528, member: 19463&quot;]I consider this a really good point we who have been in the hobby &#039;a while&#039; might tend to overlook.&nbsp; Sure, I am proud of my rare coins but I really believe that the best coins for beginners would be the most common and most used coins of the time and place.&nbsp; Nerva is a nice coin but his main accomplishment was adopting Trajan whose coins in equal grade will sell for half as much.&nbsp; Many of us love our coins of the 12 Caesars but the beginners might be happier putting off filling out a set with rare &#039;Nobodies&#039; and consider first collecting 12 &#039;Somebodies&#039; in Roman history.&nbsp; We have done this before here and I do not recall exactly who was recommended.&nbsp; If the coins have to be silver the choices become harder unless price is no object.&nbsp; Because of their fame, I might suggest Augustus, Claudius or Nero but if the coins must be silver, I might suggest the first century be represented by Vespasian since he has some economical denarii.&nbsp; On the other end of the Roman time, I would suggest Constantine the Great but his silver is harder to find than silver of his son Constantius II who ruled a very long time and has reasonably priced silver siliquae.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>If I were to suggest 12 Reasonable Romans in mixed metals I would suggest:</p><p><br /></p><p>1. A Republican copper as </p><p>2. A Republican denarius of the Roma/some horses type</p><p>3. A Republican&nbsp; denarius using types notably specific to the moneyer (perhaps a famous relative or a pun on his name)</p><p>4. A coin of Vespasian but not the same metal as #5</p><p>5. A coin of Trajan, Hadrian or Marcus Aurelius but not the same metal as #4</p><p>6. A coin of any <u>woman</u> Antonine through Severans</p><p>7. An antoninianus in silver Caracalla through Philip</p><p>8. A coin of any Gallic emperor (Postumus is best)</p><p>9. A large follis of Diocletian</p><p>10. A coin of Constantine I</p><p>11. A coin of Theodosius I </p><p>12. A small AE4 of any 5th century puppet <u>or</u> a gold solidus of Theodosius II</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m sure if I thought about this I would change some of these but......</p><p>[ATTACH=full]724959[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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