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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;AncientJoe, post: 2344157, member: 44357&quot;]I agree, and what&#039;s great about ancients is that you don&#039;t need to fit any particular narrow region (i.e. just Mercury Dimes or Morgan Dollars). The Roman Republic has a tremendous amount of history, although I will say that Greece has a great amount to offer from a historical perspective as well, but that it is a bit less accessible overall. Perhaps the breadth of Greece is a bit of a detriment to appreciating all of the moving parts.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Roman Republic can also be a jumping off point into some portions of Greece, like Carthage, the infamous enemy of Rome, which minted this stater around 260 BC:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i1028.photobucket.com/albums/y342/AncientJoe/Tanit_zpsmhzwindh.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Also, to add to the discussion, this coin would probably grade &quot;MS&quot; or &quot;Ch MS&quot; at NGC, but I&#039;d still be hesitant to call it truly &quot;FDC&quot;. It&#039;s close, but not quite 100% perfect. The definitions they use for each grade are different than how ancients have been graded historically but they use (mostly) the same grade names. Even if NGC were perfectly consistent in their own terminology/grading, they aren&#039;t consistent with the broader ancient collecting world, which results in many clashes.</p><p><br /></p><p>This quote from NGC&#039;s website is somewhat helpful, but their grades still leave a lot to be desired:</p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;The grades of NGC Ancients will in some cases be higher than the “net grades” assigned elsewhere in the marketplace. Some coins described as Choice VF in an auction catalog might be graded EF or AU by NGC Ancients if the absence of detail is caused by worn dies and / or a weak strike rather than by actual wear. In such cases, the grade will be assigned accurately and the negative aspects of strike weakness and / or worn dies will be reflected in a low score for Strike.&quot;</i></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.ngccoin.com/specialty-services/ancient-coins/grading.aspx" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.ngccoin.com/specialty-services/ancient-coins/grading.aspx" rel="nofollow">https://www.ngccoin.com/specialty-services/ancient-coins/grading.aspx</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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