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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 741136, member: 19463&quot;]The OP did ask for reasons and I&#039;m not the one who listed Decius or Hostilian but both have some merit for coin collectors.&nbsp; I even listed Decius as a back up choice when I wrote my page on the subject of selecting a specialty back in 1997:</p><p><a href="http://dougsmith.ancients.info/special.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://dougsmith.ancients.info/special.html" rel="nofollow">http://dougsmith.ancients.info/special.html</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>First: If your book denies Hostilian, get a different book.&nbsp; Just because it is printed on paper does not make it truth.&nbsp; Hostilian has coins as Caesar under his father Decius and as Augustus under Trebonianus Gallus who elevated the child as co-emperor to justify his taking over as the legitimate successor to Decius.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Why Decius:</p><p>My problem with the selection and attraction to the selection both use the same reasons.&nbsp; It just depends on what you want.&nbsp; The history of the time is not all that cut and dried due to the lack of contemporary histories.&nbsp; Similarly, the coinage system and mint identifications are not fully agreed upon.&nbsp; You may consider this confusion or an opportunity to contribute with further study.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Decius has more than one mint (3?) identifiable by style but did not use mintmarks that make things too easy. Many of his coins are interesting types relating to events or places.&nbsp; He does not have an endless series of gods and personifications with multiple dating devices.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>He was original with denominations compared to other rulers of the period.&nbsp; He has the last semis and the first AE double sestertius (which is a fine looking coin in high grade if you have a few thousand $ available for the project.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Many (not all) students assign to him the DIVO series where he honored all the consecrated emperors before him.&nbsp; Considering his position on Christians making sacrifice to the cult of the emperor, one could imagine a connection with these coins but nothing here is concrete.&nbsp; It is, however, interesting.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Decius had a face best described as &#039;interesting&#039;.&nbsp; Some dies are plain old boring but some remind you of the ugly phase of late Caracalla.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Decius is interesting in a historical sense but much of the data is less than certain.&nbsp; It is relatively certain that he was the first emperor to die at the hands of a foreign enemy but the degree of his involvement with the end of Philip and Gallus&#039; involvement with the end of Decius are matters less than certain (depending on whose book you read).&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Like my choice Septimius, there are interesting/rare items of Decius available for cherrypicking.&nbsp; Not all coin dealers charge extra for the ones you don&#039;t see everyday.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Finally, there will be a place in my heart for any ruler who issued a coin in my collection that I considered interesting enough to warrent a page of its own on my site:</p><p><a href="http://dougsmith.ancients.info/feac51dec.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://dougsmith.ancients.info/feac51dec.html" rel="nofollow">http://dougsmith.ancients.info/feac51dec.html</a></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Each of us will collect what we prefer based on our own reasons.&nbsp; Some will consider the best collection to be the one with the most rare coins while others will prefer coins of the guys who made a difference in a historical sense.&nbsp; If you don&#039;t consider Decius an interesting guy, feel free to select from a couple hundred other people whose names appear on coins and leave Decius rarities to those who will appreciate them.&nbsp; <b>Coin Talk</b> is interesting to me because of the variation in opinions as to what is collectable.&nbsp; At any coin show you are likely to find as many examples of &#039;Rare&#039; Lincoln cents as the entire world supply of many &#039;scarce&#039; ancient coins.&nbsp; Some of us find interest in having the finest while others want the most.&nbsp; Some Decius; others Pius.&nbsp; Whatever floats your boat...[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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