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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2696982, member: 19463&quot;]Why is a question that rarely has a really satisfactory answer.&nbsp; That is why toddlers trying to get on parental nerves ask it so often.&nbsp; Today I got my third coin from the third officina of the Maximianus HER KOY LI series that I have posted here so many times and even have a page if there is anyone new here who cares to be introduced to it.</p><p><a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/code.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/code.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/code.html</a></p><p>The &#039;why&#039; of this post is to ask &#039;why?&#039; not to provide valid answers.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]606130[/ATTACH]</p><p>Why did I win this coin?&nbsp; I won because I was the only bidder.&nbsp; Everyone else thought it was not worth the opening bid.&nbsp; I bid on it mistakenly assuming that I would win one or two of the other coins in the sale on which I had bid more strongly and adding this would dilute the postage cost.&nbsp; Don&#039;t assume.&nbsp; I was outbid on the others.&nbsp; This new one cost nearly double the other two shown below combined.&nbsp; They were bargains.&nbsp; I was a fool. It won&#039;t be the last time.</p><p><br /></p><p>Why did I want this coin at any price considering I had the others below?&nbsp; There are three versions of each of the three parts of the name Her Koy Li (Hercules).&nbsp; This is the one I lacked.&nbsp; Gamma for officina three is in the right field rather than in the middle or start of the exergual legend.&nbsp; Why did they make three variations based on this placement?&nbsp; I would love to know.&nbsp;&nbsp; The new coin also has a portrait head rather than the military bust.&nbsp; That means a set of the three reverse placements from three officinae and two bust types would be 18 coins.&nbsp; Trying for that set would seem a bit obsessive.&nbsp; Right?</p><p>[ATTACH=full]606131[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>I suppose we might allow for the possibility of other variations or errors.&nbsp; The coin below with gamma at the start of the exergue has a rather clear A where it should have a lambda.&nbsp; We rather often see errors caused by Greek language diecutters getting confused when working in Latin.&nbsp; This Siscia mint worker may not have been all that strong in Greek.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]606132[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>By my standards all three of my coins are good enough for my collection.&nbsp; The new one is least clean with many colors of deposits and tone on it surfaces.&nbsp; Fans of Wabi-Sabi&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/wabisabi.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/wabisabi.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/wabisabi.html</a>&nbsp;&nbsp; may not see this as altogether bad.&nbsp; The coin also has strange die style.&nbsp; Compare the bodies of the three Hercules figures. Which is body builder and which might be a bit effeminate?&nbsp; Which emperor figure has realistic legs?&nbsp; Which has beady little sticks?&nbsp; Compare the three clubs held by Hercules.&nbsp; I&#039;m building a case for looking closely at little things when selecting your coins.&nbsp; I am not suggesting you buy them all.&nbsp; That is the sort of thing done by fools like me - not by normal collectors.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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