Gone Out On A Limb

I've come across coins with full detail obverses only to turn the coin over to the reverse being a mess. I hope this is not the case on your coin. Tetricus II coins are not easy to find.

I was amazed at the high price of good Tetricus II coins recently, even the bad ones were a lot more than I expected. Its always nice to take a bit of a gamble every now and then, adds to the excitement!

I'd put money on the reverse being Spes - dont forget to let us know!

Impulsiveness wise I'm the same as you, poor descriptions, mis-attributions, distant pictures, all these catch my attention. I even bid on auctions were the seller has not, or has failed when adding pictures, as said above its all part of the fun of bargain hunting.

I've just bought an 'unidentified Roman coin' sold with grainy small pictures for £1.43 inc postage! I can see enough to ID it to Carausius, I can also see enough to tell its as good as some of the £30-40 ones on 'Buy it Now' on ebay. Looking forward to getting it in hand!

And you win! I received the coin today and the obverse is as good or better than the image the seller used. However, the reverse is very poor. Perhaps the poorest of all my Tetricus II coins. It is different though. My other three are all RIC 270, SPES AVGG. This one is RIC 272, SPES PVBLICA. I took a gamble and, although I didn't win, I think I broke even on this one. It's not the reverse I was hoping for, but it is definitely a very nice obverse.

So here are the images of this coin. As I said,great obverse, lousy reverse. But for the price, not bad at all.

I read this entire thread ... understood nothing ... and honestly feel humbled to be amongst such knowledge as you folks exhibit on the topic.

I have absolutely zero knowledge regarding ancient coins ... but truly do appreciate the fine detail in the obverse of this coin.

Strokes my imagination to think this might have been made almost 2000 years ago ... and survived to this day.

Perhaps I should learn a bit about these fascinating coins.

David

I think you have expressed the thoughts of most of us when we began collecting Ancients. I like to imagine all the possibilities one of my coins has experienced. It doesn't matter that most of what we imagine never happened. It's the possibilities! And, unlike modern coins that have to be handled with care, most of my coins I hold from time to time always thinking of who else may have held it. I have been alive a few dozen years now. But that is nothing compared to 2000 years of history.

We have all come into this hobby with more or less a vague knowledge of Ancients. Perhaps as little as the name on a coin. Julius Caesar, Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Hadrian, Commodus just to name a few. In time we have learned the deities, titles, denominations, size, weight, attribution tables, etc, etc. But it all boils down to a love for the history. History in general, but history of each individual coin as well.

Stick around nickelsearcher. We'll get you interested in these coins. And when the bug bites, you'll have to scratch.