Marcus Aurelius Denarius

I see wear on the five curls nearest the ear and the top of the beard. The two ridges in the ear are just starting to merge. On the reverse, most wear is on the two vertical bands from the waist to the bottom of the skirt. I'd call it a nice strike VF+. IMHO on ancients, detail lost to striking and detail lost to wear affect grade equally. You do not apply US coin standards to ancients. I have only a couple coins I consider EF. Below is one.


The obverse is pretty much wear free with almost no flattening on the tops of the curls and good micro detail on the laurel leaves - not just the outer edges of each leaf which would make the coin VF. The reverse has some wear on the highest points of the figure which, along with the terrible centering, keeps the coin from being FDC. AU is a US grade not usually applied to ancients so I'd call this one EF with an obligatory note mentioning the reverse being off center.

Being 2000 years old does not make it OK for a coin to claim to be a higher grade. There is nothing wrong with collecting G-VG coins and VF+ coins like the OP Aurelius are super great that any of us should love to own. We still need to make room at the top for coins with perfect strikes, no wear and that have escaped forces of corrosion and damage from improper cleaning. They exist by the hundreds - maybe thousands - I just rarely afford them. My Septimius never would have become mine were it not for the terrible centering on the reverse.

If you don't apply US standards to ancients, then why are some being encapsulated. Which seems kind of silly to me, but to each their own as the old saying goes.

Right now, I find it difficult to own any coin in the VF grade range. You see most of the coins I post, that's what I can afford. But believe me, I wouldn't mind owning some higher grade coins.

For now, I just try to find coins where there is enough detail to see what it is and get as clear legends as possible. Maybe one day I will try to get coins with near perfect strikes and VF+ to XF.

It is. The only thing to bring this coin down a a very small notch is the weak strike at 3 o'clock on the reverse. Otherwise, it doesn't look like it has seen much wear and the original strike was very good. I'd say very fine.