How 'Rare' Can A 'Common' Coin Be? - Coin Community Forum

To participate in the forum you must log in or register.

Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 1,893
bobbyhelmet Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 2838 Posts	Posted 05/28/2012 7:11 pm I posted this in another thread today and as its not going to win any beauty contests (some would call it just plain ugly!) I decided to try and upgrade it by finding a better example this afternoon. I remember when I bought it I'd had trouble finding any examples at all so bought it regardless of quality. IMP LICINIVS PF AVG - Bust right, laureate, cuirassed, from front.GENIO POPV-LI ROMANI - Genius naked standing left, tower on head, holding patera and cornucopiae, chlamys over left shoulder.RQ - Rome 312-313AD, RIC VI Rome 294c (p387), rated common. 22mm and 3.74 grams RIC lists it as common and it is one of 19 very similar variants from Rome. 60 rarer variants are also listed as being made at Alexandria. I've just spent about 4 hours trawling the net looking for one of these coins and not found a single one! Not just one for sale but not even a single picture of any variant GENIO POPVLI ROMANI minted under Licinius I've looked at Wildwinds, ebay, Vcoins and a number of other resources I usually use including Google picture search. If anyone knows of any good websites could they have a look for me and let me know how they get on please. No matter how rare a coin is you can usually find a few for sale somewhere in the world and failing that there are always pictures on reference sites so how can I be have trouble with this 'common' coin Report this Post to the Staff

Bing Pillar of the Community United States 4253 Posts	Posted 05/28/2012 7:35 pm I seem to recall you posting this coin before. And I seem to recall trying to find another at that time, but to no avail. I checked my coins, and the only Licinius I GENIO POP ROM coins I have were struck at London and no match at all. BUT, I do have a couple of Maximinus II Daia Follis' struck at Trier, Siscia and Heraclea which appear close to your coin's reverse. I know this is not much help, so I'll keep looking. Report this Post to the Staff
bobbyhelmet Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 2838 Posts	Posted 05/28/2012 7:42 pm No probs mate, thanks for looking As a kind of control experiment and just to confirm I hadn't forgot how to search the net effectively I've just picked an R5 rarity Constantius II coin I own and decided to search for another one on the net. It took me 60 seconds to find an exact same coin on the net! Not just a similar one with a different minmark, the exact same coin. How can I / we not find a single documented example on the net of a coin that has around 80 variants Its got me confused. Just to confirm to anyone else who searches all I'm looking for is any coin of Licinius I with any obverse legend and a GENIO POPVLI ROMANI reverse legend. Report this Post to the Staff
dougsmit Pillar of the Community United States 1549 Posts	Posted 05/28/2012 8:18 pm I have several Genius reverse Licinius but none are with that exact legend. That means nothing considering that there are a million coin variations and I have never sought them out. Few dealers would even look at a coin of that nature unless they thought they had a sale. I wonder sometimes if the rarity numbers were based on a find years ago which was distributed to museums that were polled by RIC so a find of 20 coins could result in a C rating even if there were no more ever found again. Certainly it works both was since I have seen several examples of multiple r5 coins. RIC rarity ratings are guides and were never intended to be worshiped as they have come to be. When a new find makes a previous rarity available, it makes sense that there might be more than one available. I suspect that you will have trouble finding them again in a few years when the new supply has been absorbed into the collectors' hands. Many coins sell several times dealer to dealer to investor before someone who wants the coin puts it away for a long term. Today with some of us showing coins that are not for sale with some frequency, you may see more things than back in the day when we bought them and put them away never to be seen for decades. Traditional wisdom is to buy a coin when you see them offered commonly since they may run out of dealer stock and then buyers will have to find a collector who is willing to sell. I would really like to know what percentage of coins offered are new finds and what are resales from old collections. Most I see look like recent finds. Many I really want look like they have been in collections before. Report this Post to the Staff
bobbyhelmet Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 2838 Posts	Posted 05/28/2012 8:59 pm Quote: I wonder sometimes if the rarity numbers were based on a find years ago which was distributed to museums that were polled by RIC so a find of 20 coins could result in a C rating even if there were no more ever found again. I can certainly see how this could have happened, a chance sizeable find turned over to a museum who then shared the coins with other museums and bingo, 'C' rating. As these coins are not particularly beautiful or significant historically and other Licinius coins are around in abundance I doubt they have been studied much and I guess thats why when they do turn up they are usually 'under the radar' unlike the perceived rarity in the series Domitius Domitianus. I don't usually get 'hung up' on rarity, certainly not 'inter-series' over a legend gap or anything small like that but this coin has really puzzled me. I have R5s that I would happily give away as I'm sure they could be found again if I really wanted one but for every variant of an Emperors coin in this series to seem to be so hard to find I would have thought some collector somewhere down the like would have noticed this. I bet anyone collecting a set of these coins and the 8 Emperors who produced them wouldn't think the well know Licinius would be the hardest one to find! Report this Post to the Staff
jessvc1 Pillar of the Community United States 2596 Posts	Posted 05/29/2012 5:02 pm Ok bobbyhelmet I've looked all over the Internet and can't find 1 example for sale so this is a tough one. It is now one of my goals to get one of these nice coins. Thanks for bringing this up I would of never guessed. I thought this was a common reverse type. Guess not for this emperor. Report this Post to the Staff
bobbyhelmet Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 2838 Posts	Posted 05/29/2012 5:59 pm Thanks for looking Jesse Quote: It is now one of my goals to get one of these nice coins. Thanks for bringing this up I would of never guessed. I thought this was a common reverse type. Guess not for this emperor. Good stuff, keep me informed if you do find one - I too thought it would be common but it seems to be a very difficult one to locate, good luck. Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 6 / Views: 1,893

To participate in the forum you must log in or register.

All Forums Category: World Coins and Currency Forums Forum: Ancient, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Coins

Silver Gold Bull US is the United States leading bullion dealer. We deliver gold coins, gold bars, silver coins, silver bars and precious metals to your door. Order today!

The First Dollar, your premier source for bullion and rare coins. See our bullion list on the site and the coin inventory on ebay.

View Last 100 New Topics

View Last 100 Active Topics

Disclaimer: While a tremendous amount of effort goes into ensuring the accuracy of the information contained in this site, Coin Community assumes no liability for errors. Copyright 2005 - 2026 Coin Community Family- all rights reserved worldwide. Use of any images or content on this website without prior written permission of Coin Community or the original lender is strictly prohibited.
Contact Us | Advertise Here | Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

Coin Community Forum

It took 0.25 seconds to rattle this change.