02-09-2003, 02:04 AM
Caius:<br>
Just got the coin back from my numismatist friend. He returned it in a little plastic case compete with a neatly typed label with arcane numismatic abbreviations. Translated, it is roughly thus:<br>
Bronze As of Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-161)<br>
Obverse: profile of the emperor wearing a laurel wreath<br>
Reverse: Fortuna with a cornucopia in one hand, in the other an orb or possibly a patera (no kidding. It was one of her attributes, but so was the wheel. apparently this is too small to be her wheel.<br>
Mint of Rome<br>
SEAR 1194 (this, apparently is a catalogue number)<br>
BMC 1376 (I forgot what he said this means. British Museum something, maybe?)<br>
SEAR 1981 F...(picture a pound symbol here) 12<br>
This means that, in the 1981 edition of the big coin book, in fine condition this was worth 12 quid. In the condition it's now in, it's a $2 coin.<br>
My friend usually charges a $5 appraisal fee (free this time) so the appraisal costs 2 1/2 times the value of the coin.<br>
But this is great. In what other field can you own something so historical, so evocative, so utterly cool for just two bucks?<br>
Grtting back to the movies, we could note some odd casting coincidences. For instance: David Hemmings, who was the hero in "Alfred the Great," was the fruity, bewigged Master of Ceremonies in the Colosseum in "Gladiator." Anybody notice any other strange juxtapositions? <p></p><i></i>
Just got the coin back from my numismatist friend. He returned it in a little plastic case compete with a neatly typed label with arcane numismatic abbreviations. Translated, it is roughly thus:<br>
Bronze As of Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-161)<br>
Obverse: profile of the emperor wearing a laurel wreath<br>
Reverse: Fortuna with a cornucopia in one hand, in the other an orb or possibly a patera (no kidding. It was one of her attributes, but so was the wheel. apparently this is too small to be her wheel.<br>
Mint of Rome<br>
SEAR 1194 (this, apparently is a catalogue number)<br>
BMC 1376 (I forgot what he said this means. British Museum something, maybe?)<br>
SEAR 1981 F...(picture a pound symbol here) 12<br>
This means that, in the 1981 edition of the big coin book, in fine condition this was worth 12 quid. In the condition it's now in, it's a $2 coin.<br>
My friend usually charges a $5 appraisal fee (free this time) so the appraisal costs 2 1/2 times the value of the coin.<br>
But this is great. In what other field can you own something so historical, so evocative, so utterly cool for just two bucks?<br>
Grtting back to the movies, we could note some odd casting coincidences. For instance: David Hemmings, who was the hero in "Alfred the Great," was the fruity, bewigged Master of Ceremonies in the Colosseum in "Gladiator." Anybody notice any other strange juxtapositions? <p></p><i></i>
