Numism > Help For the New Ancient Coin Collector

Rarity rating question

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Johnny:
any links to what the rarity rating signifies

IE. c=common
      c1=?

        r=rare
        r1= ?

Heliodromus:
These are rarity ratings from RIC VII (Roman Imperial Coins, volume 7), and correspond to how many of the coin was found in the collections that the RIC VII authors surveyed.

R5 = 1
R4 = 2-3
R3 = 4-6
R2 = 7-10
R1 = 11-15
S  = 16-21
C1 = 22-30
C2 = 31-40
C3 = 41+

You can't take these to mean anything other than precisely how they are defined. A rarity rating of R5 doesn't mean that only one coins exists - it means that only one coin existed in the collections surveyed, at the time the survey took place. You should take these as roughly indicative of relative rarity, but much has changed since RIC VII was compiled due to new discoveries etc. As an example RIC VII Thessalonica 66 (VIRT EXERC for Constantine I) is rated R5, but I've got photos of 15 specimens that I've seen on sale....

Ben

Johnny:
thank you , 

Robert_Brenchley:
They really mean very little except as a measure of relative rarity. Even then they have to be taken very critically; the flood of finds from the Balkans has left R4's and R5's commoner, in some cases, than common varieties from western mints, in areas where there hasn't been the same mass of finds. Then some appear rarer than they ever really were since museums didn't bother with every variety of say , GLORIA EX. Others may seem commoner than they are because museums made an effort to acquire more interesting types.

I've moved the thread since it didn't seem to be on the most approprate board.

Joe Sermarini:
I have heard from some specialty collectors who have all or almost all the common, scarce and R1 - R3 types for their specialty but are missing some R4 and even more R5.  The ratings are not perfect but I think they are still useful.

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