Similarly, I prefer SB's John
portrait and overall
obverse legend but mine has the best possible IWA to start the outer
rim and name the ruler. I sincerely doubt there is or ever was a fully clear
obverse legend on a single coin. I bought mine because of the clear I which is important to prove the coin is not a KW of
Constantine XI. The latter's finest known coins are lucky to have a trace of the K but
still get described as EF and 'full
legend' by otherwise reasonable dealers. I will continue to maintain that there is no shame in owning a VG 'best known' and tend to look down on the sellers who figure that their coins are all EF. Collectors unwilling to own a coin that is not EF+ probably should buy
Severus Alexander denarii rather than late, late, late
Byzantine silver.
I would love to see more of these Best of
Type posts involving coins that simply do not exist in EF (or VF for that matter). Stamp collectors have to cope with the fact that the 'Rarest postage stamp' is thinned (damaged) which is a small problem when the thing is as
rare as Silbannicus. Perhaps it would be
good for coin collectors to realize this happens in their hobby as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Guiana_1c_magenta