I am trying to understand Numista's position on types and varieties.
Recently I tried to enter a 1965 Canadian one cent coin.
Before I could tell Numista I had one, I needed to figure out which of four varieties I owned. I am not a collector of Canadian cents, so it was a bit of work to figure out the shape of a particular serif and my bead size. The was no way to say “1965 don't care”.
I also tried to enter an ancient Greek coin, from the town of Leukas. In this case there were three types:
Those three types aren’t linked. I realize they come actual coins in catalogs: SNG-B Lock, SNG Cop, and HGC. I see them as varieties:
Obverse: Gorgon with tongue protruding vs Gorgon with no tongue
Reverse: Pegasus flying left vs Pegasus flying right; Pegasus with straight wings vs Pegasus with curved wings.
Because they aren’t linked as a single Numista N#, it is difficult for the collector to know what the criteria is to decide which coin. Because Numista doesn’t report population, only percentages, we won’t know which varieties are common and which are scarce.
The type “gorgon/Pegasus” actually occurs at a number of ancient Greek mints that were colonies of Corinth. The mints are: Leukas, Medeon / Medion, Corinth, and “tribal imitation”.
The problem is that some catalogs, such as SNG-B Lock and SNG Cop represent actual coins in collections, and other catalogs such as HGC do not. Is there a way to say my coin is an unlisted variety of the type, because it differs in some small way?
For the first time I entered a photograph of my coin. It is a private photograph. Is there a way to make it public?
