Centering

Centering is a measure of the amount of design visible on the flan. Most ancient coins were struck with hand-held dies and less than perfect flans. Perfectly centered coins with every detail on the flan (including all beaded borders) are difficult to find (impossible for some series) and they command premium prices.

Centering is usually described as WELL, AVERAGE or POORLY CENTERED, and is absolute rather than relative to the norm for the issues, although a poorly centered example of a type normally seen poorly centered should be described as "poorly centered as is normal for the type". Centering may be different on each side and if so, should be described as such.

WELL-CENTERED

A "well-centered" coin has the entire design and inscriptions on the flan, although parts of a boarder line may be off the flan as on the example illustrated above.

This Augustus denarius is also well-centered on the obverse but can only be called "fairly well-centered" on the reverse because the tips of some letters are off the edge on the right side of the reverse. This coin also illustrates why centering is an absolute rather than relative, because Augustus denarii of this type are usually somewhat poorly centered, with often less than half the inscriptions on the flan (ie: this is about as good as centering gets on this issue).

Well-centered coins normally command a significant premium, especially if they are types that are not normally found well-centered. There are a few series of coins (such as Roman mid-3rd century AD silver antoninianii) that are normally found well-centered and do not command a premium as such. With enough experience, one learns which coins are normally found well-centered or not.

AVERAGE CENTERING

The majority of ancient coins will be slightly off-center with minor parts of the inscriptions off the edge and as such are of Average Centering. However, average centering is slightly difficult to define because what is off the flan has to be considered as well as how much is off the flan. Most collectors would consider a Roman denarius to be of average centering with a full portrait and at least 80% of the inscriptions present, as long as the Emperor's name is clear. The same collectors may consider the coin to be poorly centered with 80% of the inscriptions present, but the Emperor's name were off the edge.

The same is true for the portrait or main designs. If the tip of the Emperor's hair, or a small part of the bust truncation were just off the edge, many collectors would consider it to be of average centering. If the tip of the Emperor's nose were off the flan, the coin would be considered poorly centered. It basically comes down to how the centering affects the coin eye-appeal.

This Hadrian denarius is a very typical example of average centering. The portrait is almost fully on the flan, with just a very small amount of the lower right corner of the bust off. While a few letters are off the flan on the obverse, the Emperors name is clearly present. On the reverse no letters are fully off the flan, but a few are partly off.

POOR CENTERING

Poor centering is exactly what it sounds like, with important parts of the coin off the edge of the flan.

One should remember that some issues are seldom seen either well or average centered, and may still be very desirable with poor centering. Portrait denarii of Julius Caesar are a good example of this.

This coin clearly demonstrates how centering can be misleading, even when a coin is illustrated. At first glance it appears to be an average centered Roman Republican anonymous denarius of the type listed in RSC as Anonymous-20j. On closer examination, one can see that it is a poorly centered denarius of the moneyer C. Antestius, as listed in RSC as Antestia-1, with much of the inscription identifying the moneyer off the edge just behind Roma's head.

We chose this example as it illustrates the principle of poor centering, but will replace it with a more suitable image when one becomes available. This coin is only poorly centered because the flan was too small to hold the full design, so it better illustrates an example of a small flan on which it is impossible to strike a well-centered coin. If the obverse were moved slightly to the top-right to get the inscriptions on the flan, the front of the helmet visor would be off the flan, as might be the tip of Roma's nose. This coin will be discussed again as an example of a small flan, under the heading of flan characteristics.

As most coins are assumed to be of average centering there is no need to describe a coin as such, but most dealers will do so as such coins generally are worth a premium. However, a poorly centered coin should always be described as such and failure to do so is grounds for a coin being returned to a dealer (assuming no image was provided).

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