What floats your boat? Large or small busts

[expat]

Do you have a preference regarding obverse designs? Does the size of the image play a part in your attribution of eye appeal?

Some portrait images are small and delicate like this Crispus with plenty of surface visible

and others are the opposite such as this Constantine with nearlt all the obverse surface occupied

 

Show your examples and what you feel about the size differences.

 

[AETHER]

Oh, those busts.

[shanxi]

If the bust is smaller, there is usually more room for drapery, sceptres etc., which can be quite interesting. That is why I prefer medium bust sizes.

But they should not be too small.  Not like this:

 

Constantinus II (Reg. 317-340 AD)
AE-Follis
Obv: D N FL CL CONSTANTINVS NOB C/ Bust of Constantine II, laureate, draped, left, holding sceptre in right hand and mappa in left hand
Rev: PROVIDEN-TIAE CAESS, Jupiter, nude, chlamys draped across left shoulder, standing left, holding Victory on globe in right hand and leaning on sceptre with left hand Jupiter mit Victoria und Zepter, (palm branch left)/(• on B)//SMN
Ref.: RIC VII, p.605, Nicomedia 35

 

Edited July 17 by shanxi

[Al Kowsky]

17 hours ago, expat said:

Do you have a preference regarding obverse designs? Does the size of the image play a part in your attribution of eye appeal?

Some portrait images are small and delicate like this Crispus with plenty of surface visible

and others are the opposite such as this Constantine with nearlt all the obverse surface occupied

 

Show your examples and what you feel about the size differences.

 

I don't think most collectors care about the size of a portrait in relation to the size of the coin 🤔. The portraits of your two coins are stylistically different, & both well engraved. The Crispus coin is done in a natural Roman style, & the Constantine coin is done in an eastern Oriental style. 

[CPK]

For me, the style of the portrait is more important than the size. 

[MrMonkeySwag96]

Not a fan of those small size busts, they look awkward on a large flan

[-monolith-]

I like big "busts" and I cannot lie, you other brothers can't deny....

Actually the smaller portraits are intriguing but a bit odd, I have yet to purchase one

 

[ambr0zie]

I bought this coin exactly for the small bust. 

Apparently the defects made it less appealing for others - but a LRB with lots of silvering remaining AND a good condition AND cheap is not something I could pass. 

This is my biggest "bust" - tehnically a head 

[AncientCoinnoisseur]

@expat I’d say that a bigger bust/head (like your Constantine) surely leaves more room for face details, although I’m not a fan of ‘huge heads’, especially in that style. They look otherworldly, but I suppose that was their goal, and the coin feels a bit crammed with the lettering (although your example is a really nice one I must say!).
 

Very skilled engravers could fit all the details in a much smaller coin, leaving more space for the lettering without feeling too crammed. See my Vespasian denarius for example:

 

Now, it is a bit tiny, so size-wise I’d say the LRBs like Constantius II are perfect: visible head, with some drapery, tastefully placed lettering and pleasant space around it:

Although when the coin is very tiny, like my Rhodos drachm (15mm), a big head taking the whole obverse is a must, and it can look very nice if done tastefully (and the Greeks were masters in that):

I think Greek coins are my favourites in terms of obverses because of their natural-looking portraits and the absence of lettering. In these cases I’m all for a big head filling the whole flan:

 

A.C.

[LongShanks]

As a mythological coin collector, the busts/heads are the last thing I look at.  The reverse is where most of the action is.   My best coin is one with an amazing rare mythological reverse but with an average bust so my competition isn't as fierce.   With all that said, I picked up a coin recently purely for the bust, which is pretty novel for me.  The obverse heavily outweighed the reverse.  But even better for me is that it had a gorgon on the chest and one of the coolest Aegis where the snakes literally are out and hissing!

P.S. One more crazy thing about this coin is that I suspect it was double struck or overstruck.