"John Norman - Gor 19 - Kajira of Gor" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norman John)

I did not understand what they were talking about.
“Do not see such a woman merely in terms of such predictable and
luscious commonalities,” said the first man.
“You see clearly her potential for us, do you not?”
“Of course,” said the second man.
I did not understand them.
“Turn on the fan,” said the first man.
I then felt a cool breeze, blown by the large fan in front of me. In the
heat of the lights this was welcome.
“This coin, or medal, or whatever it is, is very puzzling,” had said the
gentle, bespectacled man, holding it by the edges with white, cotton gloves, and
then placing it down on the soft felt between us. He was an authenticator, to
whom I had been referred by a professional numismatist. His task was not to
appraise coins but to render an informed opinion on such matters as their type
and origin, where this might be obscure, their grading, in cases where a
collaborative opinion might be desired, and their genuineness.
“Is it genuine?” I asked.
“Who sold you this piece,” asked the man, “a private party? What did you
pay for it?”
“It was given to me,” I said, “by a private party.”
“That is extremely interesting,” said the man.
“Why?” I asked.
“It rules out an obvious hypothesis,” said the man. “Yet such a thing
would be foolish.”
“I do not understand,” I said.
“Puzzling,” he mused, looking down at the coin on the felt between us,
“puzzling.”
I regarded him.
“This object,” lie said, “has not been struck from machine-engraved dies.
Similarly, it is obviously not the result of contemporary minting techniques and
technology. It is not the product, for example, of a high-speed, automated coin
press.”
“I do not understand,” I said.
 “It has been struck by hand,” he said. “Do you see how the design is
slightly off center?”
“Yes,” I said.
“That is a feature almost invariably present in ancient coins,” he said.
“The planchet is warmed, to soften the metal. It is then placed between the dies
and the die cap is then struck, literally, with a hammer, impressing the design of
the obverse and reverse simultaneously into the planchet.”
“Then it is an ancient coin?” I asked.
“That seems unlikely,” he said. “Yet the techniques used in striking this
coin have not been used, as far as I know, for centuries.”
“What sort of coin is it?” I asked.
“Too,” he said, “note how it is not precision milled. It is not made for
stacking, or for storage in rolls.”
I looked at him. It did not seem to me he was being too clear with me. He
seemed independently fascinated with the object.
“Such coins were too precious perhaps,” he said. “A roll of them might be
almost inconceivable, particularly in the sense of having many such rolls.”