I love faces.

I love to study them. Men's, women's, children's, babies'.

I am sure people think I am weird when I go up to them and say stuff like: "Look at that jaw line. Such cheekbones.

"Your nose is a marvel.

"Those eyes."

I guess, because I love to draw and paint, I am wired to examine faces and it is hard for me to curb my enthusiasm when I see a particularly striking mug.

Yes, some are more appealing than others, but at the risk of sounding trite, every face has something magnificent. That's unless the person behind acts like a jerk, (big-meanie pundit Ann Coulter comes to mind), which (as in her case) results in any beauty whatsoever to dissipate in a flash.

But most ordinary people have at least one thing special on their countenance. It could be just the color of the eyes, or even a golden fleck in one eye. A mole, a slight curve of the lip, a single eyebrow that raises, or a dimple that widens with a smile.

Yes, there are the lucky few whose every feature works in sublime harmony; I am thinking Antonio Banderas or Vanessa Williams. The rest of us have at least a few flaws, which, depending on your outlook, adds to our uniqueness.

Which brings me to the subject of poor Cleopatra so recently maligned by a coin with her supposed image. The coin had been in a bank for a long, long time and is now on display at Newcastle University in England.

It shows her with a hooked nose, pointy chin? Skinny lips?

Oh my.

According to photos released last month of a coin bearing her image, Cleopatra was no Elizabeth Taylor. The beautiful violet-eyed actress portrayed the ancient Egyptian queen in a tremendously expensive 1963 movie (a fortune in eyeliner alone).

One headline: "Coin shows Cleopatra's ugly truth."

Another: "Ancient coin shows Cleopatra was no beauty."

My response: You can't judge a queen by an old coin. One scholar suggested the depiction on the coin was just a caricature, common in that time, and caricatures are not meant to flatter.

And even if Cleopatra weren't what this society considers beautiful, maybe those features were considered lovely in her day. With the coin, you can't see the color of her eyes, the texture of her skin, or how she smiled.

You can't hear her voice, which may have been lilting, soothing, convincing and reassuring. In short, maybe you had to be in her presence to experience her beauty.

On the other side of the coin was a picture of Cleopatra's significant other, Roman general Mark Antony. He didn't look that hot on the currency either.

No matter. The two obviously found beauty in each other; enough to make a love story last 3,000 years.

And that is beautiful.