Hey everyone who's going to the Baltimore coin show? I plan to go Saturday Morning......should be a great show lots of vendors
I'll be going Paddy, but on Friday with a few of the guys from my coin club. I go to all the Baltimore shows...one of the best going IMO. Bruce
Well I went to the coin show. I took along my 1887 O Vam 2, Double 1, Triple 7 with me. I wanted to do some trading, and I showed it to a dealer. He told me the coin was a slider and had too many hits, and only worth 70 dollars. When I got the same coin at the same coin show a couple of years ago, the dealer told me it was at LEAST an MS 64! So as you see two VERY different opinions. The pics aren't the best, but it will give you an idea of what the coin looks like. A 2nd dealer said, he wouldn't touch the coin, and "no one care's about VAMs, there are so many."
Nice coin thro I am thinking today was not the day to buy or sell as the show just opened ...thinking they would be more so willing to deal late Saturday /Sunday as most dealers are testing the waters as to if the show profits are going to be in the black not the red ink.
The coin is a denarius issued by Gnaius Gellius c.138BC showing a head of Roma in a wreath on the obverse with denomination mark X (for denarius= 10 asses). The reverse legend reads CN GEL / ROMA and shows Mars abducting Nerio a goddess of Sabine origin and probably was chosen by the moneyer since his family was of Samnite origin. It is believed that this moneyer may be the same man who later wrote a history of Rome (now lost, I believe). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnaeus_Gellius I am going to the show Saturday and would have seriously considered buying this coin had you left it for me. My only concern about the coin is the speckling on the reverse which I would want to examine under magnification and would expect the coin to have been priced down accordingly. I'll guess I'd pay around $80-100 but would need to examine the coin before really being able to say that. This one has a small flan and loses a lot of the obverse wreath which distinguishes the type from being just another Roma/Chariot coin of which there are so many. The small flan also cuts into the two heads in the chariot which again would be nice to have clearly on the flan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerio According to what I see, the coin is not the most common but also not really a rare one. Compare: http://www.acsearch.info/search.htm...n=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ol=1&sort=&c=&a=&l=#2
I was at the show on Friday. I spent $1100 but I took some PCGS graded coins with me too. Seemed like I showed them to a dozen dealers but no one was buying! I was surprised, being that I was spending money at their tables and I had PCGS graded flying eagle cents. 90% of them didn't even ask what I needed for them. They just glanced and said "not for me". On the bright side, though, I picked up a ton of coins pretty cheap for myself!
Here is my Balto puckup........1826 Capped Bust Half Dollar O-116a BTW, it was nice to meet you Paddy
At the Baltimore show a dealer had a denarius of Gnaius Gellius (same type as above) with perfect obverse centering and good looking reverse except for the head of the riders in the chariot were off flan. It had good surfaces. He wanted $125 and refused my offer of $100 so he still had it when I left Saturday. After seeing the well centered obverse, I'm spoiled on this type. It is a lot prettier with the complete wreath. I should have bought the coin but had already bought 13 coins and spent way over my usual for a show so I was getting cheap by 4PM when I saw it. My finds are being posted in scattered fashion in the CT Ancient section. Baltimore was a good show to me but some dealers said it was slow and most were laving early Saturday afternoon. The fact is that many of them are only there to buy/sell with each other and were either out of money or out of the mood by Saturday. I heard Thursday was good.
