My first acquisition of 2015

Very rare coin! I can't make sense of it, but my winning bid was 40% of its price realized in a September, 2013 auction!?!


Selinus, Sicily, AR didrachm, 24 mm, 8.37 g, 9h, c 460-440 BC. OBV: Σ-Ε-ΛΙ-NO-TI-ON; Heracles, naked, to right, raising left leg and pressing knee against Cretan bull and grasping its horn with left hand, brandishing club in right hand / REV: HYΨ-AΣ; river-god Hypsas, nude, standing left, holding branch and patera, pouring libation over altar around which a serpent twines; to right, heron walking right; above, celery leaf.

 

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A very attractive coin that I thought about bidding on myself! Heritage left out that it was also sold by NAC in 2012: http://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1275303 - the price doesn't include the buyer's premium so it ended up selling for about what you paid.

However, I suspect part of that was due to NAC's images, which make the metal look worse than it probably is (I haven't seen it in hand).

When your coin sold previously at Heritage, they took a nice pair of images, which probably helped produce a stronger price. The buyer at that point (the "California Collection"'s collector) was also paying somewhat strong prices across the board when buying his coins but then suddenly decided to sell them in this sale, and I was told that he was informed he may be taking a loss on them, which he was fine with.

Overall, the nicer coins from this Heritage auction went rather cheap. I bought three quality five-figure coins that I didn't expect to win, all at around 50% of their lowest previous sale price.

Personally, I hypothesize that this is primarily due to a fantastic offering of coins coming up at CNG tomorrow. Having two large sales back-to-back puts pressure on the market and I've seen that the earlier sale tends to lose out, which definitely seems to be the case here.

Congratulations on a great coin, and I'm glad I decided to not go after it as I would have ended up making it more expensive for you! I think it was definitely a case of good timing and a good eye on your part!

 

Beautiful coin!

 

A really stand-out obverse, wonderfully busy reverse, great state of preservation, and oh and did you say rare? What an excellent coin... congrats!

 

wow....what a beauty.

 

Yes, I was surprised, too, at the weak prices many of the coins were bringing at the Heritage sale. And thanks for not bidding on this one...lol I think you're right about bidders holding back due to CNG tomorrow. I'm high bidder on 5 Triton XVIII coins, but don't expect to win any of them!

 

Awesome coin, and sweet deal.

 

This thread actually began the New York acquisitions with #1, but at the time of posting, I didn't realize there would be more to follow. I also didn't realize the subsequent anguish it would entail. During the auction, I called Heritage and left a message to 1) hold the coin in NY for pickup, and 2) remove it from the !!?#?!!@?! NGC slab. When I arrived in NY, it had already been shipped to Dallas...GRRRR! When it arrived at my home, it was STILL IN THE SLAB!! Two simple instructions and neither of them followed. Obviously, I'm very disappointed in HA...

 

I wasn't aware HA removed coins from slabs. If I ran a major auction house, I wouldn't do it for risk of damaging the coin. I would let the buyer be in charge of cracking it out.

 

They will do it if requested. Please excuse the rant, but I've hated slabs since the time when US coins first appeared in these ugly little plastic prisons. I realize many collectors feel the need of reassurance that their purchases are genuine and "expertly" graded. It doesn't apply to US or world coins, but with ancient coins, in my opinion, this ruins one of the joys of ownership: handling and feeling an object that was created more than 2,000 years ago! Certification companies be damned!

 

Great coin Super

 

Well, I feel the same way about keeping a coin in a slab, but I have bought some encapsulated coins, as you have. In a few instances, I was happy to see the coins authenticated by NGC because I trust David Vagi and his crew, and the coins were pricey, and not being sold by a dealer that specializes in ancients. In other cases, a coin I happened to really want just happened to be in a slab, so what can you do? Buy the coin and crack it out of course.

 

This was my first and last encapsulated purchase. I don't know how to remove a coin from a slab, so I'm forced to ship it back to HA, thus decreasing my time spent with a new acquisition and increasing my frustration.

 

In all my years collecting Ancients, I have only purchased one coin in a slab. I ended up breaking apart the slab piece by piece till I was able to remove the coin.

 

With NGC slabs I've not had any problem or accidents when removing the coin from the slab.

I put the slab on edge on a towel and use a regular hammer, striking the edge at the junction of the label and lower case. Sometimes another blow or two is required; do the same on the other side. The goal is not to blast it apart but to separate the seam. Striking in these two specific locations usually splits the seam. The last two I did this way worked quite well. I opened the slab like a book after the two blows.

There is of course some risk of abrasion as the coin rubs against the momentarily displaced plastic. A slower alternative is to use a hacksaw.

 

Nice representations and a good provenance too. It probably looks even better in hand. Congrats.

 

=> hammer and towel ... tap-tap-tap-Tap-TAp-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP

Oh, and absolutely fabulous coin (totally jealous of that sweet animal-coin) ... very, very cool

 

I just tried your hammer and towel method, very gently and holding my breath the entire time, and...IT WORKED!! Now it doesn't have to travel to Dallas and back! It can stay with me! Thanks a lot, Steve!

 

I should have thanked TIF, too, as she was the first to suggest the hammer and towel method!

 

Great! It's a nice feeling to free the prisoners, isn't it?