Where do YOU draw the line? Syracuse Deka Repair

I agree too, adding, removing or re-shaping metal is wrong.

 

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I'm not impressed with what has been done to a beautiful coin. If it has been done to that one then it could also be done to the as yet unidentified Alexander the Great tet I want to buy this year. And that is just not on.

 

The whole discussion brought this lovely repair to mind:

 

As someone who is looking for an Euainetos dekadrachm, I would never consider this coin after the repair. It would seem like others agree as it has been on VCoins for many months, at progressively lower prices.

Is it still worth something? Yes, but it would have to be substantially discounted for me - $85K is $85K and many, many other undamaged coins could be purchased for that sum.

 

The whole enjoyment of collecting ancient coins is the originality of the antique and the history behind it, so in my view the ding on the cheek is part of it's long history and filling (tooling) destroys that.

 

It's ok if it brings a coin that I MUST have into my price-range

 

Agree,, but $85K is so much past that range it might as well be $10Billion

 

Problem is people doing this nefariously charge MUCH MORE than the coin cost before...

 

Ironic though, for I'm sure the dude thought he was making the coin "better" with his improvements, yes?

It's a bit like watching American/Canadian Pickers and then watching that Restoration show ... I cringe every time they decide to "restore" a sweet ol' antique!!

 

I realize I am in the minority with this but I appreciate the professional work that's been done on the coin. The ding may well have happened in modern times as it is quite common for ancient coins to get nicks, scrapes and dings from excavating tools when they're dug up from the ground. I'd rather the coin look like it quite possibly did for more than 2,000 years than what it may have for the last 100.

 

I was planning on buying this coin but after all of these negative posts I am not sure anymore.

 

I think this is an interesting idea. Sort of like my grandfather could take his teeth in and out.

 

i draw the line when i am spending more then 10k to complete a set

 

I am with others. A repair like this is simply tooling. While smoothing is a continuum which I can be comfortable at a certain point, tooling is anathema to me. Once an ancient coin is tooled, it really ceases to be a collectible ancient coin to me at any price, since I have no idea what detail is real and which is fake.

So, to me, (not that it matters since I am not in the market for one), its value is really zero now.

 

So, let me get this straight. Hypothetically, we'll say this is my coin I'm willing to sell to you for, let's say, $100. You would turn it down because someone filled a mar on the cheek. Hmmm. I guess I'm not that choosy. For the right price this coin is coming home with papa. But not anywhere near $85k. That's a planet too far.

 

Should the question ever turn non-hypothetical, I'll buy it from you, Bing .

 

Let's talk about a coin I am in the market for, an Antony and Cleo Antioch tet. If I knew the piece was tooled, no I would not pay money for it. I want a real coin, and IMHO once a coin is tooled its not really a coin anymore, more of a modern fantasy piece.

Can there be grades? Somewhat. If I received this coin in a group lot I would not throw it out, but I also would not take it out to.admire it often due to knowing it was tooled.

I am not picky either about grade, but tooling simply makes me hate the coin, and not want to look at it. If that is the case, why buy something you refuse to look at?

Now, if someone would tell me someone could reverse this to be back to original condition, of course I would be interested.

 

I would prefer the coin in its unaltered state, as I also avoid tooled and otherwise modified pieces whenever possible.

This one looks like it was done fairly skillfully. While I would never have done it, nor paid to have it done, the result is not a coin I would be ashamed to have in my cabinet. I have seen US coins labelled "repaired," or "plugged" that I couldn't immediately detect without magnification, and I would own those type of coins as well.

I would expect to pay a significant discount for the lack of originality, however. I have no idea what the piece would sell for without the repair, so I couldn't even begin to speculate what I'd hypothetically pay for it if I won the lotto.

 

Just a minor remark to the discussion. ArtAncient mention this on their website:

• Minor mark to cheek of Arethusa restored with resin and fully reversible, if so desired.