Alexander III Tetradrachm - my first ancient one

Hi all,

Just received my first coin and could not be happier. It's incapsulated in a plastic container. A "slab" as I understand it is called. I will probably set the coin free eventually. About a month ago I became interested in ancient coins. I pretty much immediately knew I wanted a coin from Alexander the Great. One issued during his lifetime and minted in Babylon.

Here it is



Details as provided by the seller Sergey Nechayev on vcoins:
Silver Tetradrachm (26mm, 17.15g. ) Babylon c. 325-323 B.C. Life-time issue.
Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin headdress.
Zeus Aëtophoros seated left, holding eagle and sceptre; monogram and M below throne, ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ to right.
Reference: Price 3599.


I hope I did alright

Thanks for looking

 

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Great first coin!

 

Congratulations. That is a beautiful coin. Since you intend to set it free from it's plastic tomb, you will be amazed at holding such a coin in your hand. BTW, welcome to the dark side and to CT Ancients.

 

Ugh. That seller is notorious for WAY overpricing his coins. You overpaid by $1000. I'm sorry, but somebody has to tell you.

 

Great historic coin and a fine specimen.
I also started out with a few Slabs, It is common for new collectors. I hope you stick with it !!

 

what grade assigned to it? is it VF?? if so is there a breakdown for surface and strike?

 

Can't agree more, Nechaev, probably overprices by 100%-500% highest margins I have ever seen, don't get me wrong, he has some quality stuff, but his prices are even higher than HighRatingLowPrices -notorious Ebay seller

 

Please return it, it probably costs below 1K, maybe $400-$600 in this quality, you have an option to cancel your transaction within 6 months if you paid via Credit Card or PayPal

 

I was hesitant to say anything about the seller, but the guys here are calling it as it is. Probably way overpriced.

 

Example:

https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/se...and_luciusfine_style_rare/643582/Default.aspx

was sold at $770, he bought it at $320 at CNG:

https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=336225

 

Yikes- how much did he pay?

 

He paid $1400, In my opinion true cost is around $400-$600

 

Thanks for commenting. And for the advice about price.
The grade is set to XF 5/5 and 4/5. I looked around quite a bit. I actually did not find a life-time, babylon in that grade for cheaper.

 

Wow. I agree, overpriced, unfortunately.

 

Yikes, and I thought I paid a lot when I coughed up $400 for my non-liferime Babylonian Tet

 

ok, I was just saying if this seller sold you for 1400, it probably costs 600.. its up to you what you want to do at this point...we are all here with good intentions, you know..

 

1. It is overgraded. NGC does that. Better to know now than later.
2. You may not be able to find a cheaper slabbed one. You may also be disheartened to hear that NGC actually does not guarantee authenticity on ancient coins.

3. Take a gander at www.vcoins.com. I am sure some members here can recommend dealers for you.

 

Yes no worries. I understand you all mean well. And I thank you for the schooling

 

Yours is not much better than this one, and it costs less than half.

https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/co...fetime_issue_babylon_mint/876001/Default.aspx

 

@Hellbent, welcome to the world of ancient coin collecting!