slabbed ancients

Doing a search on ebay for pcgs ngc or anacs in the ancients section comes up with practically nothing. Where's everyone finding slabbed ancients online?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

As Doug said ICG is the only one. You won't find a ton out there, but there are some. Teletrade usually has a few in many of their auctions. The first thing most ancients collectors I know do with one is bust the coin out, so many don't stay slabbed that's probably one of the reasons you aren't finding much.

A couple examples...
http://www.teletrade.com/coins/lot.asp?auction=2425&lot=2912
http://www.teletrade.com/coins/lot.asp?auction=2425&lot=2911

From Glenn Woods...
http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/glennwoods/store/listCategoriesAndProducts.asp?idCategory=102

 

I swear I saw an NGC once.

 

That may be, looking at their site it says they'll do them...

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/DOMITIAN-Denari...ient-Rome_W0QQitemZ300131053366QQcmdZViewItem

theres one from ngc

 

I’ve seen one NGC slabbed ancient in a local jewelry store.

The vast majority of ancient coins are traded raw. It may come the fact that slabbed coins are not as popular outside the US. that, and collecting ancients is more popular in Europe.

 

I think it has to do with the mind set of people who collect ancients...whether they be from the US or whatever..most ancient collectors disdain slabs and will break them out...We like to be able to touch the coin itself...not the slab...

I have a few slabbed coins but no ancients in slabbed, I have bought maybe 2 that were slabbed by the seller and broke them out post haste the second I got them. The arent briliant uncirculated, most have already been through a few thousand years out of a slab, why start now.

The only coins I have in slabs (I put them in the slabs) are some FDC gold coins (french and german imperial) that I wanted to keep in perfect condition and protect.

Not to mention that I dont think of any of these third party grading companies as experts on ancients anyway...there ARE experts...and ancient collectors know who they are...but it would be any of the above mentioned companies and grading is a whole different world than the over complicated grading systems of monern coins...a coin that is fine might look a hell of a lot rough that a fine modern...and so on...

 

I guess the issue for me is authenticity, and the standardized attribution and holder are a bonus. I don't need to touch them..

So as far as the experts vs TPGs, Drusus, where do the pertinent differences lie? You haven't seen the TPGs slabbing fakes or miserable misgrades, have you?

And how does ICG rate overall for respect/trust in ancient coins?

 

As far as I know, none of them are worth much to the ancient coin community. I just dont know any collector of ancient who uses them or would even think of using one. It doesnt cost that much to send an ancient to someone like David Sears if you need to authenticate a coin. This man pretty much wrote the book (literally) on ancients and there are others like him that will look at your coin and let you know if it is authentic...some will do it gratis. That would be the only service one would need.

Grading is so terribly subjective and when it comes to ancients its even more difficult to set a standard that all would agree with. A picture or the coin in hand is the best way (IMO for all coins) to communicate the condition of a coin. With most ancients each coin is unique in that they were struck by hand and each has undergone a few thousand years in the dirt (or if you are lucky just a few thousand years of metal to metal or air effects.)

I have never seen a misattribution and as for grading, I guess the few I have seen I would agree with the grading but then again I havent seen many slabbed and graded ancients either...I could count them on one hand. You just dont need to grade an ancient, just price it in regards to rarity and relative condition and people can buy it or not.

just wondering...how would you grade this coin? What price would you ask for it?

 

The experts would be guys like David Sear, The British Museum, Curtis Clay at HJB (there are more of course). The thing with ancients is buying from a good dealer. On ebay you'll be taking a crap shoot on if the coin's authentic or not and/or if it's been altered at all. Sticking with dealers on VCoins & a few others (CNG, HJB, Ed Waddell, Freeman & Sear, there are more) will get you your authentic coins along with a guarantee. ICG uses J.P. Martin as their expert on ancients, no idea on his credentials. As far as attribution, all TPG slabbed coins I've seen have only the most basic attribution. The numerical grades TPG's use really don't fit into the world of ancients either.

 

I'd grade as one I'd like to own.







As long as were posting pics, here's a favorite...

 

JP is a great guy, don't get me wrong. And I would trust him to handle my ancients. But I would certainly double check everything. I honestly don't know if he's any better with ancients than the slightly above average collector.

Imagine this: You are a TPG and you have your "expert" on US Coins. Would you honestly expect him to know all the nuances of Morgan dollars? The strike characteristics of 1909 gold eagles? The die numbers of bust halves? No, not for one person.

Ancient coins cover over a thousand years of coinage, with more varieties and nuances than you can shake a slab at. VERY few people can be expected to be an expert on them all.

 

Speaking of funky attribution...

 

If anyone wants to do an experiment, I've got a Caracalla denarius here that would make an "interesting" case, should someone be willing to cover the fees.

 

sorry but that is just shockingly pathetic. The only thing right about this slab is AR and IGC This is Fulvia Plautilla the wife of Caracalla...dating is about 600 years off...I can only hope that is a switched label or something.

 

How are TPG able to grade these coins as AU or MS? Aren't these ancients all coins that have previously been encrusted and thus have some degree of corrosion? Plus, these coins were minted thousands of years ago. How can anyone be sure of how much detail the coin originally had? Not to mention that many of these coins have since been cleaned or polished.

 

Cleaning is not always a bad thing! I know its difficult to wrap your head around, but its true. As to the "degree of corrosion": there a countless different environments coins were presereved in. A prime example are coins found in the middle of hoards - they sometimes look like they were minted yesterday! And if you can't tell how much detail the coin originally had, you obviously haven't seen a high quality ancient.

 

cleaning is, in fact, a good thing in ancients as long as you dont mess with the patina or toning. I clean them every day