My best Ebay purchases

Some of you have warned new collectors to buy via Ebay, and rightly so: there are many forgeries to be found and most genuine coins are not worth the price asked.

When I started collecting roman bronzes three and I half years ago and still tried to limit myself cost-wise, Ebay was my prime source and I made all the mistakes myself. Lucky I was able to return the forgeries I had bought (thanks to this forum!), but nevertheless I have replaced most of my early purchases by now and lost money on nearly all of them.

So I could easily show my ten WORST Ebay purchases, but instead here are the ones that I still find good enough to keep. I probably overpaid on all of these as well, but choose for yourself which you would consider should be the "keepers" here (I only find one of them impossible to improove, but can live with the others):

1) Caligula Sestertius:


2) Agrippina Sestertius:


3) Aelius Caesar Sestertius:


4) Lucius Verus Sestertius


5) Lucilla Sestertius


6) Clodius Albinus Sestertius


7) Geta Sestertius


8) Diadumenianus Sestertius


9) Elagabalus Sestertius


10) Maximinus Thrax Sestertius


Please pick your favourites and show your favourite Ebay finds!

 

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Well, that's not easy since, to me, they all seem to have stories they could tell. I voted #4 (Lucius) because of the honest "look" of the coin, but I think actually the beard was the deal-maker for me!

I can't post one, since I am not a bona fide member of the ancients community (read: I don't have an eligible favorite to share), although I peruse this forum daily.

 

Wonderful coins.. it was difficult to pick just one! Caligula for me..
For many new or even "not so new" collectors with modest budgets eBay is really the only auction-style experience we have. I always thought it a great idea not to push these collectors away from eBay but to guide them to reliable sellers. But I have mentioned that too many times - I will go crawl under a rock now.

Here are my low end eBay faves...

 

My favorite!

 

You guys are far braver than I. I'm terrified about purchasing or selling anything from eBay. The last time I ever tried to use eBay was as a seller, and the "buyer" tried to scam me out of a watch worth $3,500 at the time (I was selling an Omega watch). eBay did absolutely nothing except threaten my account status, and it wasn't until I contacted law enforcement and showed eBay the police report that they finally treated the scammer as the lowlife he really was. I ended up selling the watch to Tourneau instead, and have never used eBay again. That was probably around 10 years ago.

 

I picked 4 6 and 8. The Verus sestertius is really nice, and those Diadumenian sestertii don't come up for sale too often.

 

I've never bought an ancient off eBay.

 

I've purchased one - this double sestertius of Postumus

Postumus
A.D. 260
Ӕ Double Sestertius
IMP C M CASS LAT POSTVMUVS P F AVG; radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
P M TR P COS II PP S C; Emperor in military attire stg. l.; holding globe and spear.
RIC V Lugdunum 106

 

I bought quite a bit on Ebay and made many a mistake, too. Hard to show the best coins here, but I would like to say that I found many a collecting area through Ebay, for instance:
Coins of the Asiatic Huns



AR drachm, ‘Yabghu of Tokharestan’ type, 7th century. Good silver imitation of a drachm of Hormizd IV. Obv. ‘Hormizd IV’ to the right, his name coarsely written, his crown altered. Countermarks: 1. winged camel, 2. vague text. Rev. fire altar with attendants, unreadable text. Countermark: 3. (Pahlavi?) text. 32.5 mm, 2.88 gr.

Sogdian coins - Silk Route, about 5th-7th century:



Sogdia, Chach, AE about 700. Obv. Clownesque facing head in pearl rim. Rev. Tamgha 4 in text circle. 16 mm, 1.15 gr. Sh & K type 4-4-7? Nr. 173.

Early islamic coins, like this AE of the Samanids with its extraordinary calligraphy:



AE fals Samanids. Abd al-Malik I b. Nuh (A14...). Mpl. Quba 349H = 962 AD. Obv. Three concentric circles, in the second the Kalima, in the centre, a cruciform monogram. Rev. 6 lines in circle, surrounded with text. 26.5 mm, 3.16 gr.

 

I have several favorite sellers on ebay that I buy from every now and then, they are just as trust worthy as anyone anywhere. I recently picked up this cute little Chinese coin from a trusted ebay dealer.

Ji Mu Wu Zhu ("chicken eye"), 1st Century BC, China,Western Han dynasty. 11 mm, 0.7 g.



Told you it was cute! Fun sized Wu Zhu!

 

Some of my favourite Ebay auction coins..

 

That is an infamous coin here on the Ancients board . The thread about it is a CT Classic-- always good for a laugh.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/isiusiisiuisii.297628/

...

@Julius Germanicus, I could have picked more than the allowed five. You've found some very appealing/interesting coins on eBay!

 

I think this is one of the keys to buying on eBay - develop a relationship with some sellers whom you know you can trust. Add them to your "Favorite Sellers" list, and then just check their listing periodically. Saves you time wading through a lot of junk and scam artists.

Several years ago, about the time that I decided I had accumulated so many coins of Constantine the Great through buying and cleaning lots of uncleaned coins that I might as well start a focused CtG collection, their was a seller on eBay named Taxomorph. My guess was that he was also a collector of CtG who was either selling duplicates from his collection or had decided to move on to something new, because every week he had some different, interesting CtG bronzes up for sale. He was the one who inspired me to put together a "Favorite Sellers" list, and I got several coins from him to add to my collection. Here are two of my favorites:

Cyzicus mint, A.D. 311-312
RIC 89b (var. - unlisted officina)
Obv: IMP C FL VAL CONSTANTINVS P F AVG
Rev: HERCVLI VICTORI - Hercules, leaning on club covered by lion skin
MKV in exergue; Γ in left field
21 mm, 4.2 g.


Ticinum mint, A.D. 312-313
RIC 133
Obv: CONSTANTINVS P F AVG
Rev: SOLI INVI-C-TO COMITI - Sol, head facing forward, holding globe in left hand, raising right
ST in exergue
20 mm, 3.8 g.

BTW, although it's in rough shape, I like the Agrippina sestertius the best.

 

My top Ebay purchases that I can think of. Bought back in "The Dawn" of Ebay, around 1996-2002.

I no longer buy Ancients on Ebay, just too many fakes, high/ridiculous prices and/or hassles. However, back in the early days Ebay was a good venue and good deals were to be made. (it seems a lot of things were better 'back then'....)

Galba Sestertius, Victoria.
ex. CNG auction via Ebay ca. 1998-2000. (CNG used to sell on Ebay).



Galba Sestertius, SPQR in Wreath.
es. Ebay Germany 1999.


Antoninus Pius Sestertius, Romae Aeternae.
ex. Ebay France, 1999.


Vespasian Denarius, Judaea Capta.
ex. Ebay Germany ca. 2001.

 

Those are some lovely choices! I rarely ever win any high-ticket items from ebay... the last-second bidding wars get much more intense than at most other auction houses!

Ebay is hands down the best source for getting good deals on lower value Romans and non-Classical coins. Ironically, Greek coins tend to sell for more on ebay than they typically do at auction houses. Auction houses for some reason seem to think that Indo Sassanian coins ought to be $20 for junk coins and $50+ for nice ones. I frequently buy high grade, even rare types for $5-10 each. I also frequently see $5-10 coins on ebay go for $50-100 at auction houses, like that Chach coin @Pellinore posted above.

Some of my favorite ebay purchases:

Snarling Caracalla denarius, Liberalitas
~100, Carpe Dievm Nvmismatics


Caligula AE As, Vesta
+ Nero Claudius Drusus sestertius
Bought in an insane group lot for $750, kept these two for about $200 after selling the ones that weren't keepers



Galba AE Drachm of Alexandria / Bust of Isis, Year 2
Got it in a lot of coins for $0.86 per coin, kept this for free and made a small profit


Flavius Victor campgate
Came in a lot for $1.50/coin; rest surprisingly weren't culls either


Saloninus Caesar / Prince standing
Three coin lot from Solidus Numismatik before they went to a different platform. I think it was about $20? Still remains one of the best portraits I've seen of him


Maximus Caesar sestertius
$30, can't remember seller's name. I was hesitant about it, but it came with an old auction ticket and I can't find fault with it. They quit selling coins after I won this one. Oops.


Marcian, from a group lot of five (all very nice) coins for $25


Clodius Albinus as Augustus Denarius, Lugdunum
$50, can't remember seller's name


Hadrian denarius / Roma seated
$60, Lanz

 

What a lovely bunch of sestertii in the OP, JG. I think that Lucius Verus is my favorite, but I wouldn't mind owning any of them...

So, not to ruin the neighborhood, here is a recent eBay sestertius. It has a top-notch pedigree: ex-Littleton Coins (rather optimistically) graded "Very Good." Worn, but it has a handsome green patina - and for $13 and change, the price is right for my budget:



Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius
(145-161 A.D.)
Rome Mint
[ANTONIN]VS AVG PIVS PP [TRP C]OS IIII, laureate head right / [SALVS AVG] S-C, Salus standing right feeding serpent coiled around altar and holding rudder on globe.
RIC 784; BMC 1715; Coh. 718.
(27.44 grams / 29 mm)

 

Ran out of space for the non-classicals!

Sassanian Empire, Ardashir I
$190, Amorepiccino


Nezak Huns, Napki Malka BI Drachm
$30? ufomechanix


Chach, unknown AE "Tudun" with an exceptionally unsettling double portrait
$9, Asbar


Bukhara, "Hirkod" type hemidrachm
$25, Asianumismatics


India, Satavahanas, Yajna Satakarni AR Drachm
$65, Can't remember seller's name


India, Amoghabhuti AR Drachm
$45, Raman-Coins


India, Magadha AR Karshapana
$14, Saifcoin (misattrubuted as Mauryan)


Indo Greek, Apollodotus I Square AR drachm
$60

Kidarites in Kashmir, Durla Deva Pale AV dinar
$60, Shredplayer


This one isn't even ancient, but it's a favorite!
Japan, Ryukyu Islands 100 mon
$65