Recent Auction Results of Koson Staters

There is no answer. Ethically and for analysis reasons it is right, but without "finds" the new types will not be found and the excitement dies. Look at the Gaziantep Hoard, pieced together by Houghton and Meadows from dealers photographs . Lots of stuff was learnt from the reconstruction and lots of new issues found . If it was in a museum I doubt that any photographs will exist! I still remember the Heraklion Museum Minoan stuff with the tags"NO PHOTOGRAPHS-UNPUBLISHED". One particularly is the bare breasted goddess companion to the famous bare breasted girly with a snake. It was found 100+years ago. Lots of Minoan tablets are unpublished and held back the decipherment considerably. Museums are mausoleums. How would OMSETI fair today? I know from a complaint written some time ago on Forum about the short shrift given to a guy who wanted his coin identified. They refused cos of UNESCO 1970 where coins without previous provenance are not allowed to be considered-even though they bought coins un-provenanced certainly in the 1990's!
So if they picked it up , went round to the "counter" and asked themselves about the coin they would have to refuse themselves!
I wonder if they ever look at modern auction catalogues? Or do they blind themselves first!
Will I ever see the Poggio Pincenze hoard New Style coins properly published-the tetradrachms in the hoard no problem, but the tri-obols are still waiting despite Jennifer Warren's appeal that Achaen league coins need appraising ( not by me). She is now dead, so is Boerhinger. I'm in middle 60's-churn churn.

 

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I'm confused, Andrew--are you saying you are selling many of your coins that do not fit in with what you now deem as "ethical"? Wouldn't selling such coins also be unethical?

 

I had the same argument ( one sided) with the British Museum. I offered to take off their hands all their un-provenanced coins bought since 1970. let the opprobrium be on my shoulders -I can take the burden-let me be their scapegoat.
UM- The silence was deafening.

 

Many collectors like mint state coins with brilliant surfaces. Sadly, to finance the study of old collectors and collections which I do now, over the last decade I've got out of collecting mint state coins with brilliant surfaces. I can't give the coins away to anyone who would look after them since they arent accepted by museums and I can't afford to give them to other collectors and still focus on the old provenance coins I do now as Id then have nothing (and no pension savings either).

So, yes I made mistakes over time. I bought things I regret. I'm now selling them to collectors that include those for whom the origin of the coins is immaterial and for whom condition predominates.

I also sell coins with excellent provenances, almost all found through my own research. But my research on every coin is so thorough that if you buy a coin from my collection that says for example "purchased from Roma in 2013" with no other information, then thats pretty much the end of further research possibilities. You'll have a lovely coin but with no deep provenance and collecting history. If that's fine with you, and it makes the buyer happy and the seller happy, then good deal.

I just collect other stuff nowadays and reacted to this post due to several ppl saying there's no other choice than to collect recent hoard Kosons. There are other choices but you pay more and you'll have worn rather than mint state coins.

 

Andrew, "Ethical collecting" of ancient coins is for the most part an idealistic illusion. For example, despite the fact that the coin you illustrate can be provenanced back to the 1950s is no guarantee that the coin wasn't looted sometime in its long history. If collectors limited their holdings only to coins with a proven legitimate provenance 99% of all ancient coins on the market today would be untouchable. It may be comforting to think that a coin with an old provenance is legitimate, but it ain't necessarily so.