First auction, first bid, first win, and how I spent the holidays

I know we are in 2021 now, but technically this latest addition of mine is my last coin of 2020 rather than the first of 2021. This is because the coin has been in my possession for a few days now, and I spent much of the Christmas break carefully giving it a much needed clean up. But the funniest thing is that I never intended on buying this coin... It happened purely by accident and because of my total lack of experience in buying through online auctions. Until this one, 100% of my coins were bought from retail dealers. I was auction-phobic probably for a good reason as I kinda messed up this one. I thought I would give it a try as everyone else seems to be buying mainly from auctions, and also because the retailers stock seemed to have run out of coins I was interested in.

As I had no experience whatsoever, I wanted to place a test bid a few days before the end of the auction to see how the system worked. However I didn't want to bid on the coin I was really interested in as I wanted to keep the price low till the last moment and also avoid attracting attention to it. So I placed a bid on this coin simply because my cursor was closest to it. It had a current bid of £240 with an estimate of £400, so my bid was £260. As I knew that usually the coins in auctions go for much more than the estimate, I never imagined that this would be the actual winning bid. The last day of the auction came, and my bid was still the winning one but I didn't pay any attention to that.

Soon it became quite apparent that the coin I really desired was out of reach as it quickly surpassed the amount I was willing to spent on it. When there was only a few minutes left and my bid was still the top one on the test coin, I was still not worried as I expected the amount to jump in the last few seconds as it usually does. But then... 3, 2, 1, hammered at £260!!! I won a coin with my first and only bid, but unfortunately that was hardly my intention!

So what did I win? A Byzantine aspron trachy from the troubled 13th century. Specifically one from the empire of Nicaea that was minted during the times of Theodore Comnenus-Laskaris. Very interesting coin, but in poor state of preservation with a chunk of it missing as is often the case with these coins. Here it is what it looked like when I got it:



Why it never got anywhere near the estimate? Was the missing chunk a turn-off for most collectors? Did I pay too much for it? Hopefully one of you may have an answer.
It comes with a provenance as it is from the Vitangelo collection. I couldn't find out much about it though, so if anyone has any additional info it would be much appreciated. When it arrived it looked interesting enough with a good level of detail, but its condition bothered me. As it wasn't a coin I really desired, I probably felt more willing to try and clean it up a bit, so I spent a good part of the holidays in trying to bring the detail out and make it look nice. There were a few scary moments, but in the end I think I did a good job. Here is the end result:



So what do you think? Personally I now feel it is a rather nice coin with a good level of detail and the missing bit doesn't bother me that much. Now I need to do some
research on the empire of Nicaea as it is an area that I haven't read much about.

Show me your Nicaea coins or any coins that you end up buying by mistake!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

What a wild ride and lovely coin. Though, I do prefer the coin before cleaning, (I personally prefer old cabinet toning and maybe some deposits of earth over shiny silver coins when it comes to ancients). But I still really like your coin.
I think you're right that the chip, that takes nothing away from the coin nor its devices, is the reason you got such a good deal.
Though it's a long way in time from your new beauty, I do happen to have exactly one coin from Nicaea to add:

Julia Domna
BITHYNIA. Nicaea, wife of Septimius Severus. Augusta, 193-217 AD. Æ 32mm (23.36 g). Struck 208/209 AD. IVΛIA CEBACTH, draped bust right; c/m: Nike standing right holding wreath / A[ΓO]NOΘECIA, NIKAIEΩN in exergue, athlete seated left, holding prize crown in right hand, long palm in left; agonistic urn on ground before. RG - (same obverse die as pl. lxxvii, 13); SNG Copenhagen -; SNG von Aulock -; BMC -; Howgego 254 (for countermark). Near VF, dark brown patina.
In 208/209 AD, the city of Nicaea celebrated the Philadelphian games to honor the fraternity of Caracalla and Geta.

 

In more than one year I have received a coin in late December I wished had not come until January so I could count it for the next year. I believe this coin raises several interesting questions. I know nothing about the Empire of Nicaea so am not impressed by the rarity. I do find the chunk missing a major turn off and would rather have one intact with wear of less sharp striking. Looking again I question if there is a chunk missing or if the coin was flattened out to fit better in some past collector's idea of proper coin storage. I also prefer the coin before cleaning in this case. Also I place no value on Provenance to a name that means nothing to me. If research identifies Vitangelo as a person of interest, that could change. These matters make up the differences of opinion that make auctions work as they do. They also cause sellers to make up collection names based on things like who consigned the coin or what sounded good for hype. Only research will tell what category this is.

 

Interesting new coin. I don't clean silver coins but I am wondering how you did it?

 

You certainly brought out some beautiful detail with your cleaning. Lovely coin - the chip does nothing to diminish it in my eyes.
Also interested to hear your cleaning method.

 

Welcome to the world of auctions. The various factors mentioned by dougsmit above indicate that in the end, its 100% dependent on the persons sitting behind their computer at that specific moment and their personal considerations about that coin that they think fits in their collection and what it's worth to them to add that coin to the collection. There is absolute no certainty whether or not you spend to much for a coin. The only question that matters is, what a specific coin is worth to you.

Do try auctions more often. Sometimes you can get lucky and score a coin for a very nice (low) price. Be careful of the auctionhouses' premiums/fees though!

 

Congratulations, @Only a Poor Old Man, on your first, resonantly successful foray into auctions, and a no less impressive first cleaning job!!! (Yes, I live in terror of the same thing! May I second @Clavdivs about how you did it? ...And it's only been in the last year or two that I've gone beyond ebay (<--snort), where auctions are concerned.) Remarkable on all counts. The detail, especially with that much of the legends, is stunning.
I posted this trachy of John I of Nicea not long ago ...but what the heck.

 

There were several coins in the auction with that provenance. My quick search returned only a botanist from the kingdom of Naples that died of gout about 200 years ago. I really doubt that's him and you are probably right to suggest that it is likely the consignor of the coins. Probably Italian after all as an old little ticket that came with the coin is in Italian.



I like a toned silver coin as much as the next guy (as long as you can still tell it is silver), but in this case it wasn't classic toning. It was a green gunk, thicker in some places that almost looked like mold. So I decided I would have a go at cleaning it. As to the cleaning method, it was nothing groundbreaking. Warm soapy water and rubbing it with a toddler's toothbrush (unused). Followed by the baking soda/tin foil method. That didn't produce much results so I resorted to a bath and rinse in white vinegar. I did it only for a few minutes as I know that extended exposure can affect the silver, but it really worked as I could see the green stuff flaking away almost immediately. Then a quick rinse with distilled water, followed by a repeat of the baking soda/tin foil method, more toothbrush rubbing, finished by an extended dip in more distilled water and a quick drying with a hair-dryer afterwards.

Every coin requires different approach depending on the metal and condition, and it is very easy to damage a coin if overdoing it. So, I don't recommend following the method I used or even cleaning a coin at all if possible. One thing I noticed with this coin is that it is probably debased silver with copper. You can't tell from the photos, but in some tiny crevices there are signs of the green stuff you normally see in copper coins. I don't think that is unusual though for a coin of that region and period.

Even if I did not intent on buying it, I like it. After all, I collect Byzantines. The coin found a loving home! Any more trachys from that period? I would love to see some examples.

 

Congrats on your first auction win!
Buying at auctions is quite different from at a dealer. You often end up with your 3rd, 4th choice, and after the auction, I’m often like «ok, so let me see what I ended up with here». It’s often a bit more impulsive, the auction experience. I have often bought coins that I wasn’t aware I wanted. The last one of those was bought the other day, a wonderful pattern coin from Bayern. If I’m not mistaken, it has the strong portrait of @gsimonel on obverse:



I also have a billon trachy from Alexius III that I have been questioning myself if I really needed for the last 15 years. Considering that it’s still in the collection, I apparently do. I don’t have pics of it though. So to excuse the modern above, I have to resort to another Byzantine coin that wasn’t on the buying list, but ended up on my invoice anyway, on the Papillon auction the weekend before Christmas:



CONSTANTINE VII PORPHYROGENITUS with ROMANUS I, STEPHEN and CONSTANTINE (913-959). Miliaresion. Constantinople.

Obverse: IҺSЧS XRISTЧS ҺICA / Rω - MA. Cross potent set upon three steps; in central medallion, crowned facing bust of Romanus; pelleted cross below.

Reverse: + ROMAҺO / COҺSTAҺT / STЄFAҺOS / CЄ COҺSTA / ЄҺ Xω Ь R. Legend in five lines; above and below, pelleted cross between dashes.

Reference: Sear 1755.

 

Thanks for telling us how you did it. Really Splendid. That much cooler for your minimalist methods.
...And your observation on its having 'found a loving home,' despite your misgivings, really resonates.