Trustworthy Ebay sellers

Ok, so, Ebay. That is the idea here. There are some great sites with lists of Fake Sellers, with some of the best minds available diligently manning them. (I'll add links to some good ones at some point) I am not knowledgeable enough to have anything useful to contribute to that. However, I can do the opposite. I often see posted questions asking for legit Ebay sellers. I think a fun way to go about answering such questions would be a thread on cool Ebay finds. Ideally, looking for a pic of the coin you bought, the seller's name and the price you paid. Leaving out the price is ok if you aren't comfortable posting it.
Before we get going, I am going to repeat the SOUND advice I have repeatedly gotten; Ebay is full of crooks & scammers & awash in fakes. Be careful, research a seller (not just this thread), know the coin you are planning to buy & don't be afraid to ask for help/opinions. The best way to not get ripped off on Ebay is to buy from reputable dealers elsewhere. Vcoins is about as safe as you can get online. I'm actually going to start with a coin purchased there to drive that point home a bit. That said, there are plenty of reputable dealers & random people selling their collections on Ebay; legit coins can be found at good deals. So let's see what you found!

 

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The first coin I'm going to post was not purchased on ebay. As I said above, that's the best way to avoid fakes on Ebay. I know, kind of a jerk move, but it's an important point to get across before starting. And I really like the coin.
Theodosius II, VT / XXX / V, CON. Purchased on Vcoins from London Ancient Coins. I'll post the exact price in a few, but it was around $30. L.A.C. has a pretty cool store.

 

Alright, on to Ebay. This coin was purchased for $15.49 + S&H from ancient_treasures. I suck at taking pictures of coins. It is much better inhand, very little wear & a nice green patina. Ob: Laur. Hd Augustus R, THESSALONIKA in Greek. Re: Bare Hd Gaius R, his name in Greek. Coin was listed as "unidentified Roman Provincial". Gaius is a hard ruler to find cheap.

 

I got my only Gaius Caesar from an eBay lot - there was a nice Constantine in there too - from a lot of 8 miscellaneous, undescribed AEs. Price worked out to being $2.66 per coin:


Gaius Caesar Æ 20
Tralles, Lydia
(5 B.C.-1 A.D.)
ΓAIOΣ KAI[ΣA]Ρ, bare head r. / KAI[ΣA]ΡEΩN ΛEIBA, Livia, veiled, as Demeter standing front, holding corn-ear and poppy, right hand raised, crescent beside her head.
(5.50 grams / 20 x 18 mm)
eBay Aug. 2020 Lot @ $2.66
Attribution Notes:
Per example in Wildwinds, full attribution is:
RPC I 2648; BMC 117; Imhoof LS 27; BMC 118-120; Waddington 5419-5420 etc.



Constantine I Æ 18
(323-324 A.D.)
Trier mint
CONSTANTINVS AVG laureate head right. / SARMATIA DEVICTA, Victory advancing
right, holding trophy and palm branch, spurning captive on ground right, STR-crescent in ex.
RIC VII Trier 435 S.
(2.73 grams / 18 mm)
eBay Aug. 2020 Lot @ $2.66

 

Am not into ancients but quite generally with eBay, one of the best ways to make some initial assessments to sellers and credibility, is to ask questions...even if you have to make up a question that you already know the answer to...ask the seller a question(s) and maybe even a follow-up or second question. If a seller gets back to you in, 1, a timely manner, within 12 hrs at the most and preferably sooner, and, 2, with a courteous human reply that actually answers your question(s) and particularly if they expand on their answer a bit and/or exchange some back/forth communications...that's a promising sign. So many don't, and if not, seriously consider forgetting them and move on.

 

100% this

 

This one came from cameleoncoins. $25 for a lot of 5 coins, other 4 were SALVS REIP., Victory dragging caltive types. 2 were nice & mints I needed but I got it mainly for this coin. Seller is kind of pricey, but legit.
Valentinian III
DN VALENTINIANVS PF AVG
VICTOR-IA AVGG(G?)
AE4

 

I sell on ebay and set up shows, hopefully again soon for coin shows haven't in a while from covid cancellations reasons. The obvious fake sellers become more obvious with time and are primarily located in europe or abroad. There is some sellers like myself that stand by their items. not everybody is a scam artist there,, many well known dealers / auctioneers buy from me there and then go and trash it and tell everybody how bad it is. There is definitely a bit of sifting through the rubble / weeds but there is some good people there things aren't always as they seem.
M.X.
xago

 

I

 

Everything I have posted in any thread has been from Ebay. In fact I do a $50 impulse buy thread every week since I started here. If you know what to look for its a great resource. Know what to look for with fakes, never order from Ancient ground (sorry they are so worth trashing) or tiny eastern European countries and if its to good to be true its to good to be true. Lots of good people our seller's its really terrible that the bad ones has given ebay such a bad stigma. Been buying for 5 years only 6 fakes from when I started.

 

...For what it's worth, where medievals are concerned, US ebay is a vast, smoking crater. It wasn't always like that, and I won't name names. But the overwhelming majority of what you get, specifically from American dealers, is stuff with its own toxic, inverse proportion between the accuracy --or existence-- of attribution, and overpricing as a similar default mode. Most of it is genuine (in contrast to what you see from Cental Europe); it just runs to being moronically overpriced and underattributed.
Given which, some are still better than others. ...By whatever margin.

 

Next seller, I really like: numis-kimel. I'm gonna do 3 from her, and probably at least another when my next order finally makes it through the Covid mail crawl. (Side note; of there's any mail-carriers out there, thanks. Slow as mail has been, you all have been busting your asses to get though it. I've gotten mail at 9pm on a Sunday) Attribution is not always accurate, so some creative searches are required. Worth the time though. And definitely passes the test from Mac's great advice, posted above.
1) Honorius, GLORIA ROMANORVM, Emp. W/2-captives, MM off-flan. $9.60, fixed-price.

 

Same seller, numis-kimel
2) Arcadius; VICTOR-IA AVGGG, Vict Adv L, wreath; Lugdunum! Mint; $6.40 fixed price

 

I got some nice coins from Acient Treasures...there is another one with same name, different spelling or symbol on name and they are known for fakes, but the one you listed has good deals and good "Authentic" coins. I have prob bought 20 coins from him.

 

Same seller, numis-kimel
Most of the ancient coins seem to be fixed-price; prices all go down 20% after you look at a listing. And they have the "Make Offer" option.
I had a really hard time photographing this one.
3) Valentinian II; VIRTVS AVGGG; Emp on Galley L, holds Phoenix on Globe, Vict at Helm; TES in ex, "delta" field L; $7.17 fixed price

 

Yeah, shoot, that's right, there is a notorious fake-seller with a VERY similar name. Given the point of this thread, I really should'v mentioned that. Thanks for the catch

 

Ancient Treasure is decent. He does tend to etch some of his stuff just stay away from those they are obvious and he over chems his AE's. I have got alot from him and all real. Couple I did question but they turned out good. Me and him kinda got into it, so I have paused my buying from him, but thats over other things.

 

This antoninianus of Postumus was $US 17 including S&H from a French ebayer. Just received it this month. Looks like it just came out of the ground as it has some iron encrustations on the obverse rim. The coin should look better with some careful cleaning of the obverse deposits, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

Like many others in this forum, I have a love/hate relationship with ebay. I've both bought and sold many coins on ebay over maybe 20+ years, and agree that there are a lot more fakes out there than there used to be. I've also found most of my best deals on ebay, usually through misattributed or poorly photographed coins (although the latter can sometimes backfire). I have inadvertently bought fakes and had cases where coins never arrived, but still find the thrill of the hunt in wading through what's on there. I just really wish that ebay would do something about all the openly sold fakes though... it's almost every day that I see some obvious fake with several bidders bidding up the price to something crazy.

The key is just to be vigilant... I tend to add the scarcer or pricier types I'm looking for from respected auction houses or trusted numismatic sellers on ebay like Lanz, Savoca Coins or Dionysus, but even there I tend to avoid coins without a pedigree that look too perfect or otherwise suspect.