One coin that caught my attention at the Heritage Platinum Auction is pictured below. This Koson State, lot 34058, sold for $5,750.00 ! Comparing it to the one in my collection, I sense a die match on the reverse die & possible die match on the obverse die. The Heritage coin exhibits more die wear than my coin making the comparison difficult. One thing that makes the reverse stand out on both coins is the small die break at 1:00 o'clock. Both of these coins have the same grade, however, I believe my coin is the superior example .
Not exactly sure. There are a couple of spots where the images appear different - for example the beard of the figure on the far left, though I suppose it could be due to the wear of the first coin.
There's only three obverse and ten reverse dies for this entire run, so the odds of die matches are higher than many other coins. This looks like obverse B for both coins. The reverse also looks to be a die match but you can tell for sure here. Typical with Heritage, this is way too high for a Koson stater. They typically run for less than half that.
Does the die crack at reverse top extend further left on the Heritage coin or is that an artifact of the photograph (as I suspect)? I believe they are die duplicate but the photo of your coin makes the circle of dots look a bit oval which would distort attempts to overlay/match. What I believe here is that you need to make a new photo of your coin paying attention to being perfectly level. I have no experience photographing slabs but I can see how some will be tilted a bit when shot for glare reduction while Heritage has a way of lighting or correcting such problems. That could include shooting at a set angle and distorting the image back to round (not really a difficult program to write, I suspect, but I have no idea if they do that). Do I recall correctly that (nearly?) all of the known examples of the type were from one find? What is the lowest grade known for the type? AU? Do the silver ones have separate dies? EDIT: I apologize: My questions are answered in the link provided by kirispupis.
Al, your coins is definitely of higher grade. Especially with the flan problems on the Heritage's coin at 2:00 o'clock, 5:00 o'clock, 8:00 o'clock and 11:00 o'clock....
kirispupis, Thanks for that die study link . I'm very surprised so few dies were used on these Koson staters, especially when you consider the huge quantity of them on the market .
Doug, You're right about the die crack on the Heritage coin . If you click the image it's obvious with the enlarged view.
Thanks to everyone for your input . After reviewing the study kirispupis posted I feel confident calling this a double die match .
"All from one find" (or series of related finds) is in essence the position of the Government of Romania and Interpol, especially concerning the silver. I believe the few gold pieces known before the 1990s do include worn specimens. The sudden appearance of so many coins, the uniform high grade and the small number of dies are interrelated points. The paper linked above glosses over the legal status of the coins now in the marketplace but that was not the author's focus.
Hi Doug, I do remember when that hoard was found and subsequently hit the market. It caused quite a stir.
