Featured In Appreciation of Large Lots - Not just crusty LRBs

Some auction houses appear to know what they are selling, but you can't be a specialist in everything and it seems that coins that look common sometimes just don't get any attention.

Here's a group lot that sold at UBS Gold 78 (lot # 1941) in 2008 for CHF 6250 (~$7000 with buyers fee). The reason is that Maxentius coin, presented reverse-side down. If you could see the other side it'd be obvious it's from Trier, therefore issued by Constantine and extremely rare.

I highly doubt it was included in a group lot, and presented like that, on purpose!

 

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Just got my Stack's winnings from the FedEx man!

As suspected-

Seleukos I as Satrap of Babylon
311-305 BC
AR Dishekel
Ba'al seated left / Lion walking left, anchor above


Sadly, at least 5 of the coins in the lot were immediately apparent as fakes, so this won't be a home run lot for me. Still, the dishekel is IMO worth about what I paid for the lot, so whatever else is icing on the cake.

Fun bonus - the lot unexpectedly came with a bunch of old, tattered paper envelopes with handwritten identification and some provenances- I spotted dates like "Purchased 1935" in there! This beats my next oldest provenance (with hard evidence to back it up) which was 1970s sales tickets for some Republican denarii.

 

Are you going to return the fakes?

 

Can't. Says so explicitly in the description.

"Sold as-is, no returns"

Although I imagine that you might have a leg to stand on if either all of the coins were fakes, or it was clearly one valuable coin on top of a pile of garbage, and the one coin was a fake.

The upside is if you feel that the auction house truly ripped you off and isn't being reasonable about making it right, you can open a PayPal dispute. You WILL get perma-banned from ever bidding with them again, so it's up to you whether it's worth burning bridges to recoup your losses.

 

I've been following this thread with great interest although I usually don't buy large lots. Today I made an exception. This is the lot I bid high on and won in the end for €600 plus fees:



Who can see why I wanted to have it so badly?

 

Nice lot! I'll take a wild guess for either the Corinthian stater or the Bruttium? Both look much nicer than your typical lot fare. Also looks like a celtic Philip III copy in the upper right.

 

Yes, the two staters were two of a total of four main reasons to bid on this lot. Likely the two most valuable coins in the lot.

Also note that both the Kroton stater and the Corinth stater come with 1970s German auction tickets from serious auction houses (Münz-Zentrum Albrecht&Hoffmann and Berliner Münz-Cabinet). I was able to trace down both these provenances, which added to my desire to have this lot.

The Danubian Celtic imitation of a Macedon tetradrachm is something that I will have to see in hand. I don't really collect Celtic coins, so it might be something to sell again or trade for a nice denarius.

Who can spot anything else unusual in this lot?

 

That is an extraordinary coin and the price only goes to show that. It's similar to the case of the Magnus Maximus maiorina minted at Constantinople by Theodosius I.

 

I'm curious to find out! The siglos looks odd to me.

My example:


(Totally agree about that amazing Maxentius!)

 

Reason 3: The unassuming small coin on the bottom left is a Lydian 1/6 bull-and-lion (“Kroisos”) stater. That is an iconic and very desirable type. The picture is too small to see much detail, but Albrecht & Hoffmann generally sold only quality coins in their auctions.

Reason 4: The third coin in the middle row is a Rhodian drachm of fine obverse style. The Busso Peus ticket makes me hope that the reverse is nice, too. The same applies to the Achaian and Thessalian league drachms. Both have very nice obverses and were apparently graded “sehr schön” (very fine) by respectable dealers in the 70s. If their reverses match the grades on the tickets and the obverse condition, these will make stately additions to my collection.

 

Your example is what I was thinking of.

 

Both of those make sense - the Lydia was too small for me to make out, but I did notice the nice style Rhodes. I was just misled by your word "unusual" - I was thinking there was a scarce cherry-pick somewhere in there. Instead they are "just" nice coins! Certainly looks like money well spent, I hope you'll drop in your individual coin photos here after you receive them.

 

I rarely get tremendous hits.

I did get these two from two separate large lots:


This one cost about $0.85, although 99% of the rest of the coins were junk


This one cost a whopping $10. I think it's pretty.


This Commodus denarius came out of a JUNK LRB lot. It was so encrusted it looked bronze. I was very pleasantly surprised. It cost less than $1, but again the rest of the lot was absolute garbage.

 

Thanks for the compliment! I just did a write-up on the Croesus 1/6 stater in an individual thread and more write-ups on the other highlights of the lot will follow. For now, here is a better group shot:



The three coins on the left (fourrée Alexander drachm, Persian siglos, Cappadocian drachm) will probably be material for swaps, gifts, or sale. I'm not certain what to do with the Thessalian League drachm and the Celtic tet. The former has terrific style and toning but some surface pitting I don't like, and the latter is fascinating but way outside my collecting area. I'll have to think about these two. The other six coins now are part of my collection and will remain there.

I indeed recognized that this lot contains a very unassuming hyper-rarity that I didn't see in the auction pictures. Who can spot it now? Hint: It's very tiny.

 

I got no idea. Is it this one?

 

That Croesus 1/6 stater is incredible.

I got a few of those Celtic tets in large lots; I think they consistently sold for about $80 on ebay, yours may go for a little less due to the large flat area on the reverse.

Looking forward to your analysis of the others!

 

I'm guessing the Lesbos fraction with "BPO" above the boars' heads. A common general type, but not with a "hey, bro!" legend.

As Finn said, the Lydian 1/6 stater is fantastic! The Corinth stater and Rhodian drachm are also remarkably nice. Personally I'd say the style on the Thessalian League drachm is nice enough for it to be a keeper. What a great lot!

 

You're spot on, Thomas! I was already about to put this coin in a flip and place it in my swap box when I noticed the legend. As you said, Lesbos fractions with the BP, BPO or BPOI legend are very rare pose a minor numismatic riddle. (My theory: "Broi" is simply the nominative plural of the Greek second declension noun "bro," because one bro usually comes in the company of other bros...)

There is no example with this legend listed in the major reference works, and only very few examples on acsearch and in the sixbid archive. (I could find eleven recorded examples in total, including mine: 4 BPO 1/24 staters, 6 BP 1/24 staters, 1 BROI 1/6 stater.) This coin definitely is a keeper.

You're right, that coin is a rarity, particularly in this condition. But I already recognized it in the auction catalogue, so it wasn't "hidden" anymore when I unpacked the lot...