Ancient Idiots: Ask the Experts Anything....

Donna's post describes my opinion on the coins. I bought a few from CNG before I caught on to the surfaces 'problem' and cut way back on my interest in coins offered by what once was a favorite seller. Between Covid, retirements, deaths and sellers lowering their old standards, I'm just about out of the hobby anyway. I hope I don't see any more 'Hermaubis' coins that tempt me to acquire "a few of them anyway." I did not see any I believed were fake, altered, tooled or anything worse than simply abused in the 'improvement' process.

 

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It's worth noting that CNG parses their descriptions very carefully. "Brown surfaces" means something quite different than "brown patina". I applaud them for that. Most ancient bronzes in the marketplace have been cleaned and repatinated to some extent. It's like blondes in Hollywood. A few are natural, most are not. The public gets what it demands. It's a lovely coin.

 

“oh living life like I can’t do it twice”

 

Okay here is my embarrassingly newb question!

CNG Auctions, what is your opinion? I've seen some nice coins I wouldn't mind bidding on. But while I can create an account, in order to bid I need a couple numismatic references? What do they mean by that, exactly? And how would I go about getting such references?

Again, I see a lot of nice stuff there, but I get the feeling that they operate on a completely different level from a beginner like me. Maybe not?

Thanks for anyone who can help!

 

Hopefully not for too much.

It deserves noting that CNG'S published price is the amount that the coin 'hammered for at auction'. It does not include the (20%) buyers fee, any potential payment processing fees(3-4%), nor any additional shipping costs($10-15 domestically - if shipped alone by itself).

The true 'out-the-door' cost for that coin may have been closer to $230.

Couple that with a very noticeable increased interest in ancient coins (and corresponding rise in hammer prices) over the last couple of years.. It's possible, (but no guarantee) that your coin could hammer for a higher price (than even a few short years ago); if put up for auction in today's blistering (showing no signs of slowing down) ancient coin market.

It's also logical that the dealer(?) that you purchased it from also tacked on a 'cost of doing business' profit margin.

I'm writing this to hopefully soften the blow a little for feeling like you "got taken".

These larger Alexandrian BI Tets from the Adoptive (AKA 'Five Good') Emperors seem to by fairly popular of late.

Here's one similar to yours that recently hammered at LEU(5/21/21) for 205 CHF($220) -- (or $265 w/ buyer's premium - Not including any payment processing fees or shipping costs).

 

Hello @The Meat man
Welcome to the ancients forum.
CNG is very reputable. They have a good reputation, for authenticating the coins, in their auctions. However, any auction house can make a mistake, and sell a fake, now and then, it seems. And any auction house, can accidentally sell tooled coins, it seems.
One minor thing, I don't like, about CNG, is that, I can't specify my shipping address, which is different than my billing address, on their web site. For the 1 coin, that I won at a CNG auction, I had to call them, and tell them my shipping address, and my billing address, over the phone.
A 2nd minor thing, that I don't like, about CNG, is that, they don't accept PayPal.
However, I still follow the CNG auctions, and I bid every now and then, but I always lose, except for that 1 time, because I'm sort of a bottom feeder.
I live in the USA. Therefore, it's nice, that CNG is in the USA. No worries about customs, MOUs, etc.
I don't mind, giving them my credit card number, because they are in the USA, and because they are such a well known, reputable auction house.
For references, you can list any companies, or any persons, or any auction houses, from whom you have purchased coins. List as many references, as you can. List the specific sellers, from whom you have purchased.
And list the dates, when you purchased the coins, or won the coins at auction.
I don't know if Ebay is a good reference. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Other than Ebay, any references would be helpful.
CNG may call or send emails to your references, to find out, if you had any late payments, or if you didn't pay for coins, that you had purchased. Sort of like applying for a credit card.

 

Thanks for the welcome! And thanks a lot for the post. That answers a lot of my questions. So far I've been doing virtually all my coin buying on Vcoins, or a few select online dealers such as Marc Breitsprecher. (I'm pretty wary of eBay.) Having another option would be great. (Although I suspect that like you I will mainly be a bottom feeder. ) I will give that a try!

 

@The Meat man
Yes, Vcoins is a good place, for us bottom feeders.
There are a few Vcoins dealers, who seem to sell coins, with artificial patinas, and artificial desert/sand patinas. But you can figure out, who those dealers are, when you see, that almost all of their coins, have the same color of patina, or the same color of desert patina.
I also sometimes worry, about tooled coins on Vcoins.
But, I have bought many coins, from Vcoins, and all of the coins seem to be authentic, except for 1 that I bought, that had a lot of file marks on the edge. I have since stayed away from that seller.
For your references, be sure to list each individual Vcoins seller, but also mention the fact, that the seller is a Vcoins seller.
For example :
Vcoins : Marc Breitsprecher
Vcoins : Incitatus Coins
etc

 

Marc Breitsprecher is a good numismatic reference for you to use on your application.

 

Ha Ha Ha...

'Bottom Feeder' seems like such a derogatory moniker. I prefer 'Bargain Hunter' LOL.

It takes a pretty thick skin trying to win coins at auction for less than what they're likely worth. It can be tough on the soul watching so many nice coins slip away to those actually willing to pay avg. market value(or better) for them.

However, the cheap-skate can still acquire the occasional prize. It helps when the other cheap-skates forget to set a reminder/alarm, and somehow a coin or few slip under the radar of the sharks during live-bidding.

 

I got abused pretty good on this one. It is what it is and lesson learned. This is a private collector and probably the original winner of the auction listed above. On the other side of this, I got a coin that I love for my collection. I don't have many high grade Romans and this one is one of the highlights of my collection.

 

Here is a coin I recently came across. My question is, are those scratches in the field tooling marks? The description says they're from cleaning but I thought that seems like some aggressive cleaning? Anyway I'd appreciate hearing what some of you Experts think.

(Photo courtesy CNG)

 

A few random questions:

What was the first "Personification reclining coin". The coins that spring to mind are Hadrian's travel series coins of Aegyptos, Africa, Nilus etc. However, I have noticed that Severus has one of Africa, Postumus has one of the Rhine, and there are probably others I am missing. My question is, was Hadrian the first emperor to utilise such a reverse style or was there someone before, who was the first? I suppose Trajan's "Via Traiana" is sort of reclining?

What is going on with the Constantine era reverses with the radiate crown? Did these coins represent a different value? Were they a continuation of the tetrarchic fractional radiates? They seem to be most popular with Constantine II and Licinius I, but maybe the market does not represent a historical reality.

What was the significance of coins representing games having a column reverse? I've noticed this on Domitian's Ludi coins and Philip's Saecular games coins.

What's going on with Maxentian reverses? For such a short reign he has a wide array of fascinating reverses. Most of these seem to relate to Roman myths, is he simply trying to drum up support in the Capital and home of the Empire where he resides? Is there any evidence of some wider and overt pro-Rome policy of Maxentius that.

Why do some of the imperial mantle coins have such bizarre proportions? I am referring mainly to Diocletian and Maximian abdication Folles. Some of them appear to be pretty lifelike in proportion, but others have massive heads and tiny hands? I can't think of any other earlier portraits with this style, with similar coins of Probus etc. always being in proportion.

Why are all the Commodus are Hercules coins on the market in such horrific condition? Did the coinage of the empire decline at the end of Commodus' reign, were they only issued for a short time, or have all the good ones already found a permanent home in someone's collection?

I'll come back if I think of more.

 

At the very least, I can provide a Nero sestertius with the Tiber personified as reclining:



NERO
AE Sestertius (26.56 g.) Lugdunum circa 65 A.D. RIC 441
NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GER P M TR P IMP P P Laureate head of Nero left. Rev. PORT AVG Port of Ostia, river Tiber reclining below.

 

Beautiful coin, it actually reminded me of Augustus Prima Porta statue, which I now recall has a reclining Tellus at the bottom of the breastplate.

 

Here is a question: does it matter what kind of pen/ink I use in labeling coin papers upon which the coins will be sitting? Is there any type of ink I should avoid or use?
Thanks!

 

While it doesn't strike me as a major concern, I suppose an adverse effect of some sort is within the realm of possibility. Inert "archival" inks and pens are available.

 

Thanks! Yes I figured that if I should use acid-free paper I might as well use acid-free ink too. As it turned out we do have several such pens so I just used those.

 

Lately I've been working at attributing and researching some LRB coins. I think I've got this one down good, but my only question is the mintmark. The only visible letter are LN, and the closest I could find to that is the Londinium mintmark PLN. Looking closely I thought perhaps the P was worn off/damaged on my coin, leaving only the LN. There does seem to be a space for the P under Sol. What do you all think? Have I got the mint right? Or is there a mintmark that's just LN?



Thanks!

 

It looks like you can just see the furthest right-side shadow of the "P" in the mintmark. The centering of the "L" under Sol makes it certain that there was a letter to the left. Nice coin!