£450 is on the steep side in my honest opinion, although he's offered it me for £440, which i figure means he paid about £390-£400 on it. These things are getting dearer, the Coincraft book has actually undervalued them (comparitive to all their other prices!). I've never seen one going at book prices, they're always way over. Coincraft (being the top end of the market pricing wise) stated £450 for a VF, this coin is about gF/aVF, which according to CC is supposed to be about £275-£300 or something. I can tell you, you ain't gonna see any of these grading F or better going below £300. Any book that says so is behind the market by a long way.
My demand for a Stephen coin in relation to others that are currently more readily available is pretty low. Mind you, by the time it comes down to being one of the last `holes' needing filled and they cost £1,000 + , i'll probably be kicking myself. If you collect a series it makes sense to go for the most difficult first. The rest will always be easier and less expensive, but the longer you put off getting hold of the `difficult' (read `expensive') ones the costlier it will be for you. Sadly, for me it always comes down to how much I have available at the time. I've no nest eggs I can dip into for coin purchases...so it's a case of if the coin is priced within the parameters of my available readies..it's mine. If it ain't...it's somebody else's.
This is half the reason why i'm debating whether to buy it or not... it's dear but if i leave it they'll only go up. Unless of course another Watford happens and then the prices will come crashing down. It's alot of money and i'm dithering. The thing that bothers me is that it's a Cross Moline/Fleury type (i.e the common type), oh heck i like them, but it's not one of the other scarcer substantive classes that i hope to deal with one day. Of course finding any other type (uncut) is entertaining to say the least. The best ones are always cut, i mean get a load of this; http://www.onlinecoins.co.uk/viewcoin.php?itemid=37018&keepsession=1 (As nice as the strike is, I couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a cut coin).
Firstly, i'd be poor counsel to you in relation to your available choices so i'll shut up on that score. As to the cut coin.........I can understand someone somewhere being interested in it but never at that price. As you know, I collect ancients as well. I have two didrachms from the Sicilian city state of Gela. The first one is tyopical for type and pretty straightforward. The second one I nearly didn't buy because i thought it was a fake. The man headed bull reverse was facing left. Never seen or heard of it before. Nothing on Wildwinds. However, after a fair bit of asking around I found out from one of the more prominent experts on ancients that there were indeed twelve known examples of the coin in question. Well, it's thirteen now,..... and I got it for a third of the price I paid for the `plain jane' one most probably because other people thought it was a fake too. It's a bit worn but at least fine condition. My point being, rare as my coin might be, there is no way I would expect to get any more than a few hundred for it. There is nothing about that cut coin that (to me) commands any more than a few hundred in relation to its scarcety. Still, there's `none so queer as folk' as the saying goes Ian
Which is exatly my view on it and hence why i haven't bought it. That and i didn't have the money. :smile But if i had i still wouldn't have. Now if it had been a full coin then i would have bought it (if i had the money). Although i still think £2000 (or higher) is a tad on the high, i'd be happier with £1500-£1750 range. It's not like it's a Matilda.
You'll have to build your own website. Ian,the depth of knowledge that you have provided us with an excellent idea - Go & build a website! Then you can display your collection online. Aidan.
Oww i've actually found another Stephen, portrait isn't quite as good but it's a Voided cross type. Nice change from the Cross Moline if i do say so... (even if cross Molines are prettier).
