Roman coin hoard found in Switzerland

guess there will be some new tetrarchy coins in the near future...

http://archaeology.org/news/3895-151119-switzerland-roman-coins

 

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oh cool! but what happens to them? does anyone know what the laws are in switzerland about this stuff?

 

i might buy 1

 

A few pictures

 

those coins look awesome!!! how much would one be worth?

 

The question is:

Will Spain lay claim for them?

 

Awesome hoard, love the pics.

 

This post with three pictures shows the question US collectors refuse to grasp. Which of the photos show uncleaned coins? NONE of them! The bottom photo show what was seen after the surface soil was removed. You can see cleaned edges sticking out. The middle image shows the wad busted into individual coins with 90% of the soil removed. The top photo shows coins some of us would call collectible but PCGS would not touch according to others. The rest of the comments here sailed way over my head. There is nothing in the picture I recognize as as late as the Tertarchy (I see Carinus and wife with more Probus and Aurelian). I assume the 294 date means the terminal coin was a Diocletian but most will be earlier. Spain? Really?

Worth? Will people pay more for $20-50 coins because they came from a recognized hoard? How much more? Chances are good that a bunch like this will have some sleepers beyond what shows in the photo. The Magnia Urbica in the photo looks pretty nice so it could be ten times the others depending on condition details and type.

 

I imagine the Spain comment was a sarcastic reference to the Spanish claim to material from the Atocha and the like.

 

I've saved the last image so that the next time a collector of moderns comes around and lectures us to "never clean your coins!!!" I'll say, Ok fine...

 

God I hate when that happens. One of my pet peeves here (they dont even ask if ancients can be cleaned they just go full blown ignorance mode and say it like we don't know what we are doing). Makes me want to do this to them over the internet:

 

Three weeks ago I would have been part of that pitchfork mob chasing you out of town for cleaning your coins, so there is hope for all of us yet.

 

It's just a very different world. All joking aside, I think we do a good job of explaining exactly why ancients get cleaned, but that picture is definitely worth the proverbial thousand words.

 

A friend that plays Star Trek Online with me showed me the article about those coins. I was like, I already know about it. lol

But I was impressed that some non-collector found out about it and mentioned it to me since he knows I collect.

 

The funny thing is that PCGS and NGC will not grade cleaned coins, or simply slab them as genuine but without a grade...yet both offer "restoration services" where they will clean your coin and grade it.

So no, cleaning your American coins is not OK and they won't be graded, that is unless you pay NGC and PCGS a total of $10 plus 4% of the market value of the coin, then cleaning is OK.

 

That seems kind of strange to me since most of the silver ancient coins displayed have been completely cleaned down to the bone, so to speak.

 

My comment about the tetrarchy was a tongue-in-cheek nod to the article, which says the coins were buried "shortly after they were minted around 294." 293 the tetrarchy begins, and if they were 'newly minted in 294,' (to paraphrase) then they must be coins from the tetrarchy... Because we all know that hoards contain freshly minted coins...

 

I will be very interested to see how they are eventually marketed---assuming some will be released for sale after sufficient study and museum assignments---and how they are priced. They appear to be in high grade (newly minted and then buried) and that will appeal to many despite being common in many other ways. And what 'sleepers' they may contain utterly intrigues me.

 

Here is another link to a newspaper article (from the Daily Mail) about the hoard

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ss-cherry-tree-1-700-years.html#ixzz3s3cgwqy3

 

Looks like the Swiss will not release a single coin to the marketplace. You know, can't afford to sell one or two Emperor Phobus coins. After all, the museum only has 1000 previous examples of that coin. What would happen to our ancient herritage if we didn't keep another 1000 or so additional examples of the same coin.