Do you have any coin misses or regrets?

Sorry I should have been more clear - I have never had a coin like the one you lost out on -

My inquiry is this: there is right now a sestertius of Caracalla up for auction on EBay Italy that I am asking for help with as to whether it is a fake or not - there is only two days left to bid and someone that is listed as bidding with the seller 100% of the time just outbid me. That raises a red flag.

The coin is a die match of the same type in the British Museum but I think both coins - the one for sale and the BM coin are somewhat problematic. I had hoped Curtis Clay could take a look at the coin and give me his opinion before I put another bid on it.

Also the very same coin was listed by a Spanish seller in a catalog sale a few months ago but inexplicably taken down. Another red flag.

But the weight, size, style seem ok. I’d say 60/40 in favor of being fake. But I very much want it to be authentic!!!

Blake

 

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boy is bidding on this coin a difficult decision.....

 

Mine was from last Morton & Eden Auction.
Karia/ Rhodos
AV Quarter Stater ND (125BC)
Starting bid was 1200UK pds
Estimate 2K
I put down a proxy bid of 4K/ hammer was 11K!!!!!
I really wanted that coin

 

The one consolation in a situation like this is when the hammer price ends up being way beyond what you were able to afford, anyway. The worst is when the hammer is only the next bid increment, or so - that can be maddening!

 

You are so right! I had placed my absolute max. proxy bid. Seemed that M & E auction was like blood in the ocean/ except this attracted all the "big spenders". CNG/ Heritage/ Stack's/ Sotheby's/ Künker/ Ars Classica events are known for highest realized prices. The so called "under the radar" auctions are one's best chance of getting steals/ like the Oslo Auction/ were I picked up the AV Lion d'or/ AV Solidus Libius Severus/ both in near MS for 1800US + 3800US. Roma a firm that to me now offers the finest/ rarest coins, is an exception. I won over 25 coins in past three years/ all were very reasonable.
John

 

I stopped making proxy bids or "timed" bids for this very reason. I only participate in live online bidding now so I can decide how high I want to go. I've also noticed a lot of coins that were purchased just a few months ago are being auctioned again, most of them at the same auction houses.

 

Unfortunately not everyone collects for the sheer fun of the hobby/ some speculate and want to make a fast buck! I have never sold any of my coins/ they are ALL keepers
John

 

Ultimately I did not try to win the Caracalla sestertius despite being a die match to the British Museum coin. The winner had 100% of his bids with this seller which was an impossibility. As usual eBay was doing nothing to prevent fraudulent auctions.

It is depressing since eBay is a way for those who cannot afford the high costs at VCOINS and other places and would rather not consign to sell coins so as to have enough to buy coins for their collections. The bidding by schill bidders was depressing and further evidence that the coin was not authentic - makes one wonder about the British Museum coins.

But I still have some doubt - what if this WAS an extremely rare sestertius of a type I collect?

 

No, thankfully in all of the situations I found a coin I really wanted to buy, I managed to buy it, so if I have any regrets in regards to coins, it is that I haven't managed to find some of the coins I want to buy, whether in the condition that I want them to be in, or at all!

edited

 

A few days ago I saw that about 3 weeks ago there was an auction at which several Mughal mohurs in nice condition sold for reasonable prices.

 

I wonder about this - don’t people look at the coins they want to buy and see if they have a bidding history? I have wondered about coins bought one year and sold the next. Isn’t there better ways to make money?

 

Sadly coins are great investment. I remember winning this coin (Heritage)
Next morning there was a e-mail from auction firm indicating some anonymous person wanted to give me double amt. I won it for/ 12 hrs earlier. Of course/ I am a collector/ I kept it. I have NEVER sold anything.
The coin I won for $4350.00 was offered $8700.00 next day!

 

Sorry for being unclear - I meant many lost opportunities to buy and missed out for one reason or another - my budget is limited especially in comparison to what I want to buy so opportunities for great buys don’t come often - there were just three beautiful sestertii being sold on French eBay that went for basement prices - but the seller refused to ship ancient coins to the United States - a lot of French sellers on eBay have the same restriction - in fact I believe that all Italian sellers on eBay refuse to ship to the United States - there is probably some nonsensical cultural patrimony law adopted by Italy that prevents coins from being shipped. Soon enough Italians be tossing away antiquities like is done in Greece when housing developers find antiquities - either that or the project is held up, sometimes for years. This would not happen if the land owners could sell what they find as in Britain, but Greece will not provide for it -

In the example I gave I didn’t buy the coin - the seller ended the auction because the second highest bidder contacted him and they made a private arrangement.

 

Wow! What a find!

 

John - agreed, but I can't imagine a more difficult way to make money than selling ancient coins - you have to be crazy to do it at any level but a big auction house.