Over priced ancients

Unbelievable the difference a slab can make. Put a $2 Churchill Crown into a slab and list it for $60! Probably the most common and ugliest commemorative coin minted in the UK. I regularly see them raw for $1.50.

 

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There might be a time limit on conditions attached to bequests - I’m going to check that out.

 

I am pretty sure that the passage of 124 years has allowed the condition to lapse and the coins can now be sold. Depends on state law I think - sort of a personal property law against perpetuities.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2566041270...Imztmh6KUfY6MkwBNo5CRvdg==|tkp:Bk9SR86V5tq1ZA

 

Ancient coins is a hobby where prices stay the same even as huge numbers of the collectibles enter the market every year. Although it was explained it amazes me that due to the numbers of coins entering the market that we never reach a saturation point where prices collapse as they did for comics and baseball cards.

Actually I’m not sure that would be such a good thing i don’t collect for investment purposes but I still hope to at least get back what I paid for what I have. although I did have a very bad experience price wise on about a dozen recent consignments. Maybe prices are moderating?

The internet has opened the hobby to collectors worldwide, and also the number of pieces are still quite rare. Although rarity is an odd concept in our hobby - let’s take the most common sestertius, which I believe iis Nero. Acsearch indicates that just over 10,000 (I have to confirm the exact number) asestertii of Nero sold by major auction houses since 1999. That an extremely small number - and it reflects different types and not that many are in the highest grades. But compared to US coins ancients are a great bargain.

Of course because there are so many types rarity is an odd concept in ancient coins and is a distant second to grade. But high grade coins are also of course rare.

Also dealers influencing price by withholding coins from market is well established in our hobby. If a hoard is discovered and a dealer has numerous examples of a rare type why would these be released all at once?

We do get lower prices sometimes when a lot of coins come on the market all at once. Has anyone noticed the numerous examples of Cleopatra - THE cleopatra VII offered lately? I have and I have noticed the prices for her coins iare dropping. Also a year or so ago a large number of small electrum coins from Miletos and other places swept into the market - nice examples could be bought for under $200. Now of course the supply is down and the prices went back up.

Blake

 

https://www.vauctions.com/Event/LotDetails/1151838

 

You call 10,000 a huge number? I actually find that in my field, provincial coins of Southern Levant, 10 (ten!) coins is the magic number after which the price drops dramatically. And while exceptional quality coins are still getting attention, lower grade but still perfectly collectable coins are sitting for years in dealers stocks and can be acquired on auctions for much less than $100, and often $10-20. I honestly don't expect to recover a significant fraction of the money I spend on coins.

 

https://www.aucm.com/philip-ii-359-...don-av-twelfth-stater-ngc-au50-148977579.html

 

https://www.biddr.com/auctions/nac/browse?a=9&l=6056

 

Very nice but I guess this just goes to illustrate a recurring point.

Like the owner of the yacht "Bayesian", having a lot of money does not always coincide with having a lot of brains.

I find the name "Bayesian" very fitting as it refers to the probability of an event and the boat was sunk by an improbable storm. Perhaps karma was trying to tell him something?

 

https://www.biddr.com/auctions/sovereignrarities/browse?a=4969&l=6038700

 

I don’t think I said 10,000 - I said thousands - look at the number of group lots for sale on biddr or numiscoins. These go on constantly while the number of collectors seems to be declining from what I understand.

 

https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ag...uct/maximianus_herculius/1976406/Default.aspx

 

https://www.biddr.com/auctions/numiscorner/browse?a=4978&l=6047997

 

https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=8416&lot=722

 

https://www.numisbids.com/n.php?p=lot&sid=8426&lot=58

 

https://www.ma-shops.com/cgb/item.php?id=332917

 

https://auctions.cngcoins.com/lots/...08-bc-av-60-asses-14mm-336-g-11h-rome-mint-ef

 

https://www.coinarchives.com/w/lotv...Lot=1849&Val=988a6bc8a87d7151a14ed0b4ce632b0e

 

https://www.sarc.auction/FATIMID-al...rham-1-91g-Madinat-Fas-F-s-AH320-XF_i53867709