Who's waiting for a coin to arrive in the mail?

I've never had to pay customs fees, which is nice. Hopefully it don't change with the new man in the office.

 

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Elagabalus AR Denarius. Rome Mint 218-222 AD. Obverse: IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, horned, laureate and draped bust right, horn at peak of bust. Reverse: SACERD DEI SOLIS ELAGAB, Elagabalus standing right, sacrificing over lighted altar, holding patera and club; star in right field. RIC: 131, RSC 246. Size: 19mm, 2.55g.

 

Here's an interesting juxtaposition to @Sallent post to highlight the debasement of Roman silver coins over several centuries. I received this Roman Republic AR Quinarius in today's mail. This "half denarius" weighs 2.30 g, nearly the same as @Sallent Elegabalus full denarius minted some 400 years later!

Roman Republic. Southeast Italy Mint. AR Quinarius, 2.30 grams, 17mm. H Series. 211-210 BC. Obv: Head of Roma right, V (=5 asses, mark of value) behind. Rev: Dioscuri riding right; H below; ROMA in exergue. Crawford 85/1a; Sydenham 174. Ex Nicolas Collection, Leu 17 (1977), Lot 41.

 

You don't have to go that far in the past to illustrate that debasement:

Roughly 85% silver.


And 100 years, roughly 55% silver


And only 4 decades after that, roughly 45% silver:


That last is just about the end for silver coinage for a while. Once you go below about 45% silver you can no longer mask the color of the impurities and pretend this is a good silver coin, so once Romans got to this stage, full bronze coins with a thin silver plating on top were only a few years away.

 

You do if you want to stay on topic. The quinarius is a coin I was waiting to receive and got in today's mail.

 

If I had your coin I'd want to show it off too. It is beautiful and very special. Definitely a coin that could proudly be the centrepiece of any ancient coin collection.

I love Roman silver. I think I'm at around 55 Roman silver coins when combining my Roman Republic denarii, Imperial denarii, and Roman provincial fractional and Tetradrachm silver coins. I honestly cant get enough of them.

 

I stopped bidding on G-N for this reason... and they wouldn't send via normal registered mail. But after the split, Naumann agreed to do this... and now no dinging at the border! (I don't know about Gitbud.)

 

Fedex + USA can be the same thing...
If the seller marks the value on the package then
Fed ex + importing to Canada = fees

 

I used to be an assiduous buyer at Heritage, but lately Heritage to Germany means:

Heritage + Germany = +19% Duty + 6 wks at Customs + 45$ Shipping = +

So I no longer buy at Heritage.

 

Heritage is problematic, now I have my material reserved for about 2 years/ then they ship it via FEDEX to my in-laws in the US. They then bring it over to me when they come for family visits. With most other auctions, they send it via "Neutral registered letter"=no customs fees! Most are happy with this, since nothing ever disappears...ie theft/ since there are no value/description of contents on letter
I am awaiting a letter from Schulman Auction/ a mint state 1746 Louis d'or.

 

Here in Germany it depends on the carrier. If you get a package via DHL Express, they deal with customs and then deliver the item to your address - but charge an extra fee ("Kapitalbereitstellungsprovision") for that service. 2 percent of the value, minimum €10. Has been like that for almost three years, and the only way to get around this is to get a customer account. Not sure whether this is an option for everybody or for "high volume" customers only ...

Christian

 

My Louis d'or arrived yesterday, it came via priority post/ regular mail....no fees of any kind

 

Waiting for two. This one from Roma I purchased some weeks ago...



And this one from John Anthony, which I'm sure will arrive promptly:

 

I am awaiting my lot from CNG Triton auction
AV Quarter Stater/ Cantiaci/ Corded Horse/ Kent Region

 

I am currently waiting on a coin from Israel. It's been 6 weeks and the package wasn't trackable once it left Israel. Is that a normal wait time from packages from that region? I've never had an issue with my orders from Europe taking so long.

 

CURTISIMO, that's my story too! Same thing, an order from Israel, I don't know what happened to it after it entered the US. I know that it will require a signature once it arrives at my post office. My order entered the country on December 14th after that I don't know what happened to it. I've never had a delivery take 10 weeks before. I've been to my local post office twice and asked them to check the shelves in the back. It has to be at Customs! It must be policy related based on the new Administration.

 

I feel your pain my friend. I am beginning to think that it's about time to cut my losses on this one. I suspect it has either been indefinitely held by customs or wasn't scanned and has been lost after leaving customs.

I contacted USPS and got the following response.

"The Postal Service is aware of the frustration and disappointment caused when we do not live up to our commitment of safe and reliable mail service.

The last scan that we see on this piece is in Customs. Unfortunately, they have the ability to hold that piece for an indeterminate amount of time. It does not receive scans while in customs. We are not able to do anything to get scans or updates as to when they will release your piece."

It would have been a great addition to my collection oh well.

 

Thanks, Curtisimo! Although I'm not going to hold my breath. I feel a bit more optimistic that I will receive my package "eventually" based on the USPS response that you received. I think Customs is still backed up due to holiday volume and bureaucratic turnover.

 

I do not have a history from Israel, but I just bought a book from there. It will be interesting to see how long it takes. The web site said 4 - 6 weeks. It has shipped (in only a day or two). I picked that seller because the book was $16, shipping $16 and I figured the education would be worth $32.