Normally I avoid coins with flan cracks. But, I do have a couple in my VCoins watch list because they're fairly scarce types, and waiting around for another with similar amounts of detail would take years. Do you own any cracked coins? How much would you discount a cracked coin vs one that is not, ceteris paribus? The particular coin I am looking at is cracked from the edge to nearly the center of the flan. Advice is appreciated. Also, feel free to post your cracked coins, if you like.
This one is very scarce. Moreover, the crack isn't very big. Were I to wait for an uncracked one to come up for sale, I'd have to wait years. Cracks in Sestertii are pretty common, too.
Because coins of Gallienus are fairly grotty, this Pegasus was definitely an upgrade and the crack does not bother me.
Yes, I have coins with cracked flans, but, hey, everyone knows I'm a budget collector. I don't have a problem with flan cracks as long as the coin appears stable and not likely to break at the crack. HADRIAN AE Sestertius OBVERSE: HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS P P, laureate bust right, draped far shoulder REVERSE: HILARITAS P R S-C, COS III in ex, Hilaritas standing facing holding palm & cornucopia, two small children flanking her Struck at Rome, 128-134AD 25.30g, 35mm RIC 970
That's part of my potential issue with the coin I'm considering. The crack goes halfway through the coin. I don't have it in hand, so it's hard for me to say if it appears stable or not. I think it's probably okay if it's 100% good metal, but if it's crystallized at all, then it could be a problem.
I have several cracked coins. I think 1 or 2 are a bit severe, but the rest are fairly minor and don't bother me much.
Here is one with a crack, but it was definitely not a budget coin. The crack almost looks strategically placed to avoid major elements of the coin.
I really do not pay a lot of attention to cracks. I really do not have any that I can see that are problems. I have a few splits and chips... would those be considered Flan Cracks? Samnium Aesernia AE21 263-240 BCE HN Italy 430 Vulcan - Biga
As long as the cracks are minor and stable, I don't care This coin was test cut and has a tiny crack by the cut, but it's very stable. I don't regret buying it.
I think that, for a crack to be that long, the coin must be fragile and have been weak from the beginning. I have a few like that and am very concerned they will break. It is a big negative if a crack is long. Short cracks are a different matter, to me.
I dont have any with a cracked flan yet. As long as it doesn't detract from the design I feel its fine.
Cracks don't bother me at all. You mentioned chrystalized that completely different and stay away from. I even have a couple of broken coins that don't bother me because they don't take away from the portrait.
This is the only coin in my collection with the beginnings of a scary crack. Looking at it perhaps you can visualize how the little cracks at 11:30 & 6:00 could propagate across the coin. It's a beautiful coin but we don't handle this one.
A big percentage of my sestertius have a flan crack like the one below and does'nt bother me to much as I look at it as part of the originality of a 2000 year old coin, I would expect a discount of up to 20 percent if the crack went to the centre although the coin if lasted this long will probably be stable enough to last our life times.
I do not worry about cracks that were formed during minting like the one on @Orfew 's Vespasian. I worry lots about cracks due to crystallization. I purchased an extremely nice RR denarius. It had one small spot on the edge where some metal was missing and underlying crystallization was visible. The coin broke when handled ruffly! Ouch, that did not feel good. I have a similar coin someone else broke the same way. Now I put crystallized coins in a holder like Cointains (I am not sure if that word is trademarked). I do not move them much. Plenty has been written on the subject here and elsewhere - http://www.calgarycoin.com/reference/grading/damage.htm
If I were looking at two coins otherwise identical I would take the uncracked one unless the price were considerably lower. However, with ancients, we rarely have two coins identical but see more pairs that each have something better than the other. Below is my most recent badly cracked coin. Some would rather have another Commodus denarius but I'm happy to have this one. Chances are you won't find another exactly like it so you have to decide to love it or leave it. I'm keeping it. This Gordian sestertius was purchased because of, not in spite of the crack. I wanted a coin to demonstrate the word for a web page I was writing.
Flan cracks don't bother me at all. As a matter of fact, I won a coin today at auction which has a minor flan crack and it didn't affect my bid one bit.
