VAuctions: Pegasi Auction - no sizes?

First off, hello everyone. I've been an email subscriber since about September of last year, and enjoy reading all the posts, but this is my first submission to the group. I collected US coins as a youth since about 1969 but have not touched that collection in maybe 30 years.

Within the last year or so I've been drawn to collecting ancients, specifically Greece. The ancient Greek civilization appeals to me and the idea of owning a 2,000+ year old coin and holding it my hand sparks a particular interest within me.

I have a question for the group: I'm on VCoins & VAuctions email lists and most recently received a notice of the Pegasi XXXVI Auction. When I check the Greek coins for this auction I've not been able to find any that specify the size of the coin. I find that rather odd since even the most basic Ebay auctions note the size. Is this normal, or abnormal? Am I supposed to derive the size by reverse mathematics based on the weight in grams?

I had a very successful experience with VAuctions in March for the Triskeles auction - scoring 7 winning bids for some nice examples, but this auction perplexes me with its limited coin descriptions.

 

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Welcome, JL!

It is not uncommon for ancient coin auction listings to state only the weight of the coin. I prefer them to also state the size, but nobody asked me .

If you really need to estimate the size of a given coin, try looking for similar examples in CNG's archives.

 

Welcome to the board

 

You can roughly estimate the size based on the denomination. If you want the exact size then that does not help much.

When I was starting out 30+ years ago, I fell in love with a silver Greek coin and did not realize it was only a couple grams in weight...The pictures made it look a lot bigger. I made that mistake once, I still have the coin (no photo) and still admire it, but it was a shock when I opened the package.

 

Welcome @JL Patterson !!!

I was 'annoyed' as well that the sizes were omitted but still bid on a particular 'Greek Coin' anyway...and 'refreshed' my memory of the probable size with an acsearch/CNG comparison---just to make sure I wan't surprised (disappointed) if I won it.

 

welcome

 

Dealers like Pegasi are catering more towards seasoned collectors who they assume know generally what size the various denominations measure. In the old days such measurements were not considered of interest by most, but increasingly over recent years more information is being recorded and considered by collectors.

 

Welcome @JL Patterson
Checking size is a good idea, but not all dealers post it with their coins. I use acsearch.info before buying a coin. I looked for a RR denarius recently and about half of the dealers gave size (usually the largest diameter of an often not round coin).

 

Welcome to CT. I look forward to seeing some of your ancient coins & future posts. Here is a coin dated 1969 to commemorate your 48 year anniversary as a coin collector.

 

I generally don't get too excited about modern coins but that's a pretty cool cud and a very attractive patina . That it isn't in a plastic tomb makes it even better

 

My least favorite u.s. coin, but that is cool! Nice look too.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome, and particularly for the heads-up regarding acsearch and CNG archives.

I currently have about 60 ancient Greek coins and I can say that I definitely appreciate the larger ones over the smaller. I have several between 6 and 10 mm, and while they have their own unique designs and appeal, I have a harder time appreciating them. Because of that, lately I've been passing up smaller examples in favor of larger. Probably an ancient rookie thing.

 

Not at all. You will likely find that your interests will undoubtedly change quite a bit collecting ancients. I myself also prefer larger coins, and in bronze, but silver tetradrachms to a much lesser extent.

 

There is something to like for every taste. I'm fascinated with the artwork on extremely small flans. How the heck did they do that. Don't get me wrong, I like a big pond skipper as much as the next fella, but my imagination runs wild when holding a tiny coin like this one:

APOLLONIA PONTIKA
AR Hemiobol
OBVERSE: Anchor, A in field
REVERSE: Swastika with two parallel lines in each quadrant
Struck at Apollonia Pontika, circa 500BC
.28g, 6.54mm
SNG BM 149; Moushmov 3146
ex. Aegean Numismaics

or this one

MYLASA, CARIA
AR Tetartemorion
OBVERSE: Lion's head left with reversed foreleg below
REVERSE: Lion's scalp facing, flanked by leg on both sides, in incuse circle
Struck at Mylasa, 392-376 BC
.2g, 6mm
SNG Keckman I 837-846 (lion left)

 

Nice cud. I collected mint errors as a kid. Perhaps that's why I like ancients; almost every one has a mint error!

 

Purdy cool! I started in 1968. Yup, US coins, a CWT started it all.

 

The great advantage of ancients is there are enough different types to satisfy a wide variation of types. Yesterday a very old friend (long in term and tooth) and dealer * told me he had two rules. He never buys ugly and he never buys small. I collect ugly and small (and a few dozen other specialties). He is in it to make money. I'm not. For the most part, ancients are smaller in diameter and thicker than most beginners expect. You might also consider that the larger silver coins played a role in commerce more like our $100 bills. A silver coin the size of a half dollar was not 'change' but more like a paycheck for the common man. The need for smaller coins in daily commerce was real.

* Yes, he is the dealer that supplied the Otho.
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/show-report-one-otho.295880/

 

I like Big & Small ... yah, the two extremes seem to draw my coin-attention!!

Biggest Coin => total winner
Smallest coin => total winner

... I guess I grew-up loving the Guinness Book of World Records?

 

The size of the coin does not matter... I enjoy them all, either for uniqueness, historical value, or just coolness...

I have this monster as my largest STRUCK coin:


Carthage
AE 15-Shekel
45mm dia 7.5mm thick 102.6g (almost THREE Troy Ounces)
201-175 BCE
Tanit
4 hoove down Horse
SNG Cop 400
RARE 1
(struck by Hannibal in the years after his loss to Scipio 202 BCE... had to reorganize Carthage's finances to pay the enormous Roman Indemnity payments!)
Held in my paw...



IONIA, Uncertain mint.
AR Tetartemorion, 4mm, 0.13g; c. 530/25-500 BC
Obv.: Rosette.
Rev.: Incuse square punch with five pellets.
Reference: SNG von Aulock 1807
Held in @John Anthony 's paw...

 

Wanna hear something funny? I sold a tetartemorion of Kyzikos on eBay, years ago, and the buyer returned it because it was too small. She didn't think a coin should be so small, lol. I explained to her that the dimensions were clearly listed in the auction, and that ancient fractional silver got really tiny before the invention of bronze token coinage - that was just the nature of the beast. Since then, I typically photograph the tiny silvers on my finger so there's no confusion as to the size of the coin. That one you have is the smallest fractional that's ever come through my store.