Which Auction site would you rank #1 for Ancients?

I would give the nod to CNG. First off their grading is impeccable (CH-EF/ SUPBERB EF) would be classed as mint state/FDC most other auctions. The catalogues are well presented/ super photos. The coins are mostly spectacular high grade examples/ something for every palate.
John

 

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Ebay.

Trolls like me who have less then $120 to spend a month can sure score some great coins for little change if you are willing to dig through the haystack to find the needles.

CNG is always out of my price range & hearing about this "Clio", not someone I want to tango with if I did bid there.

 

Mat, I heard stories that there are untrustworthy people selling on e-bay Probably the "slabbed" material would be a safe bet on e-bay/ what do you think?

 

I don't buy slabbed. I rarely have issues with sellers. I have more issues with NY Customs then the sellers,

You buy gold and higher end stuff, ebay isn't as good for that stuff as my budget area is.

 

Im like @Mat
I have always bought most of my coins US, World, or Ancient all on ebay. I even sell some now on ebay. You just really have to be smart about it and have some common sense. Sellers from countries like China or any southeast asian county, I will typically stay away from. When it come down to it, im not gonna say it's the best, but you will find some great deals, some not so great. My rule of thumb is simple: if i have a leery feeling about the listing in any sort of way, I walk away. Sometimes I will take a gamble out of curiosity and if I dont have to spend a lot. To me that isnt any big deal.

Also remember, that a lot of reputable dealers list coins on ebay. They arent too hard to find either.

Overall just be smart about ebay. Dont get reckless and you can be very happy buying off there. But I also dont have a massive budget either, so ebay kinda fits for me

 

I do not buy many coins on Ebay. I think I have bought 1 in total. I usually stick to auction houses. Many of my favourites are overseas. I do bid and buy on CNG, but I have had far more luck with houses like Numismatic Naumann or Naville Numismatics. I have bought coins on Heritage, but there are so many add on charges for me that it is often much more economical to buy from Swiss, German, or British auction houses. I also really like Sincona and Dix Noonan Webb.

 

Tkalec AG in Switzerland is also a great site for Ancient Coinage/ Ars Classica/ Leu Numismatics/ Gallery 51/ Elsen's/ Kunker/ all excellent. A golden oldie from the 80's was NFA/Numismatics Fine Arts.....they had some eye popping coins/ that I could NEVER afford Like a FDC Saturninus Aureus!

 

Of course there are. But forewarned is forearmed! I scrounge through Ebay, and when I find something I like, I do some checking on the NFSL and fake reports. However, Ebay is not my number 1 site. Certain dealers on Vcoins which I have done business with for some time are my number 1 go to guys. Even on Vcoins there are some questionable dealers.

 

I've had pretty good luck with Roma Auctions, though I've only been bidding in the last few e-sales. I just gotta train my brain to think in British pounds and remember to include buyer premiums in my "ceiling" price.

 

Because I can't be bothered wading through pages and pages of the low quality or fake garbage which now inundates ebay, i only search the offerings of a few reliable ebay sellers: Dionysos, Lucerne, Savoca, Solidus-Numismatik. I find these sellers trustworthy, and you can always get a fair price. Please don't give any money to Mr highrating_lowprice who doesn't give a scrap about ethics.

Http://Ma-shops.de is a good alternative to Vcoins and Ebay.

Auction houses like Roma, CNG, Agora, Nomos are great - but i still think buyer's fees are rubbish, with no utility or value-add for the end user.

 

I picked up a few of their Seleucid themed auction catalogues from back in the day and they are just page after page of stunners. I mean the coins that make up Seleucid dreams the like of which I don't want to wake up from.

For Greeks I go CNG or Harlan J Berk and that's about it. For medievals there are several U.S. sites other than CNG ill turn to such as Pegasi Numismatics and Davissons Ltd. I've found Ebay to be a decent source for medeivals, just as long as you wade through the crap and know what you are looking for and at.

 

Oh yeah I forgot to mention him. His prices are outrageous. Never ever buy from him.

 

That’s one of the key reasons I don’t bid on places like that. Ive bid in vauctions a few times but a $40 coin turns to $90 after fees and usually high shipping. If it’s international...wow.

It’s like throwing money away from my view.

eBay has tons of negatives but still prefer it as my main auction go to.

Ma shops I find too high priced too. I never visit that site.

 

This, this this. Ebay takes some work, but browsing through coins is half the fun for me, and it feels a little bit like a treasure hunt (because there are gems in all that junk). Every year around my birthday I browse CNG but have yet to pull the trigger.

 

Absolutely. And as an Australian buying from a European or US auction, there's the exchange rate too - which somehow, is never the *actual* exchange rate. And then, when the coin hits customs, I have to pay an additional 10% tax. I have bought a few higher value coins at auctions for a better price than I would have at vcoins. But I'd participate in auctions more if it was clearer what my actual out-of-pocket price will be. Auctioneers take note: this is how you get more customers!

Ma Shops, unlike vcoins, has the "make an offer" button which I use. But, yes, these are vcoins prices.

 

As has been mentioned previously, he commits consumer fraud by claiming that he is selling at a 60% markdown from an original ridiculous price. The coin was never available at the claimed original price, and the sale price is still 2-3x times fair market value. The intent is clearly to deceive and take unfair advantage of novice collectors, by misrepresenting the value of his coins.

Obviously he's not on vcoins because that requires agreeing to a code of conduct. Someone in the US should report him to the relevant authority that deals in consumer law.

 

I do admit I would love to see another site battle eBay for traffic and whatnot, but I don’t see it happening.

What would really help is if eBay could give us users the ability to block sellers that fill pages and some times dozens of pages of just there stock, most overpriced and junk or stuff that’s been for sale since I started into ancients almost a decade ago.

Having favorite sellers is fine but many times those needles are a random new listing or a child selling dead daddy’s collection little by little, those I want to see so a block seller would be a better option so I can see small sellers.

Many times I give up viewing new listings because some dealers in Germany or France have to list 1000 coins in one swoop.

And this isn’t Lanz or numiscorner. I am seeing many new no namers with hundreds or more listed and they’re junk or overpriced.

 

And what i want to see is - one portal to all the "professional" auctions. Sign up one time only (not 50 times for 50 different auction houses), login, bid on CNG, Roma etc in one place - with actual fee-inclusive prices listed. Numisbids has been a good start. The technology exists to do this, someone just needs to build the site.

 

I for one would not use such a service. I only bid in certain sales known to me and have no use for having to weed through every European site there is when you can bid directly with the individual auction house. Who is going to pay for this service? Bidders' fees are high enough as it is.

 

Different auctions carry different kinds of items. CNG and Harlan Berk have high-end coins. Pegasi is professionally run but the starting bids are unreasonably high. For coin collectors of more modest means, Frank Robinson, Saint Paul Antiques, Agora, Numismatik Naumann, Kairos, and Auctiones GmbH are all good. Many of these auctions are run on the biddr platform, which allows for live, real-time participation.

Just note that you have to account for buyer's commission, currency exchange fees, PayPal fees and shipping when bidding. That 40 Euro denarius of Commodus will $65-$70 at the end.