So my final tally is 11 coins... I have an itchy trigger finger... please don’t tell my wife. 1 Greek, 3 provincials, 5 Roman, 1 Chinese and 1 Crusader. I made out like a bandit in terms of interesting provenance. 3 of my wins have a very old provenance and several others are linked to CT members or other notable collections. It looks like I won coins from @zumbly and @dougsmit for sure. There were a few where the consignor wasn’t noted. I am hoping those have CT provenance as well.
I had 68 coins consigned. 12 did not sell. I am still quite happy with the results though. A few coins surprised me regarding their desirability. Thanks very much to @Severus Alexander for running such a fine auction and congrats on a job very well done. I hope that some of those who captured my coins were CT members. If so I hope they will post them here on CT.
I used Transferwise and the money saved in PayPal fees funded the shipping insurance. There were no problems completing checkout with Transferwise.
Without having any regrets, I went on a bit of a splurge. I won seven out of my eleven main targets. Four of those wins are from the Roman Republican section, three from the European medieval part of the auction. I didn't think I'd stand a chance to get this one. It should have sold much higher. I'm glad that it didn't, though, and promise that it will have a good new home. The same is true for this one. It will keep my Julius Caesar elephant company: Who could ever resist such toning? Also, it's my first groat. To me, the Hundred Years' War is one of the most fascinating (and in some cases most abhorrent) periods of medieval European history. During the reign of the Charles VI, fittingly known as "the Mad," the French side suffered a series devastating defeats. All seemed lost for the French until, almost miraculously, Joan of Arc appeared at Orleans to support the mad king's successor, Charles VII "the Victorious." The rest of the story is well know. Attractive coins of Charles VI are hard to find, and this is a splendid example of the type. It's from the collection of @Orfew , and I can tell you that it's going to be one of the most prized pieces in my medieval collection. (I also got your Edward IV groat but had to forfeit to the other bidder on your splendid Edward I penny – maybe the happy new owner is here on CT, too?) I also had my eyes on some "midrange targets" in the Roman Imperial section and got blown out of the water with most of them. Bidding in this part of the auction seems to have been really strong to me. I managed to still pick up a couple of coins, though. This one I wanted for the Mercury reverse. I am in the process of building a little Roman Imperial pantheon in silver based on Livy's lectisternium. Most deities are easy to find, but Mercury is not shown that often on Imperial silver coins. The only denarii with this deity are a Marcus Aurelius and a Postumus. Both are quite hard to come by, and I also didn't want a heavily debased antoninian of Valerian, Gallienus, or later. That leaves only this reverse type struck for Trajan Decius, Herennius Etruscus, and Hostilian. This one will do and fits my budget, and since I am also still missing a portrait of Herennius Etruscus, it's even killing two birds with one stone: I simply couldn't let this attractive Constantinople commemorative pass. Although outside of my main collecting areas, it's outstandingly beautiful in my eyes. A coin that just "spoke to me:" This one I wanted mainly for the 1942 Helbing ticket. I noticed that all of the coins with this auction provenance drew strong bids, so I guess that I was not the only one attracted by this. Upon receiving the coin, I'll carefully consider whether Gordy should take a bath in acetone: Apart from these, I did some inexpensive snacking in the pick bins. Nothing truly spectacular, but I got this nice ex @dougsmit coin: My humble consignments did quite well, too. I had eight coins in the auction, five of them sold. The only thing I found surprising is that the Greek pick bin didn't find that much of an enthustiastic reception. I had expected otherwise!
3 wins for me : One ex Doug Smith Another ex Doug Smith Another ex Doug Smith ex Ken Dorney Am I becoming CoinTalkoolic or what ?
I was out of the running on one of @Orfew’s coins before the auction even began (and seeing the final price of the Geoffrey of Brittany coin, I didn’t stand a chance). But I won my other target!
My friend, my jaw dropped to the floor when I saw the hammer on that one. I knew it was rare but I had no idea it would attract that much interest. Sorry that you missed it.
I'm not 100% sure Transferwise worked... I'll have to check it in a bit. It seemed almost too easy and biddr did not ask for my TW login or password. More importantly, I got the one coin that I considered my "target" and then I was really looking to pick up whatever struck me in the moment. Target - Acquired: Then I grabbed a Han Dynasty from the @Sallent collection... My first Chinese coin - YAY! Finally, I handed my phone to my daughter while I paid for lunch and told her to bid on whatever struck her fancy... within reason and keep it to one coin. She. Nailed. It! @dougsmit collection and Temple Reverse to boot. I've trained her well. What a great auction @Severus Alexander. I'm already looking forward to the next one.
I’m trying to pay through transferwise and they are requesting things I don’t know, such as AMCC email, city, address, postal code, province, and then I see “currently we can only pay Canadian dollars into bank accounts in Canada and not other currencies such as US dollars.” I think I was sending US dollars and figuring out what would be the equivalent Canadian invoiced amount. I have used TransferWise once before for an auction in Italy and had no trouble. Am I being particularly thick here? I prefer to use transferwise rather than PayPal, but it seems that paypal is also having trouble. If anybody has any transferwise wisdom here, I’d appreciate it. G.
The bidding on that coin was something else. I remember seeing that coin in CGB, and regretted not getting it then. My hope was to pick it up in this auction, but that coin was quickly above my budget. I still managed to win an Orfew coin. @Orielensis I'm glad you got the Edward III treaty period groat. Despite the rough flan, it is a lovely coin.
Targeted four, got just one and thought "Oh, well, paying shipping for just one coin isn't worth it" so I managed to get four more that might well be biscuits in Santa Claus to give away Q PS : I have problems at the moment with paying via Paypal too : too early in the process ?
I got my target. Two of the coins I won are from the JB (Edmonton) collection, is that from somebody here on CT?
@Orielensis Thanks for the kind words. I am glad you got those 2. I really liked the Charles VI too, but it did not fit the collection anymore. I bought the groat from Harlan Berk. Sorry about the penny, that was also a purchase from Harlan Berk.
I tried for that lot but was too late bidding. What a strange and unusual portrait. I bet few even noticed it. My main target, I guess I lost. It shows the same high bid as mine, but I assume my bid was seconds later, either that or maybe a reserve. So bummed. But I did get a cool dozen to soothe me a bit.
Great auction, lots of Kudos to @Severus Alexander & his team. The system is just amazing! Luck was with me , I put all my bets on one and won it: IONIA, Smyrna (Pseudo-autonomous issue), c. 105-95 BCE, AE Homereion, issued under Hieronymos from JB (Edmonton collection)