I received some scyphate Byzantine coins in the mail and was quite surprised that they simply came in an envelope and one of those flat, sticky cardboard holders. I have ordered scyphates from two other sellers and they both placed the coins in small boxes to keep them safe. As one of the coins was already damaged, I thought for sure it would arrive in a little box inside the package. Naturally, I inspected the coin to make sure it had not suffered further damage. I'm having a difficult time seeing a crack in the seller's picture. Would love your opinions. Seller's image: My photos: Am I just not seeing it in the seller's image or do you think the coin was damaged in transit? For those of you with more experience with these type of coins than me, do you feel like this crack is a concern to continue on until the coin breaks in half?
Me neither. But No, to your point, that way of packing scyphates, never mind gold ones, is reminiscent of the way I like to paraphrase a Sex Pistols lyric. 'You're Profound '...-ly Retarded!' ...Please receive my sincere condolences. A Lot of us have been here.
Yes, it is visible in both of the seller's photos. The weak pont seems to be the beaded circles. You are more likely to lose another margin section than for the crack to propagate all the way across.
It's in the seller's photos, I can also confirm. It helped to increase brightness and contrast. You can see the crack on the obverse: Sorry .
I have received a lot of these from CNG/ NFA/ Gorny&Mosch. All where in flips/ in between that cardboard protective material (that you have to pry open to get flip out) All the coins where MS/ and arrived perfect. The Byzantine hyperypers from Michael VIII/ Andronicus !!/!!!/ John V/VI are known to have cracks/ are crude strikes in most cases.
I agree that it's much less pronounced in the sellers much better pictures but still visible. It makes me wonder if the crack was exacerbated in transit.
I can't comment with certainty about the crack getting worse in transit, but these type of coins very often come with such problems. In my recent example that can be seen below the damage pattern is very similar and it seems that it was caused by the dotted die border which probably put too much pressure on the thin curved flan. When I cleaned the coin though, another surprising crack became evident on the obverse in Jesus' halo right under the IC legend. I don't think anything will get worse though if I don't apply any more pressure to the coin.
Thanks all, really appreciate your observations and graphics. It actually is much better to me for the crack to have already existed and I just didn't see it than for it to have been damaged in transit.
CNG shipped mine in a box, as did Roma. Live and learn, I have to start checking with sellers and not take it for granted that all will provide a little extra protection to more fragile coin types.
Yeah, it could just be the angle and lighting were perfect to make the crack hard to see in their picture, or the crack maybe got a little worse. I think I will probably write to the seller to respectfully suggest they package scyphates, especially damaged ones, in a little box in the future for the sake of the buyer's peace of mind. The other two hyperpyrons I received in the same package were fine, but weren't damaged to start with.
Yup, although my coin has two big chips, I actually liked it better than the other examples up for sale because I thought the portrait was nicer and didn't have a crack running through it like most others. Same with your coin, it's chipped, but the portrait areas are really nice, and both sides to boot. The crack in and of itself doesn't bother me, I just don't want it to run through the portrait area. Hopefully you are correct that it does not get worse I now have a pre-reform Alexios nomisma and a post reform Hyperpyron. So far, everyone I have shown has found the contrast between the debased and more pure coin really interesting to see.