The Gold Daric and it's historical significance on Sparta

Oh well when I posted it I was in the process of paying for it since I had sent the check but it hadn’t been cashed yet.

But today I saw that it had been cashed so yeah it was kind of in the grey area.

As for the slab thing: I had no idea that NGC didn’t guarantee authenticity in ancient coins.

However at least they do some checking to make sure it’s not obviously a counterfeit.

Like I’m sure if I faked an Ancient coin that was obviously counterfeit they would refuse to slab it.

Whereas raw ancient coins can have obvious signs of counterfeiting but unless the buyer really knows their ancient coins they would have no idea.

Basically I see NGC ancients grading as a sort of basic check to root out the bad fakes.

 

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I will reiterate my congratulations on your new addition. I will also caution you that when it comes to higher value coins such as this it is not the low quality fakes that would be easily screened that should concern you.

Sometimes new research outs fakes that are very good and the only way to check a coin against the research is to have it raw (looking at the edge, metal analysis, specific gravity tests etc.). You have to remove it from the slab to do so.

The best auction houses and dealers offer lifetime guarantees of authenticity. However, at least with CNG if you remove a coin from a slab they will not take it back... EVEN IF IT’S FAKE! When you buy a slabbed ancient coin you are trading a guarantee for an opinion and that is a bad value proposition in my opinion.

If you like slabs it is your collection so by all means collect your coins in slabs. However you should be aware of the differences between slabs for ancient coins and slabs for modern coins. They may look the same but the considerations are much different.

 

This is my brother’s goofy daric.



Erin

 

I'm bidding on a silver siglos...

 

I like how detailed yours is. It’s more detailed and you can really see the bow representing the “archers”.

 

Oh yeah: Also youre right about the slabs. I was wrong. I falsely assumed they were a guarantee because I read they guaranteed coins but didn’t know it was only modern coins.

It was a simple misunderstanding of the NGC guarantee. I mean you gotta admit they don’t really go out of their way to make it clear.

Idk I just like slabs. I’m not saying that not slabbing is wrong in any way. I’m not that experienced to make that claim.

Im just saying that most people have slabbed coins of some kind and so it must provide some benefit.

Even if it’s just protection from dropping on the floor. That’s how I think of it any way.

 

Ohhh I think I know what happened.

Here is exactly what I said:

“I've been thinking about the next Ancient coin I want to pick up and I've finally decided on picking up a Persian Gold Daric.”

What I meant to say was:

“I've been thinking about the next Ancient coin I wanted to pick up and I've finally decided on picking up a Persian Gold Daric.”

What I meant was for a while I was thinking of what ancient coin to get and I finally decided to pick it up.

That’s my bad I had just gotten off of work and it was a 24 hour shift so I was really tired. :/

 

Why is it goofy?

The only goofy Darics are fake ones. xD

 

A Daric is a wonderful addition to any ancient collection.

Here’s mine, not entombed @Alegandron, haha I really like that description. I too crack open every slabbed coin I get, I actually mostly avoid buying something that is slabbed. I do keep mine in 2x2s though but that’s only for storage until I get a nice display tray.



I also have 3 roughie Siglos that I bought for $50. I would like to get a really nice one eventually.

 

My daric:

Persia, Achaemenid Empire. Time of Xerxes II to Artaxerxes II. Circa 420-375 BC. Daric (Gold, 16x14mm; 8.34 gm; 12h ), Sardes. Persian king moving to right, in the running-kneeling position, with quiver over his shoulder and holding transverse spear in his right hand and bow in his left. Rev. Oblong incuse. BMC Arabia pl. XXV, 12. Carradice Type IIIb C, pl. XIV, 42

 

Very nice! It’s well struck and still has a lot of detail!

 

So if you had 6 of those Athenian owl Tetradrachmae and 1 more drachma they would be worth 1 Daric?