Hello everyone! I thought I'd start a thread for Leu wins. This was my first time taking part in a Leu auction and hammer prices seemed to be very strong. I'm not sure if it's an indication of escalating ancient coin prices, or just the clientele of the auction. I was successful in 5 of the 10 coins I bid on, though those I won were for either my max bid or one below my max. Here are my wins: Seleukos I Nikator, 312-281 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 26 mm, 17.08 g, 8 h), Susa, circa 296/5-281 This was my top target for the auction and the main reason I participated. Seleukos was my only missing piece from the diadochi who minted coins in their own names (others are Lysimachos, Kassander, and Ptolemy), and this was the coin I wanted most from him. Overall it's been my #1 target for some time. The elephants give such a striking portrait of the times IMHO, and were a huge factor in the wars. Demetrios I Poliorketes, 306-283 BC. AE (Bronze, 18 mm, 5.20 g, 6 h), uncertain mint in Macedon or Greece (?), circa 294-288. Prow to left. Rev. ΔΗΜ / ΒΑΣΙ Demetrios on horseback galloping left, hurling spear; to left, forepart of a lion right. HGC 3, 1024. Newell 179 and pl. XVII, 18. SNG Alpha Bank -. SNG München -. Extremely rare. This one I go back and forth on. Technically, per my own rules I shouldn't have bid on it, since I already have a tet from Demetrios. I also think it's been tooled. However, I just really loved the design of this one with Demetrios riding on horseback, the ship's fore, and what I understand is a lion that the horse is riding over (which I presume symbolizes Lysimachos?). Adding to it, I couldn't find any examples of the same design in my searches. Since HGC and Newell list it, there must be a few other copies out there, but there doesn't seem to be too many. The coin is rough, but I figured this may be my only chance to obtain a copy. I'm therefore glad to have it. Alexander III ‘the Great’, 336-323 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 24 mm, 16.80 g, 7 h), Susa, struck under Koinos, circa 324-323. Price 3829. This coin confused me initially. It was minted by Koinos, but when I read up on him he died in 326 BCE. In 323 BCE (after Alexander's death), Antigenes received the satrapy of Susa. However, all auction sites attribute Susa tets to Koinos up to 320 BCE. I then read further to realize this was a different Koinos, who received the satrapy in 325 BCE and was no longer mentioned in 320. Little seems to be written about him. I was interested in this coin not only to add to my "Era of the Diadochi" list, but also because I wanted a coin from Susa and liked that it was (probably) Alexander's lifetime. Koinos coins are semi-rare at auction and I honestly put what I thought was a lowball bid on it. Kassander, 305-298 BC. AE (Bronze, 18 mm, 6.09 g, 11 h), Amphipolis (?). McClean 3553. SNG München 1030 I already have a coin attributed to Kassander, but I recently realized my other coin can be attributed to Pleistarchos - Kassander's brother who briefly ruled in Caria. As I was about to bid on a Pleistarchos drachma in another auction, I did some research and learned that I already owned one. I could have just attributed my coin to both, but as Kassander bronzes are typically not expensive, I grabbed this one. I actually like the design of this one more than the more typical Philip-style horse and rider. My other Kassander is the helmet variety, a lower denomination of which was also in this auction. Eupolemos, circa 295-280 BC. AE (Bronze, 19 mm, 4.15 g, 12 h). HN online 243. SNG Keckman 223-4. SNG von Aulock 2378. I actually already have a half-unit of the same design, but it's in poor shape and I wanted something where the three shields are more visible. This therefore becomes my first coin upgrade, though I don't plan to sell my other one since it's a different denomination. Overall, I'm very happy with my haul, though my budget is now shot for the year. Let's see everyone else's Leu wins!
Amazing, great accusations. I love the Seleukos I tetradrachm, I would love to have it in my collection as well. That Demetrios I AE coin is very interesting, especially the reverse. Sometimes extremely rare coins can be particularly interesting, since apparently they did not serve any big circulation, and thus it often features more local scenes or deities such as on your reverse. The last 2 bronze coins are of very nice style, nice examples of the type.
Nice coins @kirispupis . I like the elephants and ship's prow. I picked up one, see my post here for more. I wanted another, but the electrons between my computer and Leu's computer kept banging heads.
I bid on 3 but was outgunned on all of them. Mainly because I didn't feel like getting up at 5am in order to snipe bids.
Congrats, @kirispupis Great coins, love that Seleukos tet. Wow. I followed the auction live, bid on two coins and got both. I’m very happy with them, and plan on a write up on the Trajan:
This one hammered for 8 times the starting bid. Crazy! But it's mine now. Faustina II, AD 147-175. Roman AR denarius, 3.60 g, 19 mm, 1 h. Rome, late AD 162 – early 163. Obv: FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust of Faustina, right, wearing strand of pearls. Rev: VENVS GENETRIX, Venus standing left, holding Victory in extended right hand and shield depicting the Dioscuri in left hand. Refs: RIC 734 var.; BMCRE 172; RSC 280a; RCV 5268; MIR 35-4/10b; CRE 227.
I wasn’t outgunned but damn near close. Needless to say, Leu got their pound of flesh but I got my quarry.
I was winning a few Leu auctions.. including that nice Julius Caesar/Octavian dupondius. But you know, in Australia it's 2am when these auctions finish. I fell asleep and was also outgunned.
Absolutely nada. Closest I came was 5 CHF below the hammer, most of my (admittedly weak) bids were more than 100 below hammer. Maybe it's time to stop trying to buy from them and start consigning. Could probably make some serious green, considering the excessive bids that Leu bidders place these days.
My first time bidding in a Leu auction. I am now 1 for 1. I’ve been chasing this coin type for quite some time. I’ll unfold the saga during my end of year top 10 list. Suffice it to say, these coins aren’t getting any cheaper. This denarius shows honest wear but all the essentials are there. Happy to have gotten it at a price point and condition I could live with. Hope it arrives soon.
I had an eye on a few ones, but they went out (by far) of my price range before the start of the actual auction. I didn't even bid on any of them. Some very nice stuff though Q
That Seleukos I Nikator tetradrachm is a tough coin to locate and win in auction. Your example is really nice, especially the reverse! Your description of the Alexander III tetradrachm, from Susa, issued by Koinos is very interesting. The period following Alexander's death was pretty chaotic, with various generals vying for power in parts of his empire, as described so vividly in Mary Renault's Funeral Games. Your tetradrachm would be categorized as an early posthumous coin, I would assume. No wins or losses to report. I have not, so far participated in their auctions, although I was tempted to bid on one or two lots, Lihyan tetradrachms, which actually hammered at what I think were reasonable prices, given their rarity. I guess the collector base for this series is fairly narrow.
I think this tet is lifetime based on Leu's dating of 324/323 BCE. Since the Persians used fire signals off mountaintops to deliver messages, news of Alexander's death would have travelled in under a day from Babylon to Susa. Koinos was given the satrapy during Alexander's lifetime (325 BCE). Pella gives this coin a range of 325 - 320, but my suspicion is Leu is going off more recent research. I've also seen Price 3829 listed on CNG with the same dates, so my feeling is it's lifetime - at least until the next paper is published. One curiosity is that Susa coins up to 320 BCE are still attributed to Koinos. As I understand, Antigenes was given the satrapy after Alexander's death. However, he spent most of his time running around with Eumenes, so presumably he wasn't able to administer it? I researched this a bit since I wondered whether the later Susa coins could be attributed to Antigenes, but I concluded that they could not - which is why I went for an earlier coin from Koinos, since we do know that he had the satrapy at Alexander's death, but it's uncertain for how long afterwards.
I have made many bids in Leu auctions in the past and, like many others, have always gotten the coin at my maximum bid or slightly less. However, Leu often has coins I am very interested in so when I place a bid, I assume the maximum is what I will pay for the coin. Here is a very rare coin in this last auction that I have never seen offered before and even had to look it up BMC Cyrenaica and Naville's Les Monnaies d’Or de la Cyrenaique to confirm it: https://www.sixbid.com/en/leu-numismatik/8693/greek/7278512/kyrenaica-kyrene-magas-as-ptolemaic Lot 1465: KYRENAICA. Kyrene. Magas, circa 300-75 BC. AV Hemiobol (6 mm, 0.43 g, 7 h) O: ship prow to right. R: Silphium plant BMC 224a; Naville 15 So, I knew it would go way over estimate and generate a lot if interest. While waiting for the "live bidding" window, I decided to "test" Leu's "shilling software" I made sure to have the highest prebid and just seconds before "Live bidding" window opened, placed a higher bid. The window opened at my maximum bid - maybe just coincidence, maybe not. I was quickly outbid by at least 2 others who were willing to pay much, much more than me. The winning bidder must have placed a high bid to ensure a win and was probably rewarded with a Euro 3000 increase at the close. I have no idea what the winner's maximum was, but I think it was very likely Euro 9000, the winning bid. Now, no "sour grapes" as the third highest bid was way above mine, but just want to share my opinion about maximum bids in Leu auctions because it definitely influences how I bid.
One interesting phenomenon I noticed about Leu is how lower bids affect higher ones. Leu at least makes the bidding history transparent. The following is for the Magas coin, which I noticed too but didn't bid on because I (in retrospect correctly) determined it would go too high. Bidder 1 9000 CHF 14-Aug-21 23:11:51 Bidder 2 8500 CHF 14-Aug-21 23:12:00 Bidder 3 6000 CHF 14-Aug-21 23:11:57 Bidder 4 2600 CHF 14-Aug-21 23:11:54 Bidder 4 1800 CHF 14-Aug-21 23:11:08 Bidder 5 1800 CHF 14-Aug-21 23:11:45 Bidder 6 1600 CHF 14-Aug-21 23:11:21 Bidder 4 1100 CHF 14-Aug-21 22:48:02 Bidder 1 1100 CHF 14-Aug-21 23:02:37 So, Bidder 1 (the winning bidder), placed a bid with about 9:30 left of the auction. Either he was outbid, or he decided to place an "insurance" high bid with 10 seconds left of at least 9000. At the moment the auction closed, a bid of 8500 was received. In many other auctions, that would put the winning bid at 8500 in favor of Bidder 1. However, Leu "pushes" the winning bidder up one increment, which in this case is 500 CHF. For one coin I won, a similar thing happened. In my case the increment was 100 CHF, so that's how much extra I paid. In that case, I can see that the same bidder tried one bid, then placed another when he saw he wasn't the winner. For the last 10 seconds I was very nervous since my max had been reached, but I just felt the coin wasn't worth more than that and evidently the other bidder agreed. Given the different bidding patterns, I don't think Leu does shill bidding. However, their practice of automatically pushing the winning bidder one increment above the second highest bid makes it more likely that one's max bid is reached.
From what I can see bidder 2 placed a max bid at 8500 when bidder 1 was already winning bidder 3 with 6500. Bidder 1 had a max bid of 9000 or even higher. The system correctly raised to 9000. If bidder 1 had a max of 8500 he would win as a prior bidder in the tie. I am not aware of an auction which works the way you described. There is no way to know if bidder 2 is a collector, a shill bidder or the reserve encoded in the bidding system. (Except if a hacker releases their data).
Interesting stats for the last Leu auction: Starting: 345,725 CHF | Hammer: 1,783,573 CHF (5.15 X Starting price) 100% sold 36,590 bids | 1,534 bidders from 66 countries
