The Slabbed Coin Market for Ancient Coins is HOT

There will be American members here who can guide you for sellers/houses in the US.
I can't as the only American houses and dealers I know are from discussions in this forum.
The stater you presented is probably breath taking in hand.
But I looked randomly for prices and even if you would have to settle with a less breath taking example, the prices are nowhere near.

 

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Oh yeah I agree with you 100% that holding the coins would be much more enjoyable than just looking through a plastic slab. Not being able to hold my coins is the biggest downside of slabs in my opinion.

I actually plan on cracking out my Trajan tetradrachm so I can hold it in my hand because it’s one of my cheaper ancient coins so if something happens at least I’m not out a huge amount of money like I would be if I cracked out my MS Athenian tetradrachm or my AU quadrigatus and ended up damaging or contaminating them with a sticky substance or skin oils or something like that.

Because I think that’s another one of my issues is that alot of my coins are tiny coins like denarii and most are in AU condition so all it would take is one drop or one scratch and my AU coin becomes an XF-details (scratch) coin.

At the end of the day I think it all comes down to personal preference. But one good thing is that at least slabs aren’t permanent. In the future I can always change my mind about having them slabbed and crack them out.

It’s much easier to crack them out then it is to put them back in. It’s cheaper too. NGC fees are expensive.

 

If you do a little research on the owl offerings in auctions listed in acsearch in the past 4 years you will see that the 30.000 figure is extremely sub-estimating the actual numbers. I would say it's at least 60.000 coins and there seems to be no end if it. Of course those dispersing the hoard have an obvious interest to spread rumors with lower figures. From what I see there are 3 auctioneers who are selling 80% of the mass. The prices are still kept high probably because of reserves.

 

Wait until you have 2000 coins and your slab collection won't fit in your house.

 

It's just 100 litres of volume but it would be cumbersome to archive, display or simply browse them

 

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You've been around coin forums long enough to already know this answer but I'll say it anyway...

Why does an MS67 of the same type cost more than a VF35?

For exactly the opposite reason as my other post: just because someone can buy a used car doesn't mean someone else won't want to buy a $5M Bugatti.

The example you posted is in a different universe than the average coin. I'm certain that the person who bought it did their homework and didn't just buy it because they woke up one day looking only for any coin depicting Pegasus, saw the first that cost $20K and thought, "well, I guess that's what any coin depicting Pegasus costs".

 

For me this auction season has been brutal. For the first time in five years I have been shut out of the Triton, The NAC Auction, most of the other good auctions and my normal success rate has gone from winning one coin out of five to perhaps one in twenty. Yikes This year I won seven coins at auction. Okay enough whining. There are many instances in the past where a coin has gone for really unbelievable money. Though I will admit this year there certainly has been an uptick in frequency. Last year I bought this coin
Tetradrachm of Himera 409-408 BC Obv Nymph driving quadriga right. Rv, Nymph standing left sacrificing over altar. HGC 436 17.46 grms 25 mm Photo by W. Hansen I bought this coin last fall. I thought I paid a lot for it. But as I was researching an article on this coin I thought "Just for fun I want see on AC Search at what time did someone pay more than I did for one of these coins. It was in 2005 and he beat me by about $3 K.

 

The Ptolemy piece is indeed nice, but not worth $6,000. I'd pay that much for something that was rare and in superb condition, but not that coin.

 

Well, I guess one could keep them in the bath tub!

 

LOL, as "sinkers" or "floaters" ?

 

Slabs and raw coins that look pleasing are fetching insane prices.

One coin as an example is this Otho denarius. First came across it in CNG auction where I decided to go with another Otho offered in the same auction. I was suspicious of the hair…looked tooled to my eyes

It was offered 3 times in the same calendar year; each time selling for 2+x the previous sale

 

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I have a few slabbed ancients, but most of my coins are raw. I prefer the raw coins because they are easier to photograph, and the photographs look better. I am not in the habit of handling my coins, but it nice to touch the coins now and then. The raw coins also take up a lot less storage space in the safe deposit box.

I prefer raw when I can get it. I also have a few pieces with the inserts in the flip, which shows that they were once in NGC holders.

 

Mine has the same issue of not showing the full name of the emperor, but a better portrait style (at least to my taste). Anyone here willing to pay 15000 bucks can have it (no buyer's fees and free shipping) !!


Otho, Denarius - Rome mint 69 AD
IMP M OTHO CAESAR AVG TR P, Bare head of Otho right
SECURITAS PR, Securitas standing left
3.50 gr
Ref : RIC # 8, RCV #2162, Cohen #17

Q

PS : don't tell me the other one is better preserved, I know that

 

I like yours much better!

 

Thanks, it's now 20 000 bucks then !!

Q

 

looks like a severely mad on reverse!! so error collectors probly got into the bidding as well!!

 

Yikes... if by "severely mad" you mean misaligned die, I hope that didn't drive any bidding because that would detract from the value of a high-end ancient coin, not add to it. Hand-made dies, individually struck, no collars... well-aligned dies are often the exception and so a well-struck, well-centered coin brings the premium, not the other way around .

 

Well yeah of course an MS67 will sell for more than a VF35 because a 67 is in much much better condition.

The higher the grade a coin is the more it’s worth. I’ve known that since before I even started collecting.

Bur I could’ve sworn you said that I could find a coin of the same type and condition for a few hundred dollars.

I might have misread because it was late last night when I read it but that’s what I thought I read.

So I was asking why an MS67 of a coin would sell for $20,000 and another MS67 of the exact same coin sell for a few hundred dollars.