I bought these coins from him. And am considering buying more. I think I'm paying more for the presentation, and most of the affordable ones lack much detail. But I'm enjoying to learn more about ancient history through collecting ancient coins here and there. I'm just asking for opinions since I'm such a newbie when it comes to ancients. I hope this is allowed. I feel a little weird about doing it. But I think I've seen it done before. https://www.ebay.com/usr/timelessthing
Don't know the seller but don't think his coins are not genuine either. Many of them have issues and perhaps you can do better at the regular e-Sales at CNG, Roma or SARC, I think. Plus the excitement of bidding (provided you do your research and set limits) can be quite thrilling, in itself and you'll learn through research.
I welcome opinions based on the pictures in hi store from anyone whether they're familiar or not. Should have worded the title differently.
Most of the coins are legit but low grade & not worth the asking prices. And the "Self Slabs" are a joke too. You dont have to be in a rush.
I looked at a few of his listings. (Typical Example) I did not see anything that screamed "fake!" I was concerned because my first thought was that the seller might be putting the coins in holders to conceal casting seams, but I don't see any telltale signs of casting from the surfaces. I suspect that the seller is just buying bulk lots of low-grade coins and then putting them in holders and jacking up the prices. The coin that I linked to, for example, would probably sell for half the price without a holder (or double that price in the holder on the home shopping network). To me, this seems pretty expensive, but it's a nice presentation. So if you don't mind paying extra for it, then that's fine. Whatever works for you.
This one actually is fairly reasonably priced. https://www.ebay.com/itm/124695960494?hash=item1d08755bae:g:8koAAOSwtZJghL4T Maybe a Black Friday sale?
Genuine low-grade denarii of common emperors that you could get yourself at auction for < $30 each if you were patient about it. These are the sorts of coins in dealers' pick-bins at shows for "your choice, $40" and even then they would get few takers.
Agreed. There's actually a few reasonably priced coins among the listings. Personally, I wouldn't buy this seller's coins, but I have to admit that they appear to be pretty well documented. The holders include a lot of information about the coin, and at a quick glance, the information looks accurate. For someone just starting out, it might not be the best way to go, but it's not terrible, either.
The problem you may encounter is that common coins in low grade and harshly cleaned are hard to buy from the big name sellers because it costs so much to list them separately and there is little demand for them among people who know they can get better. That means you need to find trustworthy sources among smaller dealers. These coins are overpriced 2-4x and even at that price you would not be able to sell them to someone else unless you also became an amateur dealer preying on the ignorant. There are several dealers here among the regular posters on Coin Talk. You could do well by contacting them. Our members who spend thousands on each coin do well patronizing big sellers but those simply do not offer $10-$40 coins at any price. You will not get those self slabs but you might get guidance from people not out to sell $10 items for $50. Suggestion: Read the Coin Talk posts and decide who is a dealer and who might be of use to you. I am not a dealer and do not consider it appropriate to run an open list. If you participate here you will see where people are getting low end coins and that we have some decent sources here. You just need to ask.
I took a quick look and saw at least a few I thought were not significantly overpriced compared to your all-in price at auction, not that most of them would appear as single lots in "name-brand" auctions for reason Doug mentioned above. Perhaps a better measure would be to compare the prices to comparable coins offered for sale on Vcoins. As for the self-slab holders, perhaps it's a smart way to protect the coin in shipping.
I spend a lot of time on eBay and am familiar with this seller's listings; I agree with what others have said on this thread: genuine but over-priced (for eBay). Sometimes the prices fall in the range of retail prices (Vcoins, etc.), but sometimes they even exceed that.
Thanks guys. I'm going to keep looking and keep learning. The wealth of knowledge here is invaluable.
