This was another disappointing day for me at CNG Feature Auction 120 . A week ago I placed 3 bids on coins that caught my eye , & was steamrolled as usual . One coin that left me paralyzed is pictured below, a rare & handsome tetradrachm of Septimius Severus, Prieur 1116A. It had an estimate of $1,000.00, & my bid matched the estimate, but I was prepared to go to $1,500.00 It sold for $4,800.00 including buyers fee ! SYRIA, Laodicea ad Mare. Septimius Severus, AD 193-211 (struck AD 205-207). Billon Tetradrachm: 12.72 gm, 27 mm, 11 h. Ex Bank Leu, October 1971. Another Severus Tet I left a bid on is pictured below, Prieur 1140, a very common issue but a choice example that was once in Michel Prieur's collection. Estimate $500.00, & my bid matched the estimate. It sold for $900.00 including buyers fee. SYRIA, Laodicea ad Mare. Septimius Severus, AD 293-211 (struck AD 207-209). Billon Tetradrachm: 14.06 gm, 26 mm, 12 h. Prieur 1140. Ex Michel Prieur Collection. I already had a nice example of this coin type won from a Nomos AG auction 5 years ago for $358.00 including buyers fee, but felt I could use this one as trade bait, see photo below. SYRIA, Laodicea ad Mare. Septimius Severus, AD 293-211. Billon Tetradrachm: 12.21 gm, 28 mm, 12 h. Prieur 1140. Al Kowsky Collection. Todays provincial highlight is pictured below, an extremely rare coin with historical importance. PHRGIA, Apameia. Macrinus, AD 217-218. AE Octassarion: 23.25 gm, 36 mm, 5 h. The reverse depicts Noah & the Ark: half length figures of Noah & his wife within open-lidded chest, set on waves. They are also shown standing on dry land raising hands in prayer. Ex Kenneth S. Abramowitz Collection. Price realized $81,600.00 including buyers fee !
I spent some of the day watching the auction just because. It still boggles me the prices some of the coins go for. But, many are wonderful looking coins so it shouldn't be a surprise. It's the common dreck that's sold on the other auction sites that go high that make me question people & their thinking.
In general, imho prices were great for buyers, not as outrageous as on other platforms i managed to score quite a few Tetradrachms
Congrats to your additions, @El Cazador. Hopefully the prices won't go too outrageous tomorrow for Imperial Roman coins.
Thanks @happy_collector - i had 3 prebids on RR silver, and on Nero denarius- currently all above of what I am willing to pay… Good luck tomorrow!
The coins that are pictured here are in REALLY,REALLY NICE CONDITION. I'm not familiar with this series, but are these coins not above average? The three pictured in the OP look pretty darn nice. Maybe the rest of the bidders thought the same and put in stronger bids. @Al Kowsky , look at your avatar. Very nice coin. These three match up to it really well. Boys and girls, this is the new normal. For any series. We just have to like it if we want to continue to collect.
Mat, You make a good point , you don't see a lot of junk in CNG auctions, & they are very selective with their "Feature" auctions. Like the other major auction houses, they lurer in bidders with low estimates on many of their coins .
El Caz., There were many good buys at the auction, they just weren't in my narrow field of collecting .
tibor, Coins in mint-state or close to it are fetching very high prices in this new age of collecting. Us "old timers" who remember buying gem grade denarii for $15.00 & choice large Byzantine bronzes for $20.00 find it difficult to accept the "new normal". The new "slab generation" of collectors have helped fuel these high prices. Never the less, I'm happy to see the growth in our hobby .
I have the feeling that during the first 2 hours of the Greek session 1, one or more of the usual calling stations bidding insanely on everything were not participating. Surprisingly, this was my best score in a floor auction ever, as I managed to get 6 (!) coins, 4 below the estimates and 2 around 30% above the estimates. Of course they are not expensive or spectacular, but something seemed different to what I have been experiencing in the past 3 years.
@pprp could you please share your newly acquired gems? Wondering if we were bidding on the same coins.