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Message:: [QUOTE="robinjojo, post: 24704519, member: 110226"]That's a nice obol, with wonderful detail!  That's a good point regarding the Gaza coins, especially since the decadrachms were of such high value.  The whole issue of hoards and individual coins coming out of the region is fraught with questions about the uncertainty of the circumstances of discovery, who was involved in the removal of the coins and how the coins move through the ecosystems that feed the ancient coin market.  To the average collector this is a very opaque system.  The coins simply appear, on online sales or at auction, usually with vague, at best, attributions.  More often this information is totally lacking. I can go on and talk about how our digital age has accelerated the flow of coins at an almost dizzying rate into the market.  Just think about the volume in our time and compare that with, say, coins offered back in the 80s and even the 90s, the days before the Internet entered the world's stage.  Now, it is almost impossible to keep up with the numerous e-auctions, not to mention major venues such as eBay and retailer sites such as MA Shops and VCoins.  The bottom line is that vast numbers of coins of anonymous origin are now available, increasing access to coins to collectors (think Athenian classical owls).  But there is also a darker side to this world, one that is the underside of the world of ancient coins.[/QUOTE]