Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Blake Davis, post: 25626946, member: 91820&quot;]During the wonderful time of the influx of coins from the Balkans the provincials from the area were freely available in high grade for insanely low prices - now that things have returned to &quot;normal&quot; - the price for high grade examples has gone way up.&nbsp; Wonder what happened to all of ones that were available?</p><p><br /></p><p>I have also wondered why there was so many coins from the Balkans that seemed to come in all at once starting in or about 1998 (?).&nbsp; I think the answer is three fold: (1) the diggers found out that there was a big market for these coins and that they could be found using war surplus mine detectors (2) it was before&nbsp; governments cracked down on the export trade, as coins should ever have been included and (3) the war in Serbia made it much easier to get these items out of the countries where the coins were found.&nbsp; Germany did not have import/export restrictions on coins and these were freely traded - to the point where I had heard that one dealer had moved a ton or more of uncleaned coins through Germany.&nbsp; Those were the days before the cultural crazies started screaming about it and the restrictions came into place - not that that did anything but drive up prices.</p><p><br /></p><p>In any event, check out Doug Smith&#039;s excellent summary of Balkan provincials from the glory days of the early 21st century.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now of course it seems like many coins come from Syria and thereabouts - is it any coincidence that this area is the site of constant unrest?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in