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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Al Kowsky, post: 8124132, member: 97383&quot;]I watched the first two Berk podcasts along with the &quot;Black Box&quot; podcast &amp; enjoyed them. Over the years I&#039;ve bought many fine coins from Harlan J. Berk Ltd. I do agree with <b>Chard </b>that the first podcast came off as slightly &quot;self serving&quot; for the reasons he stated. Aaron did bring up some good points about slabbed coins &amp; why collectors need to know the coin in the slab &amp; not buy the plastic, regardless if the coin is slabbed or raw. Aaron failed to mention important features about slabbed coins that are helpful to collectors like: has the coin been tooled or altered, has the coin been re-patinated, has it been brushed (removing much of the original surface), &amp; most importantly is the coin <b>fake</b>. This is rather ironic after seeing hundreds of fake coins in his &quot;Black Box&quot; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie7" alt=":p" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. In his second podcast he suggested that the gold Pantikapaion stater auctioned by <b>Nomos AG</b> should be slabbed after the buyer won the coin to insure another layer of confidence that the coin is genuine <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie85" alt=":smuggrin:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. With all the fakes on the market today many collectors want that extra opinion before they buy the coin &amp; not after they buy it <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. His idea that collectors shouldn&#039;t buy common coins at auction is rather ironic too, since many of those &quot;common&quot; coins have been bought at auction by dealers <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie11" alt=":rolleyes:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. I did like Aaron&#039;s comment that ancient coin collectors should go to museums &amp; see ancient art first hand. It&#039;s important to immerse yourself in ancient art &amp; history before buying ancient coins <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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