After buying an upgraded Vitellius, I'm contemplating trying to sell the first one

+1!

Donna only joined us in January, so she may not be aware of Ancient & Medieval Coins Canada, which ticks all of these boxes, and, if I'm not wrong, have an auction coming up later this year. @DonnaML, you could PM AMCC's @Severus Alexander and explore your options with your Vitellius. I hear he's pretty friendly.

 

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Plus one on that. @Severus Alexander is a joy to deal with and he is certainly friendly - even with an old grouch like me!

 

It's your call to sell or not to sell - several arguments for both sides have been mentioned here already.

I however regularly sell ancients coins, usually after an upgrade. First, via several online venues, but later, when I got to know some of the customers, I found out that they enjoy buying my coins as much as I enjoyed buying them in the first place. This is an enjoyable experience: the coin is 'in good hands', they are happy, I'm happy, and there is budget to buy new coins (and sell others).

It can be (and in my case it certainly is) lucrative as well: my entire collection so far is entirely paid for with the profits, and so far, the netto costs are €0,-

 

You are not in love with the first coin as you said, so the answer would be to sell it and use the funds towards your next purchase. However as it is below $100, there is the question if it is worth the trouble. The answer is probably no for the scenarios of putting it in an auction or trying to sell it to a retailer.

Having said that, you may want to offer it in the sale section of cointalk. The process may prove to be fun (the risk is smaller considering the value) and you would get to help a fellow collector. Or how about gifting it to a youngster? If you have a favourite niece/nephew etc and suspect that they might appreciate it properly, it would be a fascinating gift.

Edit: Just realised it was $160 not $60... In that case an auction would be OK I guess... $160 is probably too much for giving it as a gift.

 

I have been buying and selling a lot of coins. That was how I built the bulk of my collection. It’s a lot of hassle, though. I would buy big lots of coins that I broke up and made 20-30% on each. Not a great business model, but that’s what I had to do to get the coins I wanted.
I’m no longer doing this, quit years ago, and now I try to get a coin that I want to have in my collection as long as I collect.

If it was me, I would have sold the coin that you’re not happy with. Like you say; it will provide you with the opportunity to get a coin that you really like.

 

...all your choices make you change your mind......both of yours are in much better shape than my one and only (V with a bun).. i only paid aroud $80.00 for mine a few years back..but he's a must have for the 'year of the four' or 'the 12'

 

I've been searching for a Vitellius billon tetradrachm of Alexandria. They are not very common but I'm still looking. If I wasn't I'd think about taking you up on the offer. $160 is not bad for Vitellius.

 

Looks like you could have a Memoriae Damnatio coin. To me that is worth keeping. Vitellius obviously did have some enemies since he was assassinated. If you still want to sell, please PM me the price. Thanks.

 

I agree. I was wondering if coins of Vitellius had gone down in price. I disagree with the $60 evaluation posted earlier. I would have bought the coin for $60 without second thought (as long as I felt safe it was genuine).

 

Thanks for explaining! @Severus Alexander was being way too subtle for me -- I had no idea he was referring to himself. I will definitely PM him. Although people have been saying such positive things about the coin that I'm seeing its good points, and am wavering! I definitely have some more contemplating to do.

 

If the 60 $ evaluation was made using the second picture, I will agree…., but , if we look at the first picture the coin looks much better, this can be sold for more than 100$ at a possible auction.
Sometimes we are buying coins that don’t look good in the seller pictures but we have a pleasant surprise to see that they look nicer in hand.

 

I liked the first photo too (even though I didn't "love" it); it was the seller's photo. Along with the fact that I wanted a Vitellius, that's why I was willing to pay $160 for the coin! I admit that I was a little disappointed at the roughness of the surfaces when I first saw the coin in person; it doesn't show that much in the first photo. (You're correct that it's often the other way round.) The "truth" of how the coin looks in reality is probably somewhere in between the seller's photo and my own, keeping in mind that when one isn't looking at the coin under magnification, the roughness of the surfaces isn't nearly as evident.

 

While I appreciate @zumbly's endorsement of my Marie Kondo theory, honesty compels me to show you an example of a coin that gives Z that special feeling:





So please interpret Z's endorsement in that context.



Z:

 

@DonnaML ...I agree it's probably a $100 coin.....Maybe you need to look back at why you now have two!...When the 1st OP coin is sitting in those nice vertical display stands>Do you like it or not?...If not I'd sell it without a second thought and fill the space with a coin or coins that make you smile even if you've had to take a slight monetary loss..
I often hear the term 'hole filler' but I think this is usually for set collectors and looking at your collection I don't think you are?.....
Your recent Vitellius coin is really nice with good surfaces and a cool reverse for me a 'cuckoo chick'!....
Good luck on your decision...Paul

 

That fact is huge. I would think that it would make you coin much easier to sell. When I was shopping for a Vitellius denarius, I saw many pieces that were nice except for the fact that you could not read his complete name. One piece had great surfaces and a great portrait, but no name at all!

I have a bit higher budget that most people so I ended up with this one. It was at a "gulp and pay price" but since I mostly collect one coin per emperor, I knew I wouldn't be in the Vitellius market again. This piece was head and shoulders above any other Vitellius piece I had seen.

 

A beautiful coin!

 

First, I am glad others are telling Donna just to keep it so it's not just me.

Second, @Nathan B. , I miss every coin I have ever sold. I don't miss any I give away, since that is usually to a YN and a good cause, but ones I have traded for money I miss. So, I do not know how you can be sure if she sold quite a few coins to buy one expensive one you can be certain she would never regret it. I remember @dougsmit telling a story of coins he sold and still regrets.

I just keep everything, and save up for a special coin if needed. It's my hobby, and knowing the few I have sold bother me do not wish to have other regrets in my hobby. My main regret today is not enough money.

 

I miss all the coins I sold about five years ago, as mentioned above, and still think about them on occasion. Sometimes I can't really believe I don't have them anymore! I've explained before that the primary reason I shifted my focus from collecting British coins and medals to collecting ancient coins when my financial situation improved a couple of years ago, was that I knew I'd never be able to recreate the British collection I once had, accumulated over a period of 30 years. Even if it were possible, I don't have enough money and never will. And the attempt would have been way too painful. I'm much happier just collecting ancient coins now, and knowing that I still have at least some of my old British and other world coins and medals that I kept. (I've posted some of them in the World Coins forum.)

 

There are few coins I miss but not many. Most everything I have sold was as a dealer or becuase I upgraded them. If you get something better, it's easy to forget for me. I understand that every ancient is different, and that makes the unique, but it's good to expand and move on too.

 

I think one's reason for selling makes a big difference. If I sell this coin, it will be because I want to. I sold the coins I mentioned above because I had to.