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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TIF, post: 2441492, member: 56859&quot;]I largely agree with IOM...</p><p><br /></p><p>The OP simply chose the wrong venue for his question, which would be better received on a forum aimed at making money in hobbies or perhaps on the TPG&#039;s forum.</p><p><br /></p><p>There&#039;s nothing wrong with making money from flipping coins-- just don&#039;t except the collectors of ancient coins to be interested in or praising of the OP&#039;s little coup.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for the surprise about how it graded, without good images it is difficult to say.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve seen ugly &quot;AU&quot; coins and beautiful VF coins.&nbsp; Most collectors are more interested in the coin&#039;s overall appeal, of which strike, surfaces, and style are important.&nbsp; What appeals to one person may not appeal to another.&nbsp; The history behind a given type of coin, or even of the individual coin, adds another dimension to consider.</p><p><br /></p><p>With ancients there is more potential for disagreement about the grade since there were so many individual hand-made dies for most coins.&nbsp; That is certainly the case with common coins such as Alexander III drachms.</p><p><br /></p><p>In my non-scientific observation of price trends through a couple of auction houses &quot;specializing&quot; in slabbed ancients, there appears to be a premium paid if the label says AU or MS-- the premium is beyond what I feel is warranted for the appeal of the coin in most instances, based on overall appeal and by comparisons to prior sales of similar coins.&nbsp; I suspect the buyers are more interested in bragging about the label.&nbsp; (Yes, I&#039;m biased <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />).&nbsp; Obviously there are times when a slabbed &quot;AU&quot; or &quot;MS&quot; coin is breathtaking and desirable by almost everyone, but not always.</p><p><br /></p><p>One small bright side about these slab-happy auction houses:&nbsp; sometimes I have been able to nab fantastic coins at good prices because the label didn&#039;t say AU or MS-- the coin was ignored as unworthy by those whose collections are dictated by someone else&#039;s opinion of grade.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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