An auction house that will list a coin condemned by Sear

I've had the oddest exchange this week with a Swiss auction house. I don't want to name them publicly till this reaches a conclusion but they have auctions running April 3-7.

Last year I won from them what I hoped was a nice 1/48 el stater.


Sadly, after submitting it to Sear, it came back as a modern forgery. Sear lists problems with the engraving and unnaturally smooth field on the obverse and a reverse that should be a quartered incuse square as reasons to condemn it.

I promptly sent a scan of his forgery report to the auction house kindly requesting a refund.
This was their response:
"Dear Sir,
The coin you bought is according to our experts, perfectly original and guaranteed as such. We are ready to send you an authenticity certificate, if you wish one.
The only authority in the US, is NGC who can determine if a coin is original or not. If you have any doubts, feel free to submit your coin to NGC and if they slab it, you will have the proof of authenticity."

The coin cost me about $200 so it's not the end of the world but after paying the Sear fee plus shipping, I'm not about to send this off to NGC as well!

I replied by listing Sear's credentials in the hope they would have a change of heart and this is where things got really weird.
"Dear Sir,
We are taking back coins if they are proved as forgeries during 45 days after the sale. In this case we are sure that your coin is original so we are happy to take it on consignement for next auction or we can also credit your account for the amount of your invoice, if you want to purchase other coins in our next auction.
If you wish to consign it, we will indicate you a shipping adress for the mailing of coin.
Thank you"

They are offering to consign a coin with a Sear forgery report. I am genuinely dumbfounded by this!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

!!!!!! I am shocked and appalled. So "guaranteed as original" from this auction house means "we think it is original"?

 

I know almost nothing about this whole realm of collecting- auction houses and authentication etc. But it would seem interesting and maybe worthwhile to get it looked over by NGC and go from there. Not sure as I said what the costs of all that is however. Why do some seller/auctioneers only accept certain authentications? And could you get the auctioneers to pay all your expenses on that if it proves to be fake also by NGC.

 

So many things wrong with their replies!

To start, a Sear rejection should be acceptable proof, period.

Second, NGC does NOT guaranty authenticity of ancient coins. NGC only grades ancient coins. So, NCG slabbing a coin is meaningless in this context. While I know NGC will not slab a coin that they suspect is fake, they don't, technically, authenticate.

Third, what good is a warranty with such roadblocks!

Fourth, DO NOT consign the coin, because that might give the auction house some recourse against you if the coin is subsequently declared.fake.

If I were in your shoes, I'd consider (1) contacting the IAPN (assuming the auction house is a member) to make a complaint, and/or (2) sending the coin AND the Sear determination to NGC. I'd be stunned if NGC would be willing to slab it.

 

Almost all I see have the Quadripartite reverse except this one.

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=4073859

If they don't accept a return then probably best to take the credit and buy something else and never buy from them again. Even if NGC ok's it I doubt you will be happy with it.

 

Their offer of a certificate of authenticity is laughable, as if that makes the coin ancient!

I agree @Carausius, I'm not going to become an accomplice to any deception here. Sending it to NGC becomes pointless though because the costs of authenticating it will be equal to what I paid. Im better off keeping it and licking my wounds. I'm going to check and see if they belong to IAPN though, thanks for the suggestion.

 

Interesting! That certainly looks like a die match to my coin, not that it changes the conclusion of a modern forgery.

 

If I have them identified correctly then a worrying statement in their General Terms makes me want to run a mile. "As viewing of the lots allows a potential buyer to ascertain condition and authenticity, no claims will be accepted after the sale."

 

If they reply in this way the best action to take is give their name to the public so people in future can avoid them.

 

Yeah, that's them. The fact is, "Know the coin or know the seller." I'm not new to the hobby so there is no one to blame but myself. I knew neither and bought on a whim.

I hope others can benefit from this though. It's easy to assume auction houses will accept returns if a coin is demonstrated to be a forgery but this is obviously not the case.

 

Now, I'm no expert, and definitely no David Sear, so I'm asking for educational purposes:

What's the difference between the OP coin and this one, apparently sold by CNG?:

http://www.asiaminorcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=487&pid=3021#top_display_media

(Sorry about not including the image in my post--I can't seem to figure out how to download images from this particular site)

 

I gave enough clues for many to identify the auctioneer. Since we're still communicating, I prefer to hold off naming them outright.

 

Another seller to avoid for the rest of my life...

 

It comes down to reputation rather than contract. Irrespective of what the terms say, and irrespective of how this is ultimately resolved, these guys aren't to be trusted. I hope their name will be shared here, because this should be public.

In general warranties are so hedged as to be practically unenforceable in court. There are often differences of opinion that might be legitimate. Leu (which I regard well) says: "The buyer shall prove at his own expense that the auction item is a counterfeit. The auctioneer may require the buyer to have his own expert report prepared by two independent experts in his field. However, the auctioneer is not bound to these expert opinions and may obtain additional advice from a specialist at his own expense." That puts a lot of expense on the claimant, and gives them a massive loophole. Very hard to make a legal argument in context of that clause. But one hopes that in practice they will behave decently if presented with good evidence of fakery.

 

That one does have the four lobes on the reverse though.

 

wow...just wow... that's messed up! i trust NGC but i would not rebuke David Sear... sounds like a left handed monkey wrench rule to me..

 

Not to put too fine a point on it, though I think that's what coin IDing and coin authentication is all about, but I see five lobes? Would that indicate that there is some variation here, that they aren't all quadripartite?

 

Not to defend anyone or anything, but it is important to keep in mind that:

1. People do make mistakes.
2. Experts frequently disagree!

 

At your place, I'll go to NGC. And then, the story begins there.