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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1839721, member: 19463&quot;]Thanks zumbly!&nbsp; This is one of the little miracles of the information age.... very little.</p><p><br /></p><p>I was online watching the Pecunium sale close because there were a couple of lots I wanted for a price but both closed over twice what they stood at a day before.&nbsp; I will be interested in seeing which of you bought &#039;my&#039; coins.&nbsp; I did not see the croc or the Perseus as worth the realization.&nbsp; On the latter, I only recognize two grades: Better than Steve&#039;s and Not Better than Steve&#039;s.&nbsp;&nbsp; More spectacular this week was a coin of Constantine I that closed on eBay at something like $136.&nbsp; I thought I was being wild and crazy thinking it worth half that.&nbsp; I do wonder who bought it.&nbsp; As I recall management does not want us discussing specific sales but, in general, European auctions bring more than I am willing to pay for mediocre coins.&nbsp; I understand and even occasionally find myself paying a high price for something very special but the fact that one Constantine is worth $136 does not mean that another in equal condition is worth even $13.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Regarding crocs:&nbsp; the last one I bought was returned as artificially repatinated.&nbsp; If this sort of thing bothers you be careful buying pretty light green croc coins from European dealers.&nbsp; Currently the fakes Yahoo discussion list is all in a tizzy over some of the back of the catalog groups of sestertii in the upcoming Triton sale.&nbsp; To some of these guys a coin fully stripped and retoned to an even black is just as bad as a cast fake.&nbsp; If you see a pot of many bronzes all the same color and all perfectly smooth, you should suspect full cleaning and chemical retoning.&nbsp;&nbsp; I can&#039;t say I call it wrong.&nbsp; I would prefer all sellers marked such lots as &#039;processed&#039; but the fact remains that millions of ancients come out of the ground looking bad and the professional processors can turn them into something not hard to look at.&nbsp; I continue to believe the old saying: &quot;All ancients have been cleaned; those with an inch of dirt on them used to have two inches.&quot;&nbsp; The hoards processed by the British Museum have a certain look; I suspect professionals in this field are able to tell you at a glance what was done and perhaps who did it to many coins.&nbsp; I am much more accepting of professionally cleaned and retoned coins than the purists but I am not as forgiving of&nbsp; harshly abused coins.&nbsp; While I do not have a place in my collection for ten identical (or 100!) coins, I suspect we all will be seeing these coins offered singly by their buyers so I do have interest in the hammer prices of some of these lots.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I did not see the Roma croc but am now really curious.&nbsp; Let us all root for superb postal service.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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