Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;AncientJoe, post: 6062484, member: 44357&quot;]I&#039;m very happy to have added a coin which easily ranks among my favorites.</p><p><br /></p><p>Ancient coins are very rarely perfect and very often rare so weighing factors can become challenging when deciding what to buy. It&#039;s a judgement call and very much dependent upon taste.</p><p><br /></p><p>I recently purchased this coin of a type that has been on my wantlist for years. I&#039;ve admittedly always planned on buying the far more common variety but when the opportunity struck for this type, I couldn&#039;t let it go.</p><p><br /></p><p>That said, it wasn&#039;t a straightforward decision as I personally try to avoid coins with scrapes on them and this is an expensive piece. However, weighing all factors, I convinced myself to go for it:</p><p><br /></p><p>In the &quot;Pros&quot; column:</p><p>- Style (this obverse portrait is significantly more dramatic than the lower-relief/more common variety)</p><p>- Rarity (this is one of roughly five in private hands, 11 known in total including museums)</p><p>- 100+ year Pedigree (Ex. de Guermantes, Ex. <b>Jameson</b>, Ex. <b>Grand Duke Alexander Michailovitch, </b>the latter of which is particularly meaningful as the coin&#039;s originating region is part of Russia today)</p><p>- Centering and Luster (atypically nice for the issue)</p><p><br /></p><p>Cons:</p><p>- A scrape (I lotviewed the coin in 2016 and passed then because of it)</p><p><br /></p><p>Ultimately, the scrape isn&#039;t the coin&#039;s fault and could have very easily happened some time in the coin&#039;s collected history (perhaps the Grand Duke accidentally dropped it at one point).</p><p><br /></p><p>So, thanks to some very helpful friends&#039; lotviewing and encouragement, it found its way into my collection.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1244675[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><i>Pantikapaion Stater (Gold, 9.09 g 2), c. 350. Head of bearded Pan with goat’s ear and unkempt hair to left. Rev. Horned griffin, with its head facing and a spear in its mouth, standing to left on stalk of wheat. Gulbenkian 580. Jameson 2144 (this coin). Prinkipo 166. SNG BM 855. Extremely rare. With a head of Pan of remarkably fine style and delicacy. Minor scrapes on the obverse, otherwise, extremely fine.</i></p><p><br /></p><p><i>From the de Guermantes collection, and from those of R. Jameson, 2144, and the Grand Duke Alexander Michailovitch.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>In 2019, I was an underbidder (several bids away from winning) on another example of the type which ended up selling for about 3x what mine cost when it previously sold. It doesn&#039;t have anywhere near as long of a pedigree (1985) and it still has numerous reverse field pock marks and a lack of luster.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1244676[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>All things considered, I prefer my coin but it goes to show how the market reflects personal preferences and that some people will just avoid a coin if it has the wrong problem for their taste. Is the 2019 coin worth an entire Eid Mar more than mine? It&#039;s hard to say but at least one person thought so.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;d be interested in hearing your rationale and factors for coins: <b>what types of problems are your &quot;deal breakers&quot; </b>and what can you overlook?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in