Here's an intersting link about a collection of shekels up for auction. I know nothing about that coinage, but the background information and pictures found in the link are interesting: A unique collection of 38 ancient silver coins, all struck in consecutive years spanning the lifetime of Jesus, will be offered in Heritage Auctions' World Coins & Ancient Coins Signature® Auction at the Waldorf Astoria, Jan. 4-5 in New York. The collection of 38 shekels of Tyre, the main silver coin used in ancient Judaea leads several distinct private collections of coins spanning more than 2,000 years. Assembled by noted numismatic scholar and author Frank L. Kovacs of Corte Madera, California, over about a 25-year period, the shekels of Tyre will be offered as a single lot of 38 coins. The entire collection is expected to bring $150,000+. Each shekel contained about 14 grams of silver and is about 27mm in diameter. The obverse depicts a laureate head of Phoenician god Melqart, whose name means "king of the city (Tyre)", their version of the Greek Herakles. The reverse depicts an eagle standing on a ship's prow. "Since the Kingdom of Judaea did not at the time have a silver coinage of its own, the shekel of Tyre became the main coin of the realm," Michaels said. "The authorities at the great Temple in Jerusalem would only accept Tyrian shekels as payment of the tithe or temple tax due to their consistent weight and purity." http://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/ju...373&type=collectora-1---coin--news--tem120614 guy
I saw the article about those, but I didn't realize they would be all in one lot. It seems like he'd get more for them individually.
To me the set here is less interesting than the fact that someone (a dealer I have purchased from in the past) assembled it and that they are selling it as a unit. The $150k estimate works out to about $4k a coin. Several of these coins are worth $4k; some are not. The question is whether someone wants to pay extra for the set over the price of each coin or whether there are people who care what date is on their coin of this type. I have seen certain dates offered at a premium on the theory that they matched some specific date but the exact year date for either the birth or crucifixion is not certain so most people would probably just as well have a very nice single at $10-20k and let others go to people who would be happy to have a VF from a 'bad' date for a bargain price. It will be interesting to see what it brings. Please keep us posted. I recall CT management forbidding a game once proposed here but I would really be interested in knowing how accurately those of us who hang around here could agree on which coin (of few coins) from the 38 are the pick of the litter and which are the dregs. There are several considerations not covered by the slab labels. I have no idea how many people with the cash would be wanting one or all of these but it is fun to see them.
Yeah, I did the math and it's not worth it imho either. Selling at NYINC will raise the price, but I cannot see them bring that. Honestly, I would think a bid of 2000 per coin, plus commission, would be strong.
