take a look at this very same coin in this auction from 2019. Note the picture (shows the abrasions MUCH better) and the description “slightly tooled”. https://vl-nummus.bidinside.com/en/lot/20248/empire-augustus-27-bc-14-ad-denarius-/ I cannot prove, suggest or imply that the auction house purposely covered up the flaws, but it is hard not to feel like I was taken to the cleaners on this one. Between customs fees, grading fees, return shipping (all of which I wont bother asking for reimbursement) definitely a pricey lesson!
[edited] In the new photo, the cross-hatching effect in the fields looks like crystallization rather than tooling or cleaning marks, confirmed by the chalky appearance of the chip. https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/crystal_coins.html
Knowing what I do about this firm from my previous experience with them, and their written assurances of satisfaction listed by @Herodotus above, I suspect you will (should) get a full refund. I think you are right to return the coin. We all have different levels of sensitivity to different imperfections, but in my opinion, cleaning marks of this magnitude on a silver coin is significant and should have been mentioned in the description in spite of the fact that these marks are subtly visible in the auction picture. Good luck.
@Steelers72 do you mind sharing other coins from the same auction house that you aquired and managed to slab? Curious to see how those turned out as far as NGC grading goes
I would if I did, but this was the only coin I purchased from them; also is my first ever purchase from them. Definitely not a warm welcome lol.
I'm sorry to hear about your experience. It sounds understandably quite distressing, however I feel confident the auction house will do the right thing in the end (I've always thought of them as one of the better ones, hopefully they act in line with that perception in the end). I think another major takeaway from this thread is also the importance of provenance research skills among collectors, even moreso when bidding at the upper end of the market. It can be daunting and does tend to add a bit of time to the auction preparatory process, but looking for past sales of a coin you intend to bid on is invaluable when it comes to determining whether the coin has been altered or otherwise damaged since it last sold, what it's worth, and getting a better sense of what it ACTUALLY looks like, especially if past sale records of the coin have been omitted by the auction for whatever reason (as was the case here, and is relatively common when someone gets a good deal and decides to consign the coin soon after with hopes of making a profit). All the best @Steelers72, hope you're able to get a refund and put this mess behind you!
I had high resolution photographs taken of the coin raw by NGC; received today. You can see the fields much better. Surfaces are definitely no good
That’s a really cool service. Would love to have such images of my collection but I freak out thinking about sending them away and they get lost in the mail.
@Steelers72 - wanted to resurrect the thread and see what was the outcome here? were you able to return your coin? thanks
PayPal refunded me due to not as described and I sent them back the coin. It was a $200ish lesson rather than a $4000 lesson I received no response after I showed the auction record of this same coin noting the tooling.
I once got a tetradrachm that came as broken. I had a hard time proving to the seller that when I opened the mail the coin was already broken. He insisted that I had broken it after receiving it. How the hell would someone prove that??? I didn't take a video of me while opening the box??? Did anyone experience such situation?
Just to update, the auction house received the return. They also apologized for their error in omitting the coin’s preservation and hoped for my participation in their future auctions.
i returned a few coins to great southern, and a few other ebay auctions i had won, got refunds for all within a week or less..
Everything is noteworthy. The Domitian is great but if you had one equal in every way but without the edge irregularity, it would be 'greater'. Not all 5/5 coins will be equal. I don't see a chip on the Domitian. The photo looks like a flan irregularity. The photo of the Augustus in slab shows what appears to be a good size piece of metal missing where the toned exterior was chipped away. That is noteworthy.