I'm back. My first coin is really ugly but not common. At 27mm and 17.17g, I suspect this Carthage dishekel is larger than most of yours but not a quarter the size of the largest ones that few of us will ever see let alone own. A nicer one was sold by CNG for what I consider a deal https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=242690 until you see the same coin sold for what I would call an offensive number https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=279228 just showing you that people who shop high end sales don't care about the rare and the ugly. The strange edge on mine was caused by overfilling the flan mold, I believe, and not trimming the excess. Mine is the heaviest I have found in the little research done so this is consistent. Some may say it is a cast fake but I do not think so. it is a weak strike on a raggedly cast flan by a mint before the First Punic War that was still working out the concept of making coins. Larger bronzes take some skill to make. While the 11 coins I bought as a lot averaged out to $12 each, I consider this one worth a bit more, perhaps $20 (which is good since a couple of them are really junk). When you buy lots, it is not always easy to decide how the allocate the values fairly. The photo has an added reflector to throw a bit of light on the reverse tapering edge.
Nice find indeed! I only wish I could find a brick-and-mortar dealer who had a bag full of ancients I could cherry-pick in the back room. Our dealers here have bags full of dateless Buffalo nickels. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest. The CNG coin underscores what we've said on this forum countless times: rarity does not necessarily equate to market value. If the collectors of a particular coin are as rare as the coin itself, it's just not going to sell for much, regardless of its historical importance.
That's practically a dogma ----but I occasionally am surprised when I see that concept in action until I recall JA's above quote. And another terrific coin Doug....and I wish I had a nearby source to that had a nice bag of coins to browse through but I can't seem to locate any either--at least not with anything above poor and worse grade, otherwise it's high retail.
I hear you Doug on allocating out costs on group lots. I just recently got a Byzantine lot from Germany. One of the 15, (most were Syracuse issues), was a Michael III. It only showed the reverse on the pic, so most thought it was the commoner coin. Anyway, the last time CNG sold one, (much lesser specimen than mine), it was for $135 and Vcoins wants $161 for a pretty horrid example. I paid $150 for the lot. If I were one of those, "I have to know everything I own and how much I paid for it" people, (which is fine if you are), how would I ever allocate out costs per coin? This one coin, (besides the Class B in the group), is only the first I have looked up, and is no where near the most interesting to me. I do agree with you most collectors even of ancients are more interested in attractiveness than what a coin IS. Good for them, and its good for us. I seriously doubt very many people who concentrate on attractiveness ever stray into Sogdian coins.
It looks like the coin has some BD on the edges on the coin when you look close at the pic. Just for that I would have cast it aside .
It could be BD, but if it's been sitting in a dealers bag for years and hasn't gotten any worse, it is very likely stabilized. Otherwise you'd have a coin that's completely covered in the stuff.
Welcome back! Prior to encountering an exceptionally large and diverse lot, I'd just averaged out the cost equally amongst all the coins in the lot. However, when I was putting the coins from that lot into my spreadsheet, it looked ludicrous for a Tiberius 'tribute penny' to carry the same cost as a common GLORIA EXERCITVS. It was an extra but enjoyable and educational step to then check comparable sold and retail prices for the coins to arrive at a proportionate and appropriate cost figure for each individual one. Back to your coin... I'd buy it at $20, but I'd like it much better at $12. Perhaps there's occasionally still some merit to a simple average?
You won't say that with the ones I'm assigning $45 and the ones that get $5. The seller had ten Christ folles worse than the ones I took. I told him that he shold put them in a dish on the counter at Christmas and sell them for $10 each to people who would think a faceless outline of Christ a thousand years old was worth $10. The old me would have bought them for $5 each but I could not sell them for enough to cover fees. He had three Tribute Pennies, all fake and an Aurelian Vahabalathus he wanted $10 for. They stayed, too. People would rather have EF Valens than a F A/V. Photos will be slow. I'm expected to do a few other things today.
My latest lot is 27 coins averaging $13.50 a piece. I know some of them aren't worth $13.50 and others quite a bit more. I'm now encouraged to be less lazy and do some proper assigning of costs. Looking forward to pics of the rest of your haul!
i picked up this ugly thing in a mini-lot of ugly coins. ugly things can be very interesting. my wife must also adhere to this philosophy since she married me... ..sure as heck wasn't my good looks that hooked her. not a beauty queen DS but still, a cool thing to pick up out of a bargain box and some guys coin shop. i'd have took it home for that price for sure.
Super cool Carthage example, Doug ... that's a chunky one!! Yah, I think that my finest purchase was probably my now infamous A-Pius "group of four" (scored these 4 Alexandrian drachms at a Triskeles Auction, group bid) => $600 delivered ... yah, despite the lop-sided scatter of quality, all 4 coins were entered into my spreadsheet as $150 each (ehhh, what do ya do, eh?)
Doug: I love Carthage issues... I understand that Rome melted, counterstruck, or destroyed many of the Carthage coinage during the 3 Punic Wars, especially the 2nd and 3rd... Mikey: I don't understand how you can compliment a CARTHAGE coin! "Delenda Est Carthago" !!!!!
Well, to clear up the Delenda est Carthago mess; I did score a RR 211-206 Anonymous denarius... NOW, to the CLEVER REMARKS! ...(comments withheld for the safety of the audience)
