Charade Vagi - Zlobin over a Julius Caesar denarius

Just saw this Pawn stars episode, Rick is interested in a JC lifetime Caesar denarius, offered by Ilya Zlobin aka as mister highrating-lowprices on eBay. Calls himself a World renowed expert numismatist.
and David Vagi ancient coin expert and director with NGC.

 

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Amazing! Mr. David Vagi and Mr. Ilya Zlobin together in the same video.

 

Ridiculous!!!! That Zlobin guy is an arrogant ass. One more reason why I've vowed never to buy anything from him.

 

Ilya is an expert at one thing....getting unsuspecting newbies to grosly overpay for coins to the point that they'll probably abandon the hobby when they discover just how badly they've been had. It's just my personal opinion, but I'm willing to bet many others share the same opinion on this forum.

 

Hopefully I can steer newbies in the right direction....

 

David Vagi looks a lot younger than I expected!

 

haha...wow...two people i dealt with on tv...at the same time...kool....(free advertising for both...)..i'd say this episode's purdy old but still kool..thanks for sharing..

 

I don't think this TV appearance was quite the PR moment Ilya thought it would be! Very satisfying to watch him flounder in his attempt at a televised rip-off.

 

I wonder what High price Low quality's reaction is when somebody offers $50 on his $1000 coin listings
Good thing there are knowledgeable appraisers as the show can't even get the date in the right century.

 

I offered $200 on a $2100 coin and was flatly refused. The coin was really worth between $2-250. I thought he'd at least counter but I'm glad he didn't. Not supporting someone like that. What a joke.

When I originally saw the episode on TV I had no idea that's who it was...

 

It looks like he is bad news. I looked at a Galba sestertius of his which he wants something like $17,000 This one has a 60% discount from the previous price $42500. It was put into a NAC auction and had an estimate of about $3200 US did not get a bid. He brings a whole new meaning to the term "tomorrows prices today"

 

He has a huge number of coins including 98% junk and 99% overpriced. I have bought a total of 5 coins from him over the years including one that I paid him 1/3 what CNG had sold that same specimen before and one piece of absolute junk that I wanted bad enough to pay his ridiculous price. I encourage you to buy coins from sellers who you feel comfortable with and leave being a fool to me. I only had to look at ten thousand of his postings to find five I wanted (lie, there was a sixth I wanted but we never reached agreement on a price).

The foolish five:
Cheap at $175? No, but I fail to understand the sale on CNG below. This coin has been posted here so often that those who care about the subject should recognize it.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Search.asp...1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_4=1&VIEW_TYPE=0

Martin, do you have this combination? I did not.
Overpriced but not worse than VCoins average

I doubt anyone here would appreciate why I bought this for any price and I am in the market for an upgrade. I have seen one other.

I paid too much for the grade but I am a sucker for a pretty face on Medusa, gushing body, full weapon and a city I lacked. Again VCoins would not have been cheaper if they had it.

 

Well, I've done my abdominal workout for the day with all that cringing!

Although, David Vagi is utterly adorable-- a cute, smart, and well-spoken geek. Is it wrong that I'm crushing on a slabber?!

 

Women are always attracted to the bad boys.

 

I have that same tetradrachm!

 

That was hilarious. Is any publicity really good publicity? Ilya is a pretty good actor... I was almost convinced that he believed his own nonsense. How did Vagi even keep a straight face while they were filming?

 

Ilya is a canny albeit oily salesman. Of course the coin isn't worth $4400 and even a noncollector would come to that conclusion based on this episode. But... that coin has now appeared on TV. It is "famous", and an unsophisticated buyer might think Vagi was mistaken in his assessment of ~$1500 retail value. Ilya just increased the likely sales price of his coin.

 

Ilya came across exactly as I imagined. A fidgety charlatan without scruples.

 

Sad, and probably true.

 

WOW! Mr. Zlobin REALLY comes across as desperate to prove that he is correct and "trustworthy" (you missed by a Roman mile) ..... "damn the naysayers"! I have been in sales my whole long life. Top of my field and trained many a salesperson. This guy makes me want to take a long HOT shower and scrub with a Brillo pad. Mr. Vagi, on the other hand, comes across assured; confident; forthcoming, and....pleasant. "Oily" vs "Satin"..... no contest; Period. All this is of course my personal opinion.