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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 4516616, member: 110350&quot;]I&#039;m rather shocked that someone paid $800 for that coin. Yes, it&#039;s in great condition, but CNG itself called it only &quot;near&quot; EF.&nbsp; Is it truly <u>that</u> much better than the multiple other examples, from a variety of mints, that CNG has sold at auction in the last few months for a small fraction of that price?&nbsp; (See <a href="https://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?search=diocletian+abdication+follis&amp;s=0&amp;upcoming=0&amp;results=100" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?search=diocletian+abdication+follis&amp;s=0&amp;upcoming=0&amp;results=100" rel="nofollow">https://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?search=diocletian+abdication+follis&amp;s=0&amp;upcoming=0&amp;results=100</a>.) Are examples from Serdica rarer than those from elsewhere?&nbsp; I don&#039;t see them listed as such.&nbsp; I don&#039;t have access to the price information on acsearch, or to the &quot;pro&quot; version of Coin Archives that gives one access to more than a limited number of sales prices, but has an example of the Diocletian abdication follis ever previously sold for as much as $800?</p><p><br /></p><p>In any event, this kind of thing is why I almost never bid in auctions anymore (other than FSR&#039;s).&nbsp; I&#039;m invariably disappointed, and in a live auction I&#039;m not sure I trust myself always to exercise the proper impulse control!&nbsp; Even though fixed-price sites don&#039;t necessarily have the best examples or the widest variety compared to auctions (taken collectively), there are plenty of wonderful coins to buy, and I don&#039;t need the &quot;best.&quot;&nbsp; Also, even though traditionally the theory has been that it costs less to buy a coin at auction, even with buyer&#039;s fees, than to buy a similar coin at a place like VCoins, I&#039;m willing to pay a little more for the certainty and the absence of stress.</p><p><br /></p><p>Plus, given recent trends in auction prices for ancient coins, I&#039;m not even sure that theory holds true these days.&nbsp; Although I&#039;m somewhat concerned that the same trend will carry over into the fixed-price market, and that fixed-price sellers will start raising their prices accordingly -- and/or that wealthy buyers will start snapping up all the relative bargains (compared to what may be the new reality) still available at VCoins and MA-Shops. Partly because of that concern, and because for quite some time I&#039;ve actually had the Diocletian abdication follis on my very long list of coins I&#039;d like to buy (a list I&#039;ll never get to the end of, I&#039;m sure, because it grows continually!), when I saw one available today for less than 20% of the one that went for $800, I went ahead and bought it.&nbsp; (As it happens, the seller was Coin Talk&#039;s own [USER=10613]@Victor_Clark[/USER].)</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>True, it&#039;s not as impressive as the one that sold for $800.&nbsp; But I happen to think it&#039;s a very nice coin, and it&#039;s plenty good enough for my collection!</p><p><br /></p><p>Diocletian, billon abdication Follis, 305-307 AD, Trier Mint. Obv. Laureate bust right in imperial mantle (trabea), holding olive branch and mappa, D N DIOCLETIANO BAEATISSIMO SEN AVG / Rev. Providentia standing right, holding scroll[?] and drapery with left hand and extending right hand to Quies standing left, holding branch downward with right hand and leaning on scepter with left hand; S - F across fields; PROVIDENTIA DEORVM QVIES AVGG; PTR in exergue. 27x28 mm., 9.6 gm. RIC VI Trier 673a (p. 208), Sear RCV IV 12927.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1119062[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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