Hi, I'd like to know more about the authenticity of renown ancient coin dealers. For instance, what do you think of: Savoca-coins Gitbud-Naumann Lanz-Numismatik We can see plenty of ancient low end to high end ancient coins from these three coin dealers. It looks like they are respectable, but reviews are scarce...even there is none. I've heard Savoca-coins founder was spoliated and various fakes were found...unbeknownst to him. In the end, even for totally reputable coin dealers such as CNG, no coin dealer is safe from acquiring fake ones.
Note => I'm pretty sure that all the vcoin dealers have a lifetime guarantee if you determine that their coins are fake (that's a sweet guarantee) ... sadly, you'll pay through the nostrils to have that peace-o-mind (it's a trade-off, right?) GN & CNG and the other big auction houses also have that sweet authenticity guarantee (oh, but once again => you're gonna pay for that peace of mind) Oh, and if you happen to be gutsy enough to buy on e-bay => then Job-1 is looking at the shipping & return policies (buyer beware) .... there is often a reason that you're getting such a sweet deal on e-bay coins!! good luck hunting
Lanz and Gitbud-Naumann = highly reputable. I've bought from both, and have been very happy. Although 90% of the stuff on eBay is either junk or fake, you can get the real stuff at very good prices. People are so risk adverse, there isn't too much competition in eBay auctions these days. Since i'm currently "poor", I've been getting on eBay more.
Interesting. I notice wherever I see Savoca-coins, nobody states about them. I'm very curious about them. Plus, does anybody know how to check coin dealers reputation. Any periodics? Website?
I haven't had dealings with Savoca. I've watched some of their coins, they seem to be genuine. If you're prepared to wear some risk, you can get better prices from dealers who don't issue the life-time guarantee.
I've been in the business for over 25 years, so I can give some input. Savoca. Never heard of them, but there are hundreds of German dealers out there. Gitbud. Top notch. No worries, well known. Lanz. Again, top notch and extremely well known. As for reviews, I dont know any any such thing for ancient coin dealers. Websites, well, anyone can make one and that does not mean one is a dealer. I got my start as a dealer back in the days when one issued printed catalogs. That meant something. Now of course anyone with a website can be a dealer, which makes it hard for collectors. Back in the old days everyone knew who the dealers were as there were not so many. Nowadys, I seriously doubt anyone knows who I might be! Ah well. Its a changing world.
Savoca is reputable, but tends to offer coins of lesser quality than Lanz or G-N. Their pictures are good and honest. What you see is what you will get. With any eBay dealer you should pay very close attention to the photos. There are good dealers who underemphasize flaws like tooling, or mention it in their own language well into the coin description. For example, in German, "geglattet" means smoothed.
There is a list of known sellers of fakes called the Notorious Fake Sellers list. You check to see if a particular seller is listed. Keep in mind that the list is not all inclusive nor may not be up-to-date at any particular moment in time: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=18502.0
Lanz seems to lack an ancient oriental specialist for its E-bay auctions. The descriptions of the coins offered in this category generally range from incomplete to plain wrong.
And although it's (been) a highly reputable dealer, Lanz tends to offer more and more "doctored" coins nowadays. Caveat Emptor ! Q
