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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 1948931, member: 19463&quot;]I know nothing of Brazilian coins but this is a major factor with Ancients.&nbsp; There are three factors that come to play.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Variety: Are you sure that the cheap coin is the exact same variety or is there some little thing that some people pay extra for?&nbsp; To some people and coin is a coin.&nbsp; To others, one struck by a certain die set carries a big premium. </p><p><br /></p><p>Grade: Just because two sellers both say a coin is the same condition does not make it so.&nbsp; Is one of the coins simply nicer?&nbsp; To people who do not know what detail is lost in the first days of circulation, a VF coin can look very nice.&nbsp; They might say &#039;like new&#039;.&nbsp; eBay limited the use of standard grading terms to TPG coins for a reason.&nbsp; People who know a particular series might pay a lot more for little details (full horn, full steps etc.) that others might not see as significant.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Who is buying and selling:&nbsp; Ancient coins are bought and sold by a wide variation of dealers and collectors.&nbsp; Some collectors are willing to search for years to find just the right coin at just the right price.&nbsp; Others want it and they want it now!&nbsp; Some dealers handle only very expensive coins and have a minimum price for which they will sell any coin.&nbsp; They cater to buyers who have the money and appreciate the hand-holding they offer in exchange for higher prices.&nbsp; Others have no customers who spend large sums for a coin and would be unlikely to get a fair price for a rare beauty so they rarely will have such coins in stock.&nbsp; To balance such stock problems, many coin sales are between dealers with some coins changing hands many times before they find a long term home in a collection (if they ever do it would seem in some cases).&nbsp; Many collectors are (rightly!) concerned about fake coins and are quite willing to pay extra to buy a coin from a dealer that they trust and believe that knows enough to protect his customers from ‘problems’.&nbsp; Others like to play a game in the hope of paying 10% of a fair price for a coin they believe has a 15% chance of being as described (genuine, original surfaces, natural tone etc.).&nbsp; Just like ‘dealer to dealer’ transactions, ‘fool to fool’ deals make up part of the market.&nbsp; The fact that such transactions occur does not mean that they should be taken into account when estimating a proper price in a more mainstream sale.&nbsp; The range of price differences between major auction houses or the highest end private dealers and the bottom of the market can be several times.&nbsp; I have seen virtually identical coins sold for $5 and $50 on the floor of the same coin show.&nbsp; Both were equally genuine and equally desirable except that the more expensive one came with hand holding by an expert while the lesser would only get an envelope if you bought several coins and made a point of asking.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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