Does it make sense to keep MS ancients in slabs?

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Gam3rBlake, Aug 5, 2021.

  1. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    Please forgive a slight diversion from the slab question but it really might be said to be related. Ancient Joe is right except I would call it 'flooding' rather than 'trickling out on the market'. I know a collector who has purchased wholesale lots of these coins sorted only for being what the slab folks would call MS. Some are full crest, some include the lower hair design, some are exceptionally well struck on the hair over the eyes but all are what you would expect from coins that were struck and placed immediately into a pot where they remained untouched until a few years ago when the hoard was discovered. He is of the opinion that the time to buy coins is when they are available (I agree) and that the time will come when these coins have all been absorbed into collections and the prices will rise (I plan on being dead by then). Many of those owls have been slabbed; many remain free. I would love to know how many 'hoard' owl slabs have been issued with grades AU or better. In the case of those coins (common and soft silver - pure silver owls do scratch easily) and the fact that many owners have to be reminded that they need to be handled with a little care and not spiffied up with silver polish, perhaps being slabbed is best for the breed.

    The question remains whether this is the time to buy one or one hundred coins under $1000 that are on average AU or whether non-collectors will tire of making jewelry out of them and they remain available. Will people start discriminating against the hoard coins and show a rise in demand for the styles earlier and later. Three tail feathers have always been premium. Will Pi styles surge over Classical? All these are questions investors consider but those who buy coins because they are wanted (faults and all) are freed from entertaining. My 'best' owl (pre hoard) has probably lost half its value since the hoard has 'trickle-flooded' the market since no one has to settle for areas of flat strike or rough surfaces patches or a thousand other things that separate the best from the 'normal'. Is this the time to sell the farm and buy owls in or out of plastic (newsflash, you can buy RAW and have NGC slab them for you)? I'd rather have 100 or 1000 different coins than a vault full of owls but, for investment purposes, owls may be the answer.

    My poor example with flat chested owl would not get a counter offer over what I paid. If it did, I would sell it without doubt. Heartless?
    g41195bb3159.jpg

    Another question: Has anyone seen any offers of owls that are die matches to each other? I realize there must be 10,000 dies (literal or Chinese [萬] usage) but I would have expected the hoard to have included some duplicates. Maybe I have not been paying attention but I have not seen it.
     
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  3. Insider

    Insider Talent on loan from...

    dougsmit, asked: "Has anyone seen any offers of owls that are die matches to each other? I realize there must be 10,000 dies (literal or Chinese [萬] usage) but I would have expected the hoard to have included some duplicates. Maybe I have not been paying attention but I have not seen it."

    Excellent question best answered by the original owners of the lot (if they are not involved in selling fakes). In the past, counterfeit coins of any type are eventually detected. In some cases it has taken several decades. I'll guarantee that there are still fakes out there that are considered genuine at this time.

    In the past, the majority of any very deceptive fake has been detected by matching defects on several examples. Doing this has even lead to detecting an entire "family" of counterfeits made from several die combinations no one even questioned either until the first "link" in the family was questioned.

    We all know that the quality of counterfeits continues to improve. While not practical except for ancients, very soon (if not already) making fakes that are not exact duplicates will be like spitting out popcorn at the movie theater. Once this happens, it will become virtually impossible to detect a high grade modern fake ancient made from melted down genuine coins of the same type and time period. That will remove one of the prime methods used in my lifetime to detect counterfeits - repeating defects.
     
  4. Insider

    Insider Talent on loan from...

    You'll need to learn that many collectors of ancients are a different breed. Usually well educated, very intelligent, and focused on a complex, wide ranging area of numismatics that is completely "foreign" to many of us. Some of them even operate on a different set of rules when you are not a member of their club. This member said it best:

    robinjojo, posted:

    "We are all human beings with different temperaments, backgrounds, preferences and views; that's what makes us unique individuals. As with so many things in life, communicating with members requires forbearance, patience, understanding, and respect."
     
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