Ebay....hidden gem.

It's not just that the seller doesn't know what they are selling, it's where the seller does something to make it more difficult for buyers to know what they are selling. "More difficult", not "impossible".

Spend a lot of time on Ebay and you'll start to see what slips through. Poor photographs, mispelled headlines, attribution errors, photos of obverse only - those are all conditions where the unusually attentive can get some bargains.

- Misattribution happens a lot. For example, coins of Saloninus & Lucius Verus are often mis-attributed as belonging to much more plentiful emperors. I've gotten four or five of those for comparatively little.
- Coins with bronze disease are ignored by bidders, even when they are exceptional coins.
- Groups of coins photographed together, where a rare type is shown obliquely or partially obscured by another atop it.
- Coins with eccentric spellings. If the seller misspells "Hadrian" their listing will not show up on searches by interested buyers. Yes I believe that happened one time. In this group I include sellers listing in dialects that few coin buyers speak. Ebays algos won't do so well with more obscure languages.
- Coins sold by people who do not know how to sell them. Estate sellers & dealers who specialize in modern coins may not know what information is most important to make obvious in the listing.
- Sellers with comparatively few transactions. I am always surprised how little attention sellers with fewer ratings get, particularly when some of the most flagrant fraud on Ebay's ancient coins are power sellers with great reputations.

(If a transaction of this sort goes well I will often admonish the seller to spend more time attributing and generating high-quality photographs in their future listings.)

 

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Welcome @manpace

 

Yes, there is a story behind my upcoming item end. Next week hopefully I can disclose more. Stubbornness is a key here... and greed.

 

I, too have purchased some great coins over the years from Ebay ! If you research and pay attention you can get good coins,although some people think Ebay is taboo I find it interesting and a bit of a challenge to get good coins at a good price.

 

; )

 

; )

 

Well.... I won the coin I wanted plus 4 others.... not really a bargain, as 2 others had spotted the coin too, but I achieved my goal which was to win the auction. I actually paid about 30 pounds less than I was prepared to pay, so not too bad.

 

I have yet to receive the coins obviously....
But here's the pictures...from the seller.

 

Is that Genius playing darts?

 

Yep, it's the rare lakeside reverse with bobbius georgius .

 

I honestly tried to see what you saw in that lot, but failed. The image is too garbled, and my eyes are weak.

 

Me too.

 

I can't read any of the legends. I assume the blob over the first coin is strategically placed?

 

That was the mobile app picture. The desktop pics are clearer. As I said, it's nothing that would seem too special to most, but a rare type of a common coin. If you were to try and find one for sale, you may struggle, but I may be wrong, it's happened before. I own 2 of this coin now, but haven't seen many more.

 

It's only that the symbol between the standards top right is a chi rho. I know , not that impressive.... It must just be me. The urbs is a rarer type with the f between stars from aquiliea, but that was just a bonus.

 

Actually, that is very special - I just couldn't make anything out from that image.

 

I hoped no one else would either, but two people did and bid high too. One I wasn't suprised at as he is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to the Constantine era... The other I don't know.

 

I'll post my own pics when the coins arrive and fingers crossed it's a good coin.

 

Thanks to Pish better pics

 

Curious. What is the letter/device between the stars on the Urbs Roma and what is the mintmark?