A friend and I were eyeballing a recent antiques auction. Included was a 'minting error antique coin', with a provenance of 1960-1980 and the name of the previous collector. We were outbid at our max bid of 180€ (including the 25% and postage, the total amount would have been around €250 or ~$300). The pictures were poor: and no weight and diameter was reported. When asked, the auctioneer said 'between 19-20 mm and around 7.8 grams'. I could only find one brockage tarentum nomos: CLASSICAL NUMISMATIC GROUP, INC., MAIL BID SALE 66, LOT 76 sold at 675$ in 2004. Based on this information, what is your opinion on this coin? Should you have bid more? Do you like it? Do you know similar examples? Etc.
Interesting piece! I've never seen one before, nor have I seen brockages of Corinthian colts, or any from the various cities of Magna Graecia producing silver coinage of this weight standard during this period. They're probably out there, but I imagine they're rare too. I think it's the sort of oddity that would hold less appeal to the average collector, who'd rather spend their cash on any of the very many regular pretty examples that regularly come up for auction. I like Tarentine dolphin-riders enough to have a number of them, and I would've liked that coin, but I doubt I would have wanted to pay more than 180€, if even that. If it had been a reverse brockage with the dolphin-rider, however, I might have! Of course, we'll never know how high the winner would have gone... short of their dropping by this thread to answer the question. Not anywhere near as rare as a brockage, but my most recent dolphin-rider is not a regular issue either, and it being a hybrid fourrée, I expected a "fourrée discount" for it. I paid around $110 after fees. The provenance dating back to the 1920s was a nice little bonus.
