my new oldest coin

Hi folks.
Here is my oldest coin that I own, just came in through the mail today. I believe it is Hieron II. I picked it up on ebay for $13. Did I get a good deal?

Thanks,

Simon

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Did the $13 include shipping? I picked one up this past Winter at a coin show in Orlando for $10. It's basically in the same condition I think:

SICILY, SYRACUSE, HIERON II
OBV: Head of Poseidon left
REV: IEP-ONOS, ornamented trident of Poseidon
6.5g; 19mm
Ref: SG 1223

 

Nice coins, both of you got a OK price on those.

 

I think it was $14 shipped. Yours appears to be about the same condition. Mine was sent with a little placard showing relevant information, which is nice. Since I'm keeping it solely as an educational piece and not looking to resell it, I don't think $14 was bad.

 

BTW, my coin was struck 275-216 BC

 

Oh no. You did fine. $14-15 is a good price. I was asking because some sellers ask exorbitant shipping charges I think to add to the profit of a coin. I've seen shipping charges anywhere from $15-25 which seem somewhat ridiculous, don't you think? Anyway, bottom line, I think you got a decent price.

 

I think that was a well spent 14 bucks.

 

I always check out the shipping prices before bidding, I know what you mean. There are so many listings I saw that had the shipping actually more than the coin itself. I sniped this one with 8 minutes to go. I just wanted a coin that I could say was made before the common era!

 

I would lose my hind end if I tried to collect ancient coins. some that I have seen were obvious fakes that had a cast lead center and electroplated with a nickel or copper coating. If tried to collect these coins I would try to stick to the slabbed coins and still try to be careful.

 

I hate to be unkind but there are many coins offered on eBay and other venues that actually are not worth as much as the shipping cost. This is especially true when buying from a different country. Many ancient coins are trashy and worth only a dollar or two but it will cost the seller half a dollar to put it in an envelope (more if he uses a padded mailer). The same coin mailed overseas will easily cost more to mail than it is worth.

I posted a thread today showing my new 'treasure' - a scarce to rare variety of the common Falling Horseman coin. The seller required 8.85 Great Britain Pounds postage and the final winning bid was 5.50 GBP so I paid 14.35 GBP or $22.41 US. I really do not understand why someone in the UK didn't outbid me for the coin (I assume postage would have been less for shipment within the country or origin) but they didn't and I was willing to pay a total of $22.41 for the coin. It really made little difference how it was split up. Had the seller stated the postage would be 1.28 GBP (the amount of postage on the envelope) or even 3 GBP to allow for the cost of the envelope and the trouble of writing a small note hoping I would enjoy the coin, I suspect there might have been other bids but he chose to gouge on postage and scare off bidders who probably think of him as a crook. Many sellers offer one price for shipping no matter how expensive the coin. That can cause low value coins not to sell at all. I did not buy the coin because I thought the dealer was an astute or even fair businessman; I bid because I thought that coin was worth $22.41 (slightly more since my top bid was a GBP more than turned out to be required). Read the listings, decide the total delivered value to you, subtract the cost of postage and bid that amount - no more.

 

Fair enough and good point. I guess it's all about the end cost...both shipping and bidding-wise.

 

I know of no "normal" Ancients collector who buys coins in slabs. High end - maybe. If a person doesn't know enough to spot fakes, best to buy from reputable dealers with 100% guarantee of authenticity. I have been known to query about a coin that ends up being fake. But that's one of the good reason for being on these forums. Here you can ask for help before you buy. I know there are other forums where that is a no-no. But here is OK. So, if you're interested in Ancients and want to test the waters, pick out a coin and ask for opinions. Believe me, you'll get plenty and mostly good advice.

 

I paid $30 a couple years ago. For $60 I got this and a mighty fine AE Shekel from Punic Sardinia!

 

Rascal, do you realize that NGC does not guarantee the authenticity of the ancients it slabs? So you still need to be able to spot fakes.

 

How right you are, but you're not alone as long as you can ask opinions and advice from some of the experts who hang out on this forum.

 

Ummm, I can't recall how much I paid ... but if history repeats itself, then I must have paid more for my coin than most of you skin-flints!!

Oh, and I'm pretty sure that I probably tipped our Mail-lady an extra $20 for bringin' our mail up the driveway!!

 

$20 is a small price to pay for the mail carrier's silence. Think about if the misses found out!

 

Oh and yea so far I think I got the best coin one of the lot!

 

I dunno. I think it's a toss up between you and Bi-guy - or should that be By-guy?

 

*cough* Legend *cough*