Newest ancient in my collection...

I'm sorry if we scared off people but I have trouble letting pass the attitude that a coin is worth something in a slab and raw coins are dangerous junk. The dangerous practice is buying coins from the wrong sort of sellers. Except for a few fake slabs (they exist) containing fake coins, it would seem that buying a slab is the way to go for safety BUT only if you only buy a brand slab that is accompanied by an opinion worth having. I have seen no value in ancient slabs other than NGC and a couple of them left me wanting. There are, however, other ways of safe collecting. You could buy a coin with a David Sear certificate. You get an opinion worth having and a a photo of the coin but no plastic coffin. You also could buy coins from a trustworthy, full price dealer. I'd rather have a raw coin purchased from Harlan Berk, CNG, Barry Murphy or a host of others (not some auction houses in Europe that have been ruining their once top reputations!!!!). Slabs enable dealers who know nothing to deal in ancients. I prefer to buy a coin from a dealer who knows coins and offers a lifetime guarantee of authenticity so you do not need a slab. I do not know what percentage of NGC coins David Vagi actually touches or who he has hired to do the grunt work of slabbing big lots of discount hoard batches. I do not care because I do not want a holder that is sealed so I will not be asking his opinion no matter how much I respect his credentials.

You can buy coins in slabs as you wish. I hope you will post photos here an even teach me how to take good photos of slabbed coins (I have not seen many). I hope you do not plan of trying to sell your coins (to me) expecting compensation for the surcharge you paid for the plastic. I have several hundred dollars worth of coin cases, boxes, envelopes, flips, books and whatever that will not be repaid to me on coins I sell. As long as the slab fad holds you may be able to cover what you paid for the holders. If it passes???

Buying a fake hurts. Sometimes it is educational. I went to college and paid a lot of money for the experience. I have made a lot of mistakes over the last 50 years in the hobby. I may have spent as much on my numismatic education (books, travel, mistakes and time) so perhaps the slab cost is justified if you desire to collect but not to learn.

Does anyone have any idea how much a high end expert would charge to look at 3000 coins and flag the fakes? At current rates, slabs would cost over $100k. I can afford a few fakes.

 

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Great coin Jwitten, love the color, i wonder if "That" color blue comes from some kind of heat exposure. when i make my silver coin rings, that's the first color i get before orange or purple. i know silver tones without heat.

 

OK, I got the latest in the mail!

 

Now that's a nice tet.

 

Very nice indeed. This one I'd be tempted to crack out and see if any of the crud on the reverse would come off with acetone. I wonder how NGC came to the conclusion that this is "money of the Bible." Antiochus VII did have a working relationship with John Hyrcanus, but the books of Maccabees (which aren't even included in most canons of the Bible) stop short of their history.

 

I actually would be tempted to crack it out too, because the holder is old and scratched up. Is this coin similar to the one you sold awhile back? I think this one: https://www.cointalk.com/conversations/jas-special-offering-5.201916/
What is a decent price for this coin I have? I want to see if buying it graded made me pay too much.

 

Nice coin and good images. Other than the crude that JA mentioned outlining the legend and device, the detail is outstanding.

 

Uh, well. That's a tough one since it depends on so many particulars. If it was my coin, I'd crack it out, clean up the reverse, and offer it in the $250-$300 range. The off-center strike on the reverse loses some detail, and you can find them well-centered. That's about all I can say - what I'd do with the coin. Maybe it's not much help.

 

The good news is I paid under that for it, so I got a decent deal I feel.

 

Holy frick, Doug is totally right!! (once again)

jwitten => this coin above isn't even the same OP-coin, is it? ... you are now showing us another slabbed coin?!! (really? => what happens in your head!!?)

Man, stop buying slabbed coins!! (it's embarrassing!!)

 

Not to a US collector...

 

Steve, maybe you should use green text for "sarcasm font"?

 

I don't get it?

 

Are slabbed coin people allowed to sit with us?

 

No, like this.

 

Yes. (Right guys?)

 

*whatev*

I think in this particular case => "I am trying to Free the Slaves"

 

I think I got a decent deal on both slabbed coins. It sounds like the Larger one is worth more than what I paid for it... so I COULD break it out... but I probably won't

 

... hey, I thought I'd ratchet it down a notch by showing everybody my really cool mountain bike ...

Oh, there is more to life than coins ...


Oh-oh => and I love all of you (jwitten, my coin friend)

 

Hmm, I think I have 2 more ancients entombed I purchased and haven't posted yet. Let me dig them out, so I can get some more hate (or love) from yall, haha. Be back in a few....