Aren't these normally cheap coins? I see a number available on Vcoins for < $100. I don't collect crusader coins myself, but I've been looking to buy one as a gift for a friend.
Am I underestimating the number of people on earth who know who Bohemund III was and want his coin or is this just a demonstration of why slabs were invented? These will now be accessible to people who have a couple hundred dollars and no real interest in learning about either the coin or the history behind it. I assume these are not getting the full service treatment and qualify for a discount, bulk rate. It would be interesting to see the price on them when next sold. I recall when I was working (long ago) days when we did nothing interesting and did it 1200 times. Some days were more thrilling than others. Someone at NGC gets to put these in the holders. It would be interesting to see a video showing that part of the operation. I have one (class B and not Grade A) that was $55 in 2018.
They seem to be. I noticed CNG with this large offering of these coins, and they also had another offer like this of some lower grade examples recently but I assume have sold out.
Prices were already dropping on these over the last few years, a hoard of beautiful examples like that will presumably keep them low for some time. Good for those who don't have one yet, they're a great intro to medieval! Mine is pleasant, but what I most value about it is that it once belonged to Murray Gell-Mann, the Nobel Prize winning physicist. (Not sure about the class - somewhere in the A-F range.)
They're pretty close to cockroaches of medieval coins similar to Gordy III Ants. I actually like them better though. Great pic, Barry. Bohemond III (1163 - 1201 A.D.) BI Denier CRUSADERS, Antioch. O: +B(•)AHVHDVS, helmeted and mailed bust left; crescent before, star behind. R: + ANTI ♣ OCHIA, Cross pattée; crescent in second quadrant, trefoil in legend. 19mm .98g Metcalf Crusades 400; CCS 69 Class E or F. Malloy 69/70
Doesn't surprise me. When you watch, (unfortunately been watching more than buying lately), European auctions, you can tell what hoards have been found. Many, many such coins in group lots the year. I almost won a couple of them.
Now that's what I call a type set. I hope someone has at least a copy of Metcalf's Coinage of the Latin East. Happy hunting.
I cannot thank you enough for these posts They make many people's day, including my own I think the obvious reason this type is so popular is its an image of a knight from the Crusades! HOW COOL IS THAT?! And the unique artistic style makes it easier to imagine being around at that specific point in time.
Yeah, they're cheap --but, as @Ryro notes, cool. ...Enough so that some of us might take offense at comparing them to cockroaches. The whole series of these gives you the easiest chronological spread for 'Crusader' coins (<--well, no, these are the folks who Stayed there, hence my preference for 'Frankish Levant'), from the mid-12th to the mid-13th centuries.
