Opinions on graded ancient coins?

The + is for the extra money spent for the plastic tomb!

 

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Yeh, well, when do we get to see it?

 

Which is a major factor holding back the acceptance of it. There's really no point in paying anyone for their opinion if they won't stand behind it. Why they refuse to at least guarantee that it's authentic I have no idea, ANACS grades ancients as well and they at least assure they're authentic with their guaranty

 

NGC could guarantee authenticity and I still would not slab my ancient coins. Ancient coins should be held, not locked away in a plastic tomb.

 

IMHO you are absolutely correct!!!

 

I think even if they did guarantee authenticity most collectors of ancients would not buy slabbed coins. I certainly wouldn't and I would do my best to steer other collectors away from them as well.

 

The financial aspects of issuing an authenticity guarantee for an ancient coin are both extensive and daunting.

Since the TPGs don't earn the same fees as do the auction companies that DO guarantee authenticity, they have little if any incentive to offer this guarantee. Due to the enormous range of ancient coins, in both quality and quantity, the expertise necessary to issue a guarantee is NOT something that is easily obtained. Even experts on ancient coins disagree among themselves. I would guess that this isn't true for modern coins that are graded by TPGs, but I don't know this for a fact.

The grading company is a third party to the transaction by which the seller acquired the coin. (The first party is the buyer/owner, the second party is the seller.) Unlike an auction house, the grading company (TPG) has no direct interaction with this transaction and has no knowledge nor background information on the seller. This fact, in and of itself, makes any guarantee a potentially high financial risk for the grading company.

In order to cover this risk, the TPG would have to raise prices on its services as a reserve against potential counterfeits. Alternatively, they could seek insurance from an insurer like Lloyd's, but I would guess that there are few if any insurers who would take this risk.

As an example, in 2016 I won (at auction) a Hadrian aureus from one of the leading and most knowledgeable auction houses in the world for around $38,000. Later that year, the auction house contacted my dealer indicating that the coin might be a forgery. The coin was returned to them, and upon consultation that included experts at the British Museum, they concluded it WAS a forgery and refunded my purchase price. If I had submitted this coin to a TPG that offered a guarantee, would they have been willing to place a $38K bet on the coin's authenticity? Very, very doubtful.

The good news is that there is no real reason to slab ancient coins, except for new collectors who will feel more comfortable if the coin they're buying is slabbed by a respected TPG. Opinions on an ancient coin's authenticity are better handled by knowledgeable dealers offering authenticity guarantees, and independent experts who will (for a fee) offer their evaluation and opinion of the coin in question.

 

If they assured authenticity more people would buy them and use them and ancients would be opened up to more collectors to at least just dabble in like we’ve seen with every other area. The grading is supposed to at least be a safety net for being real. Given the nature of ancients it’s really just the authenticity that matters the most with paying someone to grade it as there aren’t the hair splitting differences with actual grades, if they won’t assure that they’re real then there is really no reason to pay them for their good faith effort.

 

on expensive, important-to-you and maybe coins you plan to sell grading by a 3rd party is, i think, a good investment.. NGC won't grade a coin if they think it's fake. And there are others such a Sear, etc. that will do the job too.. plastic holders don't bother me any..

 

Plastic holders bother me but I believe much too much is made out of the NGC lack of guarantee. Ides explained it well but I'll add that there is a small handful of US coin types compared to buckets of ancients including hundreds known from only one example. The NGC graders are two of the hobby's most capable numismatists and I would value their opinions above 95% of the dealers I know but I prefer buying coins I know (1) from dealers I know (2) who offer money back guarantee and skipping the $40 for a third opinion. If you feel better paying them for that opinion, fine but I see absolutely no reason to put the coin in that sealed plastic tomb. I might use their service on occasion if they offered a photo certificate with paragraph of discussion on pertinent points like David Sear does but I have zero use for their grading opinions based on an inflated system aimed at people not familiar with traditional ancient grading and an ID that includes almost no details.

Slabbed ancients were conceived to introduce ancients to a new set of collectors whose experience was with slabbed modern coins. These buyers and the dealers who sell them are freed from the need to learn about the coins and take comfort in the plastic rather than seeing it as an offence to the senses as do most of us who relish handling and learning coins rather than the boxes they come in. If this describes you at present and you see no reason to try to know more and handle coins in the future then slabs may well be for you. When you tire of the coins, you can find another new-to-ancients with more money than desire to know who will be willing to pay the extra cost or you can sell the coin to people like most of us for what it will be worth after we remove it from the plastic.

Whatever you do, avoid slabs other than NGC. There are many plastic box sellers who do not know enough to be half dangerous. Paying for their opinions is not wise. Consider the coin below:

The label on this slab clearly reads Constantine II but the coin reads Constantius (his brother). Beginners and those not able to see the extra N in the name have this problem on a regular basis. Why pay for a slab done by an expert who knows not? I would enjoy seeing any error slabs done by NGC. I really would like to see a genuine NGC slab containing a fake coin. (Fake plastic does not count.) I strongly suspect such a fake would carry a market value in excess of a real coin simply because there would be enough slab haters who would love to rub it in their faces. I have not seen such a fake. Has anyone? The coin above is my only slabbed ancient. If you plan to pay an expert, pick an expert with a clue.

 

Not a rare coin but one that's been on my wantlist for years, awaiting the "right" example. This isn't perfect but I couldn't let this one go by at a low price. Formerly in an NGC Ch AU* 5/5-5/5 holder, or, in normal auction house terms, about EF: