Prices now, prices then

robinjojo, I sold the 1852 $20 gold coin, Philadelphia Mint, a long time ago. I think it's in slightly better condition than your coin .



Your coin for comparison. What do you think ?

 

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That's a beautiful coin, Al. Philadelphia, right? I agree, that coin is overall better than my example.

I try to take my photos in natural, diffuse light, which makes the coin look a little muted and dark. The other coin seems to have been photographed with directed light, but not a flash, I think.

 

robinjojo, I take all my photos in diffused natural sunlight. Sometimes it's necessary to edit the photo. When I edit I have the coin next to me to make sure the photo looks as close to the coin as possible.

 

And for a different view of things, imagine that I went back in time and worked for 4 days as a soldier in Alexander the Great's army shortly before he died. Since the average wage was about 1 drachm per day, I receive this tetradrachm, which would have a relative worth today of $400 ($100 per day == $26k per year, which is the US poverty salary for a 4 person household).

Now, if I brought that tet back I might earn $1k-$2k for it if the condition were gVF, though an example like below would be below that. If I managed to get a newly minted one, perfectly centered, then paid for NGC certification, I may get $10k at the right auction.

However, if I invested that tet with 1% interest, then came back to today, I'd have about $6 trillion.


Regardless, one thing that continues to amaze me about ancient coins is that it's not difficult to buy one for not much more than they were worth back then.