I'll make no comments about the specified prices, grades & plastic cases but the coins are neat. Check them out here: http://www.davidlawrence.com/invent...st/utm_medium/email/utm_campaign/When in Rome
Each and every one of those is priced at least DOUBLE what you can get it for from any ancient coin dealer or auction. Never mind the fact that almost all are common coins. Not in that they are normally dirt cheap, but in that they are regularly available. If you want the false sense of security provided by the plastic, by all means, fill up your shopping cart.
I hope you all enjoy the DLRC link while it lasts They are all high grade & high priced & highly available. Being such high-grade they are easy on my eyes. I started clicking on the coins that I liked solely for their art & familiarity. Of course, just about every coin I selected had an incredibly high price. On the first page, I liked the Aegina turtle stater coin & all the high-grade Corinth staters. I also like all the high-grade Tarus Dolphin coins. On one Tarus coin the slab tab is covering a key part of the dolphin’s design. This will give you an idea of the coins I clicked for a better view: http://www.davidlawrence.com/invent...public)/snm/Ancient-Roman/gnm/Ancient-Coinage http://www.davidlawrence.com/invent...torial)/snm/Ancient-Roman/gnm/Ancient-Coinage http://www.davidlawrence.com/invent...ingdom)/snm/Ancient-Greek/gnm/Ancient-Coinage http://www.davidlawrence.com/invent...apolis)/snm/Ancient-Greek/gnm/Ancient-Coinage http://www.davidlawrence.com/invent...actria)/snm/Ancient-Greek/gnm/Ancient-Coinage http://www.davidlawrence.com/invent...labria)/snm/Ancient-Roman/gnm/Ancient-Coinage http://www.davidlawrence.com/invent...-Taras)/snm/Ancient-Roman/gnm/Ancient-Coinage http://www.davidlawrence.com/invent...-Taras)/snm/Ancient-Roman/gnm/Ancient-Coinage http://www.davidlawrence.com/invent...labria)/snm/Ancient-Roman/gnm/Ancient-Coinage
Listed grades are a bit high. The coins have eye appeal but wear is wear and the prices seem to overlook that. These are coins for those who look at the plastic more than the contents. See the heads. I'f give this a F 5/5 but Ch VF? http://www.davidlawrence.com/invento...ncient-Coinage
Well, I would be in between you guys. I would say aVF for the coin. Yes only the higher points are worn, but worn very flat. I would not pay VF money for it, let alone gVF money. I find NGC overgrading about 75% of the coins I see in their slabs. Btw, I think Frank has one of these for sale in his latest auction.
The old fashioned among us require a VF to have unbroken head gear so a small flat spot becomes aVF and one this large on both sides is F. I supose you could say the coin is not as much worn as it is flatly struck and give it aVF but drop the strike number down to a 2. Grading ancients is a problem. Frank's example (lot 125) is not as nice but he calls it F+ so I must be overly critical here and will agree with the aVF call. Frank is wont to quote auction realizations when they show how overpriced coins are with his competition. On this he says: (A porous F+ brought $800, Berk 6/10; VF $2800, Kunker 9/09.) Neither of these coins is porous so should be worth more than the Berk but neither is VF and Frank's sales don't usually hit European heights so I's say anything over $1500 is what you are paying for the plastic box. Of course Berk is not known to be cheap so most of us might question that $800 even. There is a coin in Frank's sale I really wanted but when I bid the first week it was already over triple the quoted CNG comparable. His sales are not the automatic bargains they once were. I bid but I don't win a lot.
Nice overall analysis Doug. I would not argue if someone called it a gF, but I am afraid both of us are somewhat dinosaurs in today's grading environment. Yeah, I bid quite a bit on Frank's auction but don't win much. I still have a soft spot for his auctions, as they introduced me to Sassanid, Hepthalite, and many other series.
