So I guess the toolers and smoothers have won?

Looking through lot after lot at Lanz, finding almost nothing but altered coins. Is this the new hobby? Do collectors just not care anymore? Or do they not read? Is it too much trouble to learn a bit of German?

geglättet = smoothed

geschnitzt = tooled

I think Lanz is being much more honest about altering these days, but there are still a bunch of lots that are tooled and not described as such. Here's Hanniballianus for instance, totally carved up and ironed out (and they even said so) and evidently still worth $180!

eBay Lanz

 

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Gesundheit! Can I get you a tissue?

 

Lanz...not surprising. Got no love for them at all.

 

WOW.....I'm a bit speechless (and now know two more German words) but at least they were honest about it all .....but I'd avoid them as well.

 

.

 

LOL

 

Is it just them or is this becoming a bigger problem?

 

A friend of mine makes Rings that you wear out of coins ... now that's tooled !!

 

I honestly don't think Lanz is worth dealing with. He had a very telling response to an egregiously tooled coin being discussed on the Coin Forgery discussion list(with pictures of before and after). His response copied below:

Restauration is not tooling.
Beauty sells better not only in women.
Dr. Hubert Lanz

 

Have they always done this or did they have a conscience once?

 

And here is before and after for the coin I mentioned above:
Before: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=154409
After: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=978539

 

Lanz is known for this.

Once someone asked them why, they responded "there´s a market who collects tooled coins"

Ugly. shamefull. They take away the art of ancient times forever.

 

Now I really know WHY I don't deal with them, never, whatever they have to offer

Q

 

It's safe to say they won't get my money.

 

I thought Lanz himself retired and it's his kids that run the show now?

 

At the top of their home page: Cash is beautiful
http://www.numislanz.com/

 

Wow. That's borderline criminal.

And Heritage Auctions seems to be complicit in this trend by not disclosing the alterations in its auction description.

A couple years ago I viewed an egregiously tooled Colosseum sestertius in Heritage's office (in L.A.) and noted that nowhere in their description did they even use the word "smoothed" let alone "tooled." After that time I have been very, very wary about any coins offered in Heritage's auctions.

 

Look at the color/surface of the Hanniballian mentioned in the original post. It is dark, smooth, and does not look hard. That is a surface that hardly existed decades ago and is a color/surface used to cover up the alterations by people who tool, smooth, and repatinate coins. Not all coins that look like that are fiddled with, but it is a warning sign. Roman AE coins come with many different surfaces. Look twice before you buy coins with that surface.

 

Yah, once bitten, "hey, quit it" ... twice bitten, "ouch!!" (ummm, isn't that a saying?)

anyway => lately, whenever I read/see any mention of tooling, smoothing, or any other shady biz ...

=> I fricken run!!

Whenever there is any doubt, there is no doubt

 

Lanz isn't the only major German auction house that seems to specialize in enhanced coins. It's really a problem. At least in the OP they disclose it. I think it's perfectly acceptable if disclosed, perfectly unethical if not.

Lanz sometimes has some very nice coins, sometimes has some egregious fakes, often has doctored coins. He/they should really do better. They used to years ago. It's obvious they don't care anymore which is a pity.