Tabaristan Hemidrachm A friend paid $600 for a pair of Tabaristan Hemidrachms. Both coins have been certified as "MS" by NGC. Other details are: AD780-93; Caspian Sea hoard. He wants to know if there is any market for these beyond $50 or so each. I saw him at a coin show yesterday and though a couple dealers were familiar with the historical background on the coins, no one knew where the market may be for them. Thanks; I will relay any feedback on this to Fred.
IMO $600 was too much. You may get some extra for it being certified, but these are commonly found XF, (equivalent to NGC's MS). For a single coin they may get up to $80, but for the pair $100 would be the max in my view. I may be tainted, though, as I have a few dozen of these or so. To get more than $100 for the pair I think you would have to sell them to someone either new to ancients and is impressed with NGC's grade, or a non-specialist. To someone who collects the region they are fairly common coins. I will guarantee you Ardatirion could add more to the subject. I have no idea what the "Caspian Sea Hoard" means other than these were minted near the Caspian and there have been many hoards of these found. They are interesting coins, but just not a huge demand for them, since they have found many hoards of high grade coins. Chris
Thanks, Chris, pretty much what I imagined. I suppose he could run them at auction, Ponterio seems to bring top dollar; whether it would help or not, I don't know.
