KenDorney

I've always preferred coins with honest wear but genuine surfaces. I dont collect anything tooled at all, and not too many in my collection are smoothed, but thats generally acceptable. BUT, many people are still buying tooled and smoothed coins. Every week. And it seems they are paying high prices too. Below is an example sold this past weekend, for $1,570 (includes BP). Honestly I'm speechless! To me, personally, I find it too tooled to be worth much more than $100. But many would probably disagree. When all the dust settles from this past few years it will be interesting to see what happens when these modified coins come back on the market. https://www.biddr.com/auctions/concordianumismatic/browse?a=4794&l=5774198 And this is just the only example I took note of. I am sure there were others over the weekend.

I have sheets for Leu 90 and M&M 23 which BCD sent to me years ago. If you still need them I can scan them for you and email them.

Excellent examples, all of them!

I love large bronzes, and when I saw this offered could not pass on it. Very interesting series of just four types struck on the island and all were the last ancient coins ever to be struck in Sardinia. Its also a very interesting period of time when the government was very much in change. We can see there was at least some superficial semi-autonomous form of government but ultimately that did not hold for very long. The graffiti is also very interesting to me. Sardinia, Caralis, 40 BC, Aristo- and Mutumbal Ricoce, Suffetes AE As (?), 30mm, 27.33 grams Obverse: ARISTO MVTVMBAL RICOCE SVF, Jugate heads of the suffetes (magistrates) right, graffiti of three incised pellets, V and another pellet. Reverse: VENERIS, Tetrastyle temple with closed doors set on podium, eagle standing left with wings spread open within pediment, acroteria and antefixes along roof, KAR in exergue. RPC 624 // Muller 319-20 // SNG Hunterian 184 ex Jeremy Ricci ex Naville 90, Lot 256 ex Artemide 64E, Lot 420

This is an excellent observation. While there are plenty of government numbers out there and hard statistics, it is very easy to see the vast amounts of money that are in the world these days. Just watch what people are buying when you are in a shopping environment and how much they spend and on what. Ancient coins have become very popular and there are lots of new collectors competing with us, and a lot of them dont care about how much they spend. And guess what? Most of them believe auctions are the only place to buy, so there are there right along side us, often bidding entirely too much. Anyway, I dont know about Leu and neither does anyone else (with regards to shilling). I suspect its not as common with the bigger houses but is completely endemic within the lower tier auction houses. One simply has to deal with the situation as well as possible, and be prepared to let a lot of coins go to someone else.

At least you got your money back. Others often dont (I've lost plenty over the decades).

Buying coins lately is very frustrating for me. Most of what I need has doubled and more over the last year or so. I got zero in the Leu auction (I had given up on them but decided to try once again). So I figured maybe there would be some 'leftovers' available at CNG. Not really, but I did get this one below. It is a true gem in the rough. Only superficially cleaned with a completely original patina (as far as I can tell), no smoothing or tooling. These are getting hard to find these days, and honestly I think its worth twice what I paid: WON Purchased $600 Bids: 17 TIMED AUCTION Electronic Auction 566 CATEGORY Bronze, Roman Imperial DESCRIPTION Divus Antoninus Pius. Died AD 161. Æ Sestertius (33mm, 29.66 g, 12h). Commemorative issue. Rome mint. Struck under Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, AD 162. DIVVS ΛNTONINVS, bare head right / DIVO PIO, S C across field, column surmounted by statue of Pius holding eagle and scepter. RIC III 1269 (Aurelius); MIR 18, 46-6/10 (Aurelius); Banti 144; Elkins, Monuments Figure 135. Green patina, a patch of red on obverse. VF. Architectural reverse type. Ex Classical Numismatic Group Electronic Auction 475 (26 August 2020), lot 586. The reverse depicts the column of the divine Antoninus Pius, the shaft and base of which survive. The latter, now in the Vatican, employs both classical and traditionally plebeian sculptural styles and marks an artistic transition in imperially sponsored monuments.

Heard the first, a few times the second, none ever the rest. Acronyms are getting more confusing by the day.

WTF? IDK WDYM?

Both are genuine, the latter with the patina stripped but thats a personal choice.

Well, this isnt an ancient of course but I thought some might see how the tradition of old gods persisted for some time. This Swedish Daler of Charles XII was issued along with other old gods as an emergency issue.

I used to collect Hadrian specifically and had all of these in the base metal denominations, including the sestertii. Sadly I sold them off thinking I could just go out and replace them easily and at similar prices. Silly boy! The Hadrian As with Britannia that I bought at Coincraft back in the early 90's for 65 GBP recently resold for a just over $2,000! My advice to anyone: just keep those coins. Replacing them will cost so much more, and often you may not get similar quality. Occasionally I am surprised though. Recently I re-purchsed a Hadrian Sestertius I owned about 30 years ago and it cost me half what I paid originally, but I suppose I may have over-paid the first time!

Here's a few I picked up some time ago. These are a good example of how coins are often cleaned: to the bare metal. There are many reasons to go this far, but usually cleaners will apply a fake patina. For some reason these escaped that treatment and I do actually like the appearance.

This is one of the aspects of our hobby which makes it exciting. Opinions are always changing based on new or re-interpreted information and we all have the potential to be correct!

My son is a guitarist in his spare time since he was around 12 or so. I've picked up and vacuumed probably hundreds of them over the years!