KenDorney

You might have noted with Roma that they now are listing if a lot has a reserve or not. Seems a little odd, if it has a reserve of 100 GBP then the bidding should start there, but it doesnt, it starts at the usual low amount.

That's more offered at one time in quite a while. It will be interesting to see, but I doubt there will be any real bargains. The market seems to still be readily absorbing these without any loss of price. In fact it seems that prices have steadily been increasing over the last couple years.

Dealers come and go. They sell what they have, and if they are a 'source', often they sell out and there isnt anything else. 'Interesting' is entirely subjective. It can mean no coins, or a plethora. Yes. There is insane competition these days. Often coins going for 2-10 times what they are realistically worth. Auctions are just not where is is now. I see many more deals with fixed price dealers. But you gotta know your material.

So, in my 'old age', ... letting go of many of my old references. My metric is that if I have not used a reference in roughly 20 years, I likely do not need it. So, As such have disposed of many books. I had consigned many books to CNG but after many years and no contact from them I suppsose that is a loss. Anyway, here are a few pics of what I might think are standard works.

I'm not good at these, but:

These are military pay notes, issued by the US for use in France. You can see them here: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/note204612.html

It depends on what you call repatinated. Looks as if its been treated with something, maybe olive oil, wax, etc. Kind of hard to tell from the pic, but the underlying patina is natural to me.

That's not a second torch, but her arm.

I'm just waiting for retirement when I can leave California behind as a sad memory. But choosing the right place to move to is monumentally difficult!

I live in California, and that money will get you a small and very modest house!

While the RIC volumes are being updated I am not sure I will see all of them in my lifetime. I am particularly interested in how the rarity ratings will come out in the later coinages. There are plenty of mintmark rarities, but it can be difficult to tell how scarce they really are as many dealers, even the big ones, often dont give a full description of the coin. And of course most of them would never appear in most of the auctions outside of group lots.

I'm a bit behind in my reading. I have about a dozen in my 'immediate read' pile, and maybe another 50 to get around to eventually (and I'm always buying more). Anyway, I went to the library book sale a while back and they happened to have quite a number of historical fiction titles.

Their website isnt functional at the moment (the book dept). Does anyone know who is stocking these yet?

Yes, it is possible. But currently the trend is that there are plenty of new collectors, speculators, investors, etc. entering the market. In my 35+ years as a dealer I have always been amazed to see hoards of coins be absorbed by the market. We often think its not possible, there are too many coins for the market to bear and support. But, on average, prices still seem to steadily climb. It is entirely possible that sometime in the future these small disks of metal lose popularity and prices collapse. That can happen in any industry. I dont see it happening in my lifetime, but I have seem massive declines elsewhere. Antiquities used to be very popular and prices were strong. They are now not very popular and prices are continually dropping. I am glad I sold my collection a couple years ago. The auction house I used said they would not actively persue consignments of them any longer.

I suppose it depends on what exactly we are talking about here. Is it auction houses bidding in their own sales or others? If one does much browsing year after year you will see that many coins never seem to sell to collectors. They are bought up by dealers who then try their luck with a different venue (or their own). This is incredibly common. When speaking to one house owner/operator (to be remain nameless, but one of the biggest in the world), he had mentioned recently that they were very short on material to fill their sales and that he was forced to buy quite a lot in other sales. Auctions are often a gamble. Hammer prices that will generate a profit and never guaranteed and there is plenty of risk involved. If we are talking about houses bidding in their own sales, yes, that is common as well. If a lot is going too cheaply they might step in and buy it for their own inventory or for a client. Thats common too, and completely normal. Shill bidding again in this thread here. I hate it and when it is obvious I just dont do business with that house. In the end, I enter my maximum price (never my minimum unless it is a coin of little interest). If someone bids more (whether shill or not) I just dont care. Someone wants it more, let them have it. Shill bidding in this market is largely being driven by wealthy people (dont know how many are collectors or just speculators) who use that 'nuclear' strategy with their bids. I see a $1,000 coin that I bid to to that value, but if they (shills included) want to bid $5,000, I dont care. Yes, its a bummer as many coins are now out of reach for me. There isnt anything any of us can do about it, so I just plod on the best I can.

Just use the Wayback Machine. You can search a website historically and see what was where and when: https://web.archive.org/web/20030315000000*/http://sep11.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Memoriam

Sorry this didn’t go well for you. Leu is the most notorious shill in the world. Maybe you should have communicated your minimums.

I dont think we need to re-write history on this one. I understand people nowadays are very progressive and wish to work that into many topics but I dont think its necessary here. From how I interpret the history he was more of a bi-sexual cross dresser than anything else.

I did. I still have a few of his left I am selling for his widow, including a Julius Caesar portrait denarius. Price was high on that as it was one of his favorites. I need to call his widow and see if she might discount it some.

Darn tootin. Same coin. I love it!

Boy. His name is Finn (my daughter named him after the cartoon Adventure Time). I found him as a kitten in the middle of the road where heavy traffic was about to run him over. One lucky kitten!

Wow. I am always amazed that people have artistic abilities such as yours. I culd not draw a semi-straight line or a circle (hell, likely not even a stick figure!). If you ever have the time, you should do commission work for cabinets. Part of me really likes the appearance of your shelves. Very neat and arranged by size (it seems). But for me its not practical, I need to arrange them by subject as closely as I can.

My illness is that I spotted the spelling error in the title!

I've been at this since 1985 and was amazed to find I have only one, bought as a curiosity. I guess I need to find something more! Nero, 54 – 68 AD Æ Sestertius, Rome Mint, 35mm, 14.83 grams Obverse: NERO CLAVD CAESAR AVG GERM TR P IMP P P, Laureate head of Nero right. Reverse: S C, Triumphal arch surmounted by statue of Nero in quadriga accompanied by Pax and Victory, two soldiers or torch bearers flanking quadriga, statue of Mars in side niche of each arch. References: RIC 143(?) Cost: $20 Provenance: Georgi Hristov, Ireland, via Ebay, November 9th 2016.