KenDorney

No, this is not the usual complaint of high prices being hammered the last year or so. This complaint is regarding a lot of shenanigans going on with the lower tier auctions. As many expect, there is a lot of shill bidding happening. One dealer was put on hiatus by Biddr as they were caught red handed. But that's not my issue. Just this past week: One dealer advertised a drop in their commission rates, a big 5%. Not bad, I think. I will throw some bids in. I only won a few lots, but when I got the invoice it showed that while the commission did go down their shipping fees tripled! That is a big red flag for me to never do business with them again. Next up, I entered about a hundred bids in an auction, all proxy. I didn't watch the auction live but did periodically check my bid status throughout the day. It was showing the usual, I was winning about 20% or so of my bids. Near the end of the sale I look and see I have won about 20 lots. OK, not a bad days work. When I get the invoice I see it only has three lots. Huh? What happened to the 17 others? As a dealer on Biddr I know how their system works and I assume the seller must have been unhappy with the hammer price and cancelled my other bids. I think I will be giving small auctions a rest for a very long while.

I bid on the same coin. Its a lovely example but I was quite surprised to see it go that high. These days I just shake my head in wonder...where is the common sense these days?

One has to be liberal in the denomination to complete the set. Many use provincials, posthumous issues, etc. I thought I had a set, but when I went to the trays I see its far from complete. Last 20 years I've been holding out on Caligula, I just didnt want to pay $1,500 for a nice one. I guess I should have paid considering what they sell for now. Anyway, sestertii are my favorite coins, but I also collect any larger provincials.

I'm guessing its just whatever is being used for the site. I do like the format at CoinTalk. I want to be able to just go to a main page and see all the messages without having to search for them in the various categories. Right now I have to go to 'Activity' then sort by 'All', 'Unread' etc. This just gives me a list of messages by date and time, not by thread. Maybe I'm not using it right. If I go to the main page I can just check the boxes to get a list of threads, but I dont want to do that every visit. Is there a way to make it easier?

Everything seems to be running seamlessly, but honestly, and no disrespect intended, the software used for the site is terrible. There really isnt much I like about it at all. The software used at CoinTalk seems to be pretty universal from what I have seen, and I think for a good reason.

That is one reason why I bought it (along with it being from (about) the year he died and in the same city). I've often wondered why such dies were made when in most likelihood that element would not make it onto the coin. I think it also illustrates that some dies were much larger than the planchets they were struck on.

The problem with this topic (as we already see above) is that each person has a different set of needs. As such many solutions will have aspects some find invaluable and others will find useless. Explore the options and find what works best for you (though in all likelihood none will be perfect). For me my needs are simple. I just want a simple record with the info. that I want. As such I simply use a Word document. I know, it isnt easily searched and one cant readily compare data (which I have no need for anyway). I am just keeping a running tab, add in new entries when needed and in the place needed. The outcome is kind of like an old fashioned auction catalog or sales booklet. When the day comes and I sell out I will have it printed and hard bound so I can take it out and reminisce. This works perfectly for me but will be useless for others.

Surfaces are heavily smoothed, and I think some details are strengthened around there they meet the fields, so tooled as well.

You point out the obvious. Just this week I have cataloged perhaps half a dozen unique or otherwise unpublished coins. This doesn't equate to value though (otherwise I would be billionaire by now). The only thing driving the price of such a coin is the very small and narrow select few collectors who can or would pay such a price. In all likelihood the price will not be realized (I find it to be a $25 coin myself, but I am not a fan of Biblical coins). There are very few specialized collectors who have such money, but it does happen. There are a few billionaires who also collect ancient coins, but only the new ones would pay such a price. And....they dont care. A few thousand here or there is chump change to them.

I could only hope I had his bank account, but I do have some sense of self respect!

Edit.

I had no idea the listing was satirical. Probably just a misunderstanding of the language barrier. However the topic in general is of great importance and I still await contributions from VCoins admin and members.

Oh boy. I'm one of the moderators on VCoins, and this is an eye opener. I cant watch everything (which is why there are numerous moderators). As far as I know, one can list anything for any price (pure capitalism I guess) but many of these examples bend the realm of acceptance. Let me check and I will see what can be done about these.

Legend errors are common and entertaining. I'm sure one could easily amass a collection based on that alone but it would be endless and impossible to complete! Here is a recent one I have with inverted letters:

I remember when Ebay was first created way back when. The owners would come around to the Santa Clara coin show and beg us to list coins on their new site. It took me a while but I did start listing coins there (they werent the first, but obviously are now the biggest). Ebay was just fine in the early days. Nothing but good dealers and collectors selling and buying coins. Now, not so great. I havent sold there in a long time, and there are years gaps in my sales history. Its a crazy place where fakes are traded alongside genuine overpriced coins and it has its very dedicated base of buyers and sellers. Its true, one can find gems in the rough, but it can take hours per day just looking and often not seeing anything worth bidding on. Not for me.

It occurs to me that while I do not use this book as a reference it can be of good use to some. If one is on a budget this is a good alternative to the whole RIC series as it cross references to that series. Of course some RIC volumes have been revised since ERIC and others are being updated now, so ERIC I guess is only partly useful for that purpose.

Shipping services are all over the board in regards to value, price and time. Many Europeans like to use Fedex and DHL as they are very cheap there while being cost prohibitive in the US. Incoming to the US both named services take a lot of time, are often held in customs and add on additional 'customs fees' (when none exist). I would prefer to go back to individual countries registered mail as they dont add fees and are typically about the same time frame.

It was an ambitious project, but just not useable. I've got a copy but have never used it. Too big and confusing and cumbersome (in size and arrangement). Very nice pics though!

Yes, this is very misleading. NGC does NOT authenticate but does not slab fakes. What does that mean? It's a legal distinction: they do not guarantee any ancient coin for liability purposes. That is another topic of course but in this case one has to understand their slabbing policies. I think that in the past they would slab some questionable coins but no longer. You would have to contact them but I think anything with altered surfaces are not slabbed, and this can include patina. I sold a customer a nice Agrippina sestertius that was returned as it was re-patinated. I took it back of course and added it to my collection as its a fantastic coin. Generally speaking though, tooled coins are despised by most Americans but are most frequently accepted by Europeans and those new to the hobby. And of course I apologize to my brethren across the pond, but its true, most tooled coins are sold there.

I think time may be your deciding factor here. If you need cash quickly send to auction, though you will get the least amount for them unless they are rare and or very high grade. If its just average material auction prices will be much lower. Also keep in mind unless the coins are really good it will likely take up to and over a year for payment. Consignment may be an option, but often takes the longest to get your money out. I guess maybe a third option is to offer them directly for sale to a dealer in one lump.

The ball joint (in the image to the right) fits over the top and can be adjusted to the angle desired.

I am constantly working on my setup and it changes a lot. I just ordered a bunch of things today to try out, including this mount which will replace the camera stand and is extendable from 14 to 23 inches. Anything less than that focal distance I will use as you point out a book or something to raise the coin up.

This is the stand I use myself. Only caveat is that it has a rather fixed distance, which means its really maxed out with my 100mm macro lens which has a minimum focal distance of 12 inches. I think they make a larger version. Movement is always a problem. If your camera supports it, and I think most modern models will, use a remote shutter/focus switch:

I know a lot of people love crunching numbers but it's difficult to really interpret much by these graphs (no offense intended) as they are too generalized. A lot can contribute to hammer prices and overall results, but perhaps what matters most is what exactly is being offered in any particular sale. General and generic lower to mid grade coins sell for less, rarer and higher grade for more. To get a real interpretation one would have to dig in deep to the data to see what types in what grades were offered and trend that. That's way too much effort of course.

You are not. Its clearly been painted. Possibly the worst I've ever seen!