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Hello @DigginSicilia. Welcome to Nvmis Forvms.

Yes. It looks like a Byzantine 40 nummi follis coin. On the reverse, below the large "M", there seem to be 3 letters, which may be "SCL". If those letters are indeed "SCL", then that would mean, that the coin was minted in Syracuse, Sicily. On the reverse, above the large "M", may be a monogram, which may help to identify the Emperor for whom the coin was struck. On the obverse, the portrait, a standing figure of the Byzantine Emperor, looks like the style of either Heraclius or Constans II, but I'm not certain.

Here's a helpful web site, to search for examples of coins.

https://www.acsearch.info/ 

Perhaps someone will come along, who can better identify your coin. It may take a few days. I'm pretty sure, that there are other Nvmis Forvms members, who are more familiar with this coin type, than I am.

Ha. I read something today, in an article or something, in which someone talked about "the 1900s". As if everything that happened from 1901 to 1999 was all equally old.

Another vote for leaving the coins as they are. They have an interesting bluish green patina, which is an interesting reflection of where they were buried. Also, I'm thinking, that perhaps the only silvering, is what is already visible. Any previous silvering, has perhaps corroded away, it seems to me.

I'm glad to hear, that @Severus Alexander is still alive, and fighting.

If it's wax, or something like wax, then I wonder if putting the coin in boiling water, would melt the wax, and cause the wax to fall off of the coin.

Will acetone remove the remaining patina of the coin?

Regarding wax on ancient coins, I don't put wax on any of my coins. I'd rather allow the coin to age naturally, and it seems easier to see the real coin without wax, and wax seems fake to me.

Yes, democracy has its disadvantages. I have sometimes wished, that the average voter was more intelligent. Democracy is sometimes described as "the tyranny of the majority". However, I can't think of any other form of government, which is better. Power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts absolutely. At least, in a democracy, as long as it is a true democracy, in which all people are allowed to vote freely, and all people are allowed to run for office freely, etc, then, it seems like, the average person won't be too badly oppressed. And, in a democracy, if 1 group of persons is oppressed by a larger group of persons, then there is always secession or emigration, which sometimes works. However, I try to be open minded, in case anyone has a better idea.

On 1/3/2024 at 9:42 PM, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

I used the vcoins email given when they send out the order confirmation.

If that was LAC@vcoins.com, which is the email address of all of the emails that LAC has sent to me after I ordered coins, then that is the best email address to use. Whenever I've written to a Vcoins company using the email address of the form   company@vcoins.com, I have always received a reply to my email.

7 hours ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

Week one has passed without reply. I guess I'll have to try email #2.

I've been quite satisfied with most of my coins from LAC, but their customer service has never been stellar.

It's more about the principle at this point.  I'd just like a refund, or a store credit. I'm not asking for much. I've heard the vcoins' email system can be wonky, although I had very prompt replies from Tom Vossen, Aegean Numismatics, as well as Musa, and that's only counting the 2023 buys.

 

It wouldn't hurt, to send a polite 2nd email. If the packaging was poor, then they should expect people to complain, if coins get damaged during transit. Even if they don't want to give you a refund, or a store credit, then they should at least be professional, and reply to your emails. If they don't reply to your emails, then they should expect you to complain to Vcoins. If they don't reply to your 2nd email, and if you complain to Vcoins, then be sure to mention to Vcoins, that LAC has not replied to your emails.

If I were in your shoes, and if LAC didn't reply to 2 polite emails, then would I complain to Vcoins? I don't know. I probably wouldn't complain to Vcoins, because I've become very skittish, about making waves, concerning ancient coins, and medieval coins, ordered through the mail. I live in the US, and I haven't ordered any coins from outside of the US, since late 2022.

2 hours ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

I haven't heard back, shocker.

I'll give it til Friday, and resend the email. I used the vcoins email given when they send out the order confirmation.

The latest Tom Vossen order came (very quickly), and it didn't droop when I picked it up.  Imagine that.  He uses a more traditional envelope and the coins are within a cardboard sealer, which is encased in folded, really heavy paper (which I reuse for scrap paper).

I want to exhaust all the nice ways before involving anyone else.  LAC might be a bit of a slowpoke sending stuff, but they have a really great selection, especially of toned silver.  I'm also hoping that perhaps this might set in motion some packaging 'best practices.'  Coin packages shouldn't droop.

If the second email doesn't get any response 5-7 days after that, then I'll try vcoins, but initially in the nicest way possible.

Did you check your email spam folder? Perhaps LAC replied, and it went into your email spam folder.

You may have to send multiple polite emails to LAC, before they reply. They seem pretty busy.

If you elevate the problem to Vcoins, then you run the risk, that LAC may refuse to sell you coins, in the future.

If their reply is not in your email spam folder, then perhaps their customer service is mediocre. But, they have lots of nice coins.

It seems to be, a matter of risk versus reward.

@JeandAcre Interesting coins. Here are my favorites, with my most favorite at the 1 position, my 2nd favorite at the 2 position, etc.

1. Latin Empire Hyperpyron.

2. Axum.

3. Juba I.

@Simon Congratulations on your acquisitions for 2023. I also collect Byzantines. For me, it's all about the book. I've been looking, and waiting, for that book, for several years. You and @TheTrachyEnjoyer are the only 2 persons, of whom I've heard, who have the book. I wonder, how many of the original 200, have become lost, lying in a box, in someone's attic, or in a landfill somewhere. I've never even seen it for sale, except after the fact, after @TheTrachyEnjoyer bought his copy. The book is almost like an urban legend among Byzantine collectors. A modern myth. Like the Necronomicon. Fun stuff.

13 hours ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

It's a cheap coin

It's always sad, when a coin is either lost or damaged in the mail. I've had a few coins lost in the mail. And, I've had a few coins, in which the dealer sent a different coin, than what I ordered. Luckily, none of the coins were expensive. 2 of them were in the $100 to $115 range, and the rest were dirt cheap. I only complained once, when a dealer sent multiple incorrect coins to me, all of which were dirt cheap. The dealer wanted me to ship the coins back, in order to get a refund, but the dealer was outside of the US (I live in the US). I didn't want to deal with the hassles, of shipping outside of the US. Therefore, I gave up. After that, I never bothered, trying to get my money back, for any coins, because either the coins were cheap, or the dealer was outside of the US, and I didn't want the hassle of trying to ship coins outside of the US, or I didn't want the hassle of dealing with lost overseas shipments of coins.

Luckily, your coin was relatively inexpensive. Are you in the US? If London Ancient Coins insists that you ship the coin back to them, in order to get a refund or store credit, then you may not want to bother trying to ship the coin outside of the US, because that seems like a hassle.

I've bought many coins from LAC, and everything has always gone smoothly. Maybe, if you tell them about the broken coin, and if other customers have similar complaints, they will ship their coins more carefully in the future, even if the coins are relatively inexpensive.

@Hrefn Very interesting coins. My favorites, are as follows, with my favorite at the 1 position, 2nd favorite at the 2 position, and so on.

1. Constantine X Gold Coin.

2. Charles The Bald Denier St-Denis.

3. Gratian Solidus.

I won't show the latest coin which I purchased, because it hasn't arrived yet. However, I'll show this coin, which is the latest coin which I purchased, which has arrived. The coin is a Ukraine 10 hryven coin, which is currently worth 26 US cents. Therefore, 50,000 of them would currently be worth $13,000. I don't know, if they are legal tender, currently. I like the coin, and I like the country, and the coin seems to have some numismatic value. Long live Ukraine!

Ukraine. 10 Hryven. Zinc Alloy. Minted in 2018. Maximum Diameter 30.0 mm. Weight 12.4 grams. Obverse : Eagle, Flames, 2 Swords, Country Name Above, Denomination Below. Reverse : Map Of Ukraine, Within Map "Who If Not Me", Outer Inscription "Day Of Ukrainian Volunteer".

@Ocatarinetabellatchitchix and @lordmarcovan Interesting interview. I like The Eclectic Hundred. Those coins seem to be mostly high end coins. There is certainly a lot of quality there. In addition to ancient, medieval, and world coins, I also collect US coins, but I had never heard of the Feuchtwanger cent. That's an interesting coin. The Greece Carian Islands Rhodes coin is quite nice and interesting. The 1808 Columbia 8 Escudos gold coin is interesting. Your proof coins, especially the Ireland 1805 half penny, and the 1881 Indian Head cent, are interesting. I have a 1914-D Lincoln cent, as part of my Lincoln cent collection (my only "series"), but I don't think it's XF.

Your strategy of limiting your "primary collection" to 100 slabbed coins is interesting. I'm a fellow generalist, but I've only sold several US coins, at local coin shows. I've sold no other coins. I have some coins, which have been upgraded, or which I don't like much, but they aren't valuable enough to be worth my time to sell, yet. Luckily, I have plenty of storage space, for my collection, which includes 112 ancient, 69 medieval, 25 world, and 26 US coins, plus my Lincoln cents, plus some coins about which I don't care.

How far along, are you, in your 12 Caesars collection? In your The Eclectic Hundred, I see 6 of them : Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, and Titus. I remember the story, about your recent acquisition, and then selling to a fellow member, of the Caligula as. Will all of your 12 Caesars, be part of The Eclectic Hundred?

What sorts of coins do you have, which are not in your "primary collection"? How many such coins do you have?

Congratulations, for having an interesting collection.

@robinjojo That's a nice looking, and interesting coin. I collect Spanish colonial coins. I have 3 silver cobs from the New World, and 1 milled silver piece of eight from the New World from 1793. 1 of these days, I'm going to take photos of all of them. Currently, I only have decent photos of 1 of them, the oldest. Here it is. I've been following the Sedwick auctions since 2019. I agree, that Sedwick is the premier auction for Spanish colonial coins. I have Sedwick's book. And I agree, that the hammer prices are often quite high. My coin, pictured below, I won at a Sedwick auction, and it's the most expensive coin in my collection. The other 2 silver cobs, I bought at local coin shows, for approximately $100 each. They are from the 1700s from the Mexico mint. I used to shop on Ebay for cobs, until I discovered Sedwick. I like the fact, that Sedwick seems to be very good at identifying fakes. However, I may try Ebay again someday. I'd like to have a pillars and waves cob, such as yours, but I've never found 1, that was under my maximum allowed dollars per coin, which met my requirements. There are some very good Youtube videos, about cobs. Especially good, are some cob videos by a guy named "CaptainMyCaptain".

https://www.youtube.com/@CaptainMyCaptain33 

Spain. Philip II. Silver 8 Reales "Piece Of Eight". Minted 1589 AD To 1591 AD. Potosi Mint (In What Is Now Bolivia). Assayer RL. Maximum Diameter 37.7 mm. Weight 27.20 grams. Paoletti 97. Sedwick P13. KM 5.1.

I voted for the Byzantine Jesus follis. It looks like a delicious Christmas cookie, of which someone (Santa?) took a bite. Also, it's an interesting coin, and it has many interesting details, and it has a nice patina.

For me, there is no such thing, as "fair market value". For me, a coin is worth, what someone is willing to pay for it.

For myself, I appreciate dealers, and auction houses. If I had to buy all of my coins from other collectors, then I'd never buy any coins, because it would be too risky, too inconvenient, and too time consuming. Also, I don't mind, that some dealers buy coins from other dealers or auction houses, and then later sell the coins for higher prices. For me, that's an inevitable consequence of a free market. Also, as mentioned above, dealers and auction houses have to pay for the costs of doing business, such as advertising, maintaining a web site, credit card fees, some customers who steal the coins by pretending they didn't receive the coins, auction buyer fees, etc.

Also, for myself, there are many situations, in which I would buy from 1 dealer, but I wouldn't buy from another dealer. For example, for the past year, I've only bought from US dealers. As another example, I have more confidence in some dealers, because some dealers seem better able to identify fakes, and tooled coins. Also, I don't have time, to look at every auction, and every dealer's web site. Therefore, I like the fact, that dealers buy coins from other dealers or auction houses. It allows the coins to "circulate", so that I can have more choices.

Also, some persons simply enjoy making a huge profit on a coin. Many collectors do it. It doesn't bother me, at all.

@Prieure de Sion I appreciate your posts about the Leu auction. It's interesting information. I hope, that you won't beat yourself up too much, about your losses at the Leu auction. You did the best, that you knew how to do. That's all any of us can ever do.

Byzantine Empire, probably. The Emperor side, looks somewhat like Alexius I or John II. Here's my Byzantine Alexius I trachy.

Byzantine Empire. Alexius I. Billon Aspron Trachy. Minted 1092 AD To 1093 AD. Constantinople Mint. Sear 1918. DO 25. Maximum Diameter 26.8 mm. Weight 3.01 grams. Obverse : Jesus Christ Seated Upon Throne, Bearded, With Halo, Holding Book In Left Hand. Reverse : Alexius I Bust Facing Front, Bearded, Holding Scepter Cruciger In Right Hand, Holding Globus Cruciger In Left Hand.

This is always a fun and interesting topic. Looking back in time, it seems that I made and published New Year Resolutions in December 2021 on Coin Talk, but I didn't publish any New Year Resolutions in 2022. However, my main resolutions for 2022 and 2023 were the same. To spend less money, and spend less time, on coins. I have a tendency to become obsessed with things, and coins has been 1 of those obsessions, since 2018 when I started collecting ancients and medievals. I have other interests, on which I hope to spend more time in 2024. However, I still enjoy looking at coin forums, almost every day.

During 2021, my peak year of spending on coins and coin books, I spent a huge amount of money, for me, on coins and coin books. I don't have a handy list, but I know it was a lot. In January 2022, I started keeping a handy list of coin purchases, and coin book purchases, and a monthly budget for coin and coin book purchases. That opened my eyes, to how much money I was spending on coins and coin books. In 2023, I have spent 29 percent, of the total that I spent in 2022, on coins and coin books. In other words, in 2023, I have spent less than 1/3 of what I spent in 2022, on coins and coin books.

For 2024, I plan to spend even less money on coins and coin books. I'm pretty happy and content, with the coins I have. I want to spend more time, learning about the history of the coins, which I have. Also, I've been buying more world coins lately, which often cost less than ancients and medievals.

For 2023, I was hoping to take more photos of my coins. In 2023, I was able to photograph all of my Byzantine coins, for @Severus Alexander's thread "The epic Byzantine portrait thread". That thread was good motivation for me, to take more coin photos, and to learn more about my coins. And, I really improved my photo process and technique. But, taking coin photos for that thread, took so much time, that I haven't photographed any of my coins since then. Even with my improved photo process and technique, it still takes me 6 hours to photograph a single coin, because I have such high standards for my coin photos. For my 2023 Top 10 list, I resorted to using seller photos, something which I had hardly ever done before. However, whenever I create my own thread, with 1 of my coins, then I still plan to take my own photos of the coin.

I agree with @Phil Anthos. It's probably to prevent bots from searching (to collect statistics, or to automatically search for certain coins, which could overload the web site with too much traffic) or attacking (denial of service attack by spamming and therefore overloading) their web site.

@voulgaroktonou That's a fascinating collection of very late Byzantine silver coins. I only have 2. I could try to arrange them in a tree pattern, but they would be a Charlie Brown tree. Here they are. A Manuel II half stavraton, and a John VIII stavraton. Merry Christmas!

COIN DESCRIPTIONS

Manuel II. AR Half Stavraton. Minted 1391 AD To 1425 AD. Constantinople Mint. Sear 2551. Grierson 1517. Maximum Diameter 20.2 mm. Weight 3.68 grams. Obverse : Jesus Christ Bust Facing Front, With Halo. Reverse : Manuel II Bust Facing Front, Wearing Crown With Pendilia, With Halo, "M-A-N-O-V-H-Lambda" Greek For "Manuel" Clockwise Starting At 12 O'Clock.

John VIII. AR Stavraton. Minted 1425 AD To 1448 AD. Constantinople Mint. Sear 2563. LPC Page 172 Type 1. Maximum Diameter 23.0 mm. Weight 6.76 grams. Obverse : Jesus Christ Bust Facing Front, With Halo. Reverse : John VIII Bust Facing Front, Wearing Crown With Pendilia, With Halo, "IWAN" Greek For "John" In Outer Legend Clockwise Starting At 12 O'Clock.

@panzerman Interesting coins. My favorites are as follows, with my most favorite at the 1 position.

1. Coin 8 Merovingian

2. Coin 3 Regnum Gothorum Hispania/ Baetica

3. Coin 10 Srivijayar Kingdom

By the way, during what years was Coin 10 Srivijayar Kingdom minted?

It's an interesting topic. I'm no expert on this subject. Here are some of my thoughts. Perhaps, the invention of the internet, and what seems to have been an increase in the number of persons in the world who have the time and money to collect ancient coins, and the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in more people stuck in their houses and looking for things to do and buy, have resulted in an increase in the number of ancient coin collectors. Therefore, perhaps there has been a large increase in the demand for ancient coins. Perhaps the seeming increase in demand, has kept pace with the seeming increase in supply. Perhaps the increase in supply, has been caused by an increase in available metal detectors, which has perhaps resulted in an increase in the number of hoards found. Also, as demand seems to have increased, and as the prices seem to have increased, perhaps the number of persons searching for coin hoards with metal detectors has increased, because there is more motivation to search for coin hoards with metal detectors. In a way, the ancient coin market, seems similar to the oil market. As the demand increases, and as the price increases, the supply increases. "They aren't making any more ancient coins", some people say. "They aren't making any more oil", some people say. And yet, as technology has improved, people seem to have gotten better, at finding both ancient coins, and oil. And, both ancient coins and oil, are being threatened by the possibility of government laws against them. Therefore, you never know. Perhaps someday, both will be illegal. Will ancient coins eventually become illegal to own? I don't know. There are so many ancient coins. How can the government stop them all? And yet, perhaps it will eventually become a black market. The US government made the ownership of significant amounts of gold illegal, from 1933 to 1974. However, it seems like, fewer people know or care about ancient coins, compared to the number of people who know or care about gold. However, the number of people who know or care about the value of gold, seems to have decreased, since 1933. Oh well. Those are just some of my thoughts, at the moment.

@seth77 Thanks for the information. I've learned a few things, about these coins. However, there is much, that I don't know. And, apparently, there are still some unknowns, regarding these coins. I'm glad to hear, that these coins are finally getting more attention. For me, the late Byzantine Empire is very interesting.