mcwyler

My Constans II has no pretension to legends at all, but I did like the portrait, so for a 10 euro snack I couldn't resist! 

Good points here from many angles.

My view is that tooling is not only deceptive, but unnecessary. Unlike collectors of modern coins, we mostly accept that many if not most of our coins will not only show signs of use but sometimes significant wear. 

I'll go further - some of my favourite coins are really well worn. An orichalcum sestertius, for example, can grow old very gracefully. Why tool it? If there's enough detail to identify it, I'm happy. 

The only motive for tooling in most cases is profit. Don't make these people richer! 

15 hours ago, Curtis JJ said:

By the way -- in case anyone doesn't know about it -- for years now Ras Suarez has been doing the great work of archiving eBay ancient coin sales (since maybe 2012 or so). And including many other dealers and scanning some print auction catalogs that can't be found elsewhere.

Used to be called COINVAC, then changed to Coryssa a few years ago. One of the great unsung contributions to ancient coin provenance research:

https://www.coryssa.org/index.php

Over 3 million records at present, which is comparable to ACSearch. Takes a little bit of practice getting used to, and become efficient at searching, but I've found quite a few lost provenances in there. (Mainly for coins I knew had appeared on eBay but not when or from whom. A few that were total "cold" cases.)

Whatever the limitations, I'm amazed that he's been doing all that himself all this time.

Thank you so much for that, I read this 10 minutes ago and have already successfully used the tool for a purchase from 8 years ago that I lost details of! 

Nice! Did goatherds always have spikes on their backs in those days? 

32 minutes ago, Hrefn said:

On DuckDuckGo, your site is the top hit, which is not an advertisement, in response to a search “coins of Andronicus I Gideon”.   It is very simple to switch Apple devices’ search engines to DuckDuckGo from Google.  Google is upfront about admitting they track you.  DuckDuckGo claims not to do so.  Easy choice, IMO.

Seconded DDG, just as easy on most android browsers too. 

I use them quite a bit. They ship to me in the UK for £6, so no complaints there! 

About a year ago I thought I'd give Catawiki a try. 

A coin I was interested in was offered by a Spanish firm that seems to use that platform a lot. I bid, it was under the (apparently top secret) reserve. I bid again at a higher price, and again. No joy. After a while I thought oh well, and gave up. 

A little later I was emailed with the "GOOD NEWS!" that since the reserve had not been met they were willing to sell it to me at my highest bid...

This renders the so called auction a joke and while not illegal is in my opinion very sharp practice. If you wish to set a reserve, start the bidding at that and stop messing with the bidders.

I didn't darken their doorstep again! 

Gavin, 

I just replied to the "basililikons" thread below about Opisthodomos. I had a  problem about 2 months ago with them- heard nothing from them  but my coins eventually arrived after 3 weeks (I'm in the UK). Also noticed today that they've gone from vcoins though, and that doesn't look too hopeful. I was lucky I guess... 

I think you'll be financially OK with PayPal, from what I've heard. My fingers are crossed for you! 

Interesting. I had an order from this company around the same time, got mine several weeks later - I'm in the UK so no excuse - but I did get them and was pleased and relieved to do so!  However I notice today the entire company has disappeared from vcoins...