AncientJoe

Can you share images of some of them here? Heritage with slabs is great for some coins and absolutely the wrong choice for others. It'll entirely depend on the coins you're considering selling.

For what it's worth, I'm friends with the individual(s) you're referring to and your information about how the catalogs are/will be used (and what you're implying about their motivation for acquiring them) is incorrect.

Anecdotally, they've stabilized now around the 2014 level. The non-portrait Julius Caesar A Hirtius Praetor types are still absurdly overpriced but even some more important Twelve Caesars have have slipped through the cracks recently. Prices are strong if they grade well (i.e. no "brushed" or "light marks" from NGC) but there have certainly been some outliers. In part, this is due to the largest new buyer (a comparatively recent re-entrant to the market over the last few years) acquiring enough of the types already and not hoarding others. Russian buyers who were extremely aggressive in the 2012-14 era are out of the market due to obvious political/financial reasons and there haven't been any marquee, fresh-to-market collections of aurei sold recently.

RIP Steve 😞 His passion and inclusive encouragement to the community will be greatly missed.

I think you paid a justifiable price for that aureus as long as the surfaces are fine and not smoothed (hard to tell from the pictures). The NAC images look noticeably lower grade but that's at least in part a photography difference. An example in a grade higher sold for $50K hammer in 2014 at Heritage (estimated at $50K), then was resold for 26K CHF in December 2016 (estimated at 25K), then again in 2023 for 28K CHF also at NAC (estimated at 25K again). 2014 was a very expensive time for aurei in general. 2016 was much more affordable and 2023 is a time of relative stability in the market, having not come close to its 2012-14 peak. For what it's worth, your coin sold in 2021 at Roma for 6K GBP hammer on a 10K estimate (so, just the 60% reserve) and then was unsold in Baldwin's in March 2024 at a 9-10K GBP estimate (so probably a slightly higher reserve than this latest sale). It's an interesting type, and seems to only be held back by being a hair low grade to not be of interest to the buyers who would rather pay 25K for a slightly nicer coin. My guess is it may take some time to find a buyer as the coin isn't "fresh" to the market, having been in sales several times in the last few years. However, you're helped by the fact that Baldwins' sales aren't particularly well attended which may mean a collector seeing the coin on VCoins would look at it with fresh eyes. Hope this helps!

The Cleopatra sold at Roma for 70K GBP in 2017 and is indeed an exceptionally rare type but considerably less expensive than the 400K CHF hammer the Tyrant paid for the octodrachm shown above in 2016. If I had to pick between the two, I'd pick the octodrachm, in part because of it having a pedigree to the Hunt collection versus the Cleopatra which appeared out of nowhere in the Roma sale.

I'm still looking for a pentakaidekadrachm which would be larger but for now, this is my largest: SICILY, Syracuse. Dionysios I, 405-367 BC. Dekadrachm (Silver, 37mm, 43.51 g 7), unsigned but by Kimon, c. 404-400. Quadriga galloping to left, driven by a female charioteer who leans forward, with a kentron in her right hand and the reins in her left; above left, Nike flying right to crown the driver; in exergue below, panoply of arms on pedestal inscribed with ΑΘΛΑ. Rev. ΣΥΡΑΚΟΣΙΩ Head of Arethusa to left, her hair bound in an ampyx with a net behind, and wearing a pendant earring and a pearl necklace; around her head, four dolphins: two swimming towards each other before, one swimming downwards behind, and one nestling under the neck truncation. Gulbenkian 309. Jongkees 12. Rizzo pl. LVI, 6.. Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 27, 12 May 2004, 121 and Bank Leu 61, 17 May 1995, 75.

An excellent post and a warm welcome to this side of the coin internet!

Congrats, Rob!!

Absolutely. Another related point is that it's the second underbidder that sets the longer term value of a coin: the winning bidder likely won't want an example the next time the same type comes up so the price they paid is irrelevant - it "should" sell to you for one bid over the second underbidder's max. Granted, other bidders may have not had a chance to place a bid due to staying out of a frenzy but it's still a worthwhile concept to keep in mind, especially if it's just you vs the winner in a bidding war.

One other occurrence that sticks in my mind was from this tetradrachm. I had some big bids later in the auction and, at the wise advice of @Phil Davis, decided to bid on the much harder to find coins which came up later rather than waste budget on a more common coin, even if it's in nice condition. Three years later at the NYINC show, I made my usual bee-line to the NAC booth and spotted the coin I skipped available for purchase! It took me exactly 12 nanoseconds to say yes. The right coins find their way home: Rhegium, Tetradrachm circa 300-280, AR 17.29 g. PHΓINOΣ Laureate head of Apollo l., long hair falling in curls over neck. Rev. Lion's head facing. SNG ANS 676. Historia Numorum Italy 2501 (these dies). SNG Lloyd 700 (these dies). AMB 229 (these dies). Herzfelder 115bis. Historia Numorum Italy 2501. Ex NAC 82, lot 33; Ex NAC sale 8, 1995, 115

Upon reading your post, I thought, "this seems to happen to me a lot" so I ran a quick query against my collection: 26% of all of my coins came as part of a second chance, either seeing it at a show, in a subsequent auction, or being offered it privately, and has been the case for four coins I've purchased this year. That's shocking to me but certainly fits with my impression that I some how have managed to find many of the pieces I wanted but failed to acquire first time around. It's important to be patient, play the long game, and be ready to pounce if the opportunity comes up again. One example which came to mind was this Julia Domna aureus. It has an excellent pedigree - originally found in Karnak in 1901 - and the reverse is remarkable. I under bid it in January 2021 and by August, the collector, who had been buying a massive amount of aurei over the prior couple years, became frustrated and decided to dump all of his coins in one auction. I ended up buying it for a 40% discount from its sale price <8 months earlier: Julia Domna (AD 193-217). AV aureus (20mm, 7.41 gm, 1h). NGC AU 5/5 - 4/5. Rome, AD 215. IVLIA PIA-FELIX AVG, draped bust of Julia Domna right, seen from front, hair waved in ridges and bound at back of head in small chignon / VES-TA, front view of round Temple of Vesta, surmounted by standing statue and seated statue in center; Julia Domna and Vestal Virgin, both veiled and draped, standing vis-à-vis to left and right, dropping incense from boxes over a lighted altar in foreground, two more veiled and draped Vestal Virgins flanking, looking inward, accompanied by Caracalla and Geta as children. RIC IV.I (Caracalla) 392c. Calicó 2650 (this coin). Ex Heritage Auctions, Auction 3089 NYINC (21 January 2021), lot 31065; Harlan Berk, private sale with old dealer tag; Ex. NAC 23, lot 1605; M&M Basel Sale (December 1948), lot 630; Ars Classica XVIII (1938), lot 330; Ex. Biaggi 1160 - Privately purchased by Biaggi from Ratto in 1958; Ex. Mazzini; J. Hirsch 30, lot 1079; Karnak Hoard, Egypt 1901

One of Lanz's last sales included a coin on the back of the catalog which was an obvious fake... Lanz tried to save face by holding a contest to identify which coin was fake in their sale (read: he didn't want to reprint the catalog). I was nearly stung by Brad's infamous fake tetradrachm as well. I had a dealer (not Lanz) pushing me to buy the coin privately, saying they had checked with other experts who all said the coin was real. I wasn't comfortable with it based on the odd style of the reverse - the coin just didn't "seem" right and I insisted on passing despite this dealer chewing me out for how much time they wasted (approximately three emails, and it was priced at $40K to me that point). They even told me Brad was bidding on the coin to try to validate the interest in it... It's unfortunate all around, especially with Brad never receiving a refund. The coin industry is generally above-board but there have been enough bad actors that it's worth asking around to other collectors to find who the "good folks" are.

I just did the calculation for my smallest piece of Greek gold: it'd be worth $105 in gold today which means I paid 800x spot. I don't think I'll melt it even though gold has increased since I bought it. ATTICA. Athens. AV Diobol (1.43 gms), ca. 407/6 B.C. Svoronos-pl. 15#7. Head of Athena facing right wearing crested Attic helmet adorned with palmette and olive leaves; Reverse: Two owls standing confronted, olive branch between, ethnic in exergue. From the John Whitney Walter Collection. As the Peloponnesian War dragged on, Athens found itself facing a monetary crisis. It attempted to rectify this situation by producing its first gold coinage. Around 413 B.C. Athens found herself cut off from its main source of silver at Laurion and after four years the need for additional funds prompted the melting down of seven golden statues of Nike. This action produced fourteen talents of gold, which was minted into six denominations from Staters to Hemiobols. Once the mintage was finished, the dies were hidden away in an alabaster box in the Parthenon to prevent misuse. This is one of only two examples which is not in a museum collection, and only six known. And, to keep on the topic of Kyrene, here's my facing stater. It lacks a depiction of silphium but is still a notable coin for its art. Clearly the engravers at Kyrene were interested in front-facing experimentation:

Superb coins and an excellent pedigree I am still trying to cross off the list! That inscription on your copy is incredible.