Budget coins $4,000,000 to $5,000,000.

[Deinomenid]

Nice pick  up for someone  today for this coin at NAC. Various glorious and  less glorious past  owners to help with the  ol' provenance/pedigree debate too.

 

Even just the commission makes me weak to think of.  Estimate 1.25mCHF, sold 4.4mCHF

Though it pains me,  not my coin...

Tauric Chersonesus, Panticapaeum.
Stater circa 350-300, AV 9.12 g. Facing bearded head of Pan, slightly l. Rev. Π – A – N Griffin standing l., head facing and its r. forepaw raised. Locker Lampson 122 = Gulbenkian 583 (these dies). Gulbenkian 584 (this obverse die) and 580 (this reverse die). K. Regling, Der Griechische Goldschatz von Prinkipo, ZfN XLI, 1931, 165 (this obverse die). Jameson 2143. Gillet 851 (this coin).
Of the highest rarity, the finest specimen in private hands of very few known. One of the
most important and desirable coins of the entire Greek World featuring a portrait of
Pan of enchanting beauty, the work of an extremely talented master engraver.
Perfectly struck and centred in high relief on a very large flan.
Good extremely fine

Ex F. Schlessinger XI, 1934, Hermitage duplicates part II, 102 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 213 sales. Previously privately purchased from Bank Leu in 1991. From the Buratschkof and Charles Gillet collections and from the Collection of a Man in Love with Art.

 

Edited May 18, 2023 by Deinomenid

[Limes]

I have a couple of coins in this price range. Just cant seem to find the photo's at the moment.... 

 

😉

[ominus1]

...ahhhaahahaha....><

[kirispupis]

@AncientJoe has a coin that's not so far off from this one. https://www.colosseocollection.com/p444364358/hf56ce893#hf56ce893

 

[idesofmarch01]

23 minutes ago, kirispupis said:

@AncientJoe has a coin that's not so far off from this one. https://www.colosseocollection.com/p444364358/hf56ce893#hf56ce893

 

Interestingly, there were two of Ancient Joe's coin type in the NAC auction today.  One hammered for CHF 36,000 and the other one hammered for CHF 240,000.  Here they are (the top one was the CHF 240,000 hammer price):

Although there is a clear visual difference between the two coins even in the pictures alone, I was a little puzzled by the CHF 204,000 difference in hammer price until I read the detailed description of each.  However, there is a part of me that wonders if the consignor of the second coin did himself/herself a disservice by having it slabbed, and ending up with a "Surface 2/5" rating.  Note that NAC still grades this as "... otherwise good extremely fine."

Edited May 18, 2023 by idesofmarch01

[kirispupis]

32 minutes ago, idesofmarch01 said:

Although there is a clear visual difference between the two coins even in the pictures alone, I was a little puzzled by the CHF 204,000 difference in hammer price until I read the detailed description of each.  However, there is a part of me that wonders if the consignor of the second coin did himself/herself a disservice by having it slabbed, and ending up with a "Surface 2/5" rating.  Note that NAC still grades this as "... otherwise good extremely fine."

I guess this shows how far off these coins are from my reality. 

If I had to choose, I'd take the bottom coin over the top one because on the bottom one Pan's beard is flowing beautifully and on the top Pan looks like a deer in headlights. So I would have bid on the one that received 36K CHF instead of 204K.

And, were I given the choice between that coin and the one that went for 4.4M, I wouldn't have cared so much and would have been equally happy with either.

[John Conduitt]

I'm not entirely clear what makes this coin so expensive. It doesn't appear to be anything to do with history or what's featured on the coin. But if it's the quality of the engraving, you need the 'best known' as that's what it's about. So it's CHF4.4m or nothing. And even then, I don't like the wear or the 'perfect centring' (which it isn't). That's probably why I don't collect Greek coins 🤣

[kirispupis]

1 hour ago, John Conduitt said:

I'm not entirely clear what makes this coin so expensive. It doesn't appear to be anything to do with history or what's featured on the coin. But if it's the quality of the engraving, you need the 'best known' as that's what it's about. So it's CHF4.4m or nothing. And even then, I don't like the wear or the 'perfect centring' (which it isn't). That's probably why I don't collect Greek coins 🤣

My take on it is two things I've come to realize at auctions.

#1
If I really want a coin, and someone else with greater financial resources wants it, then I'm not going to win. It simply doesn't matter that the coin is worth $500 and I put in a bid for $1k. There's just too many people for whom the desire for the coin has nothing to do with what similar ones have fetched. Going up to $2k or $3k makes no difference to them. So, the best I can do is bid what the coin is worth to me and accept the loss.

#2
Marketing is a thing. Recently, I lost out big on a coin where a famous collector was quoted as saying it was perhaps the most difficult type to collect. That may have been true when that collector was quoted, but it isn't today. A number of other copies have shown up. However, two other bidders bought the advertising and bid it up to oblivion.

So, in terms of this coin, the description from NAC was honestly awesome. Two guys with financial resources way above us bought the marketing fluff and neither wanted to give up. In the end, one had just a bit more desire+resources than the other.

[CPK]

3 hours ago, kirispupis said:

@AncientJoe has a coin that's not so far off from this one. https://www.colosseocollection.com/p444364358/hf56ce893#hf56ce893

 

Thanks for posting that link. Now that is a website to make a grown man cry. 😮😄

[AncientJoe]

Thanks for the shout-out. The 3/4ths facing Pantikapaion is indeed a masterpiece: I had the opportunity to hold the British Museum's even-nicer example a few years ago which was a treat.

 

There are four major varieties of Pantikapaion stater with the primary difference being the presence of the wreath around Pan's head. Mine does not have the wreath, showing an uncontained god with a particularly dramatic portrait. 

The art, further enhanced with a 100+ year pedigree to Jameson and the Grand Duke Alexander Mikailovitch collection, makes this one of my favorite coins (and thankfully not as many zeros as the NAC coin):

[ominus1]

55 minutes ago, AncientJoe said:

Thanks for the shout-out. The 3/4ths facing Pantikapaion is indeed a masterpiece: I had the opportunity to hold the British Museum's even-nicer example a few years ago which was a treat.

 

There are four major varieties of Pantikapaion stater with the primary difference being the presence of the wreath around Pan's head. Mine does not have the wreath, showing an uncontained god with a particularly dramatic portrait. 

The art, further enhanced with a 100+ year pedigree to Jameson and the Grand Duke Alexander Mikailovitch collection, makes this one of my favorite coins (and thankfully not as many zeros as the NAC coin):

   WOW!   

[Limes]

And this splendid and unique medaillon hammered for 2.4 mln ex fees. 

https://www.biddr.com/auctions/nac/browse?a=3461&l=3983599