eBay has its place sometimes - Carthage pickups

[ela126]

There’s more opinions about buying off eBay than there is stars in the sky..

I will say though, being somewhat of a specialist in Byzantine, there are some very worthwhile coins to pop up from time to time, and I’m not just referring to those questionable pieces from the Cyprus guy who’s been selling like wildfire.

as I’ve said before, collecting for me is about the hunt almost as much as it is about the coin. I do love my coins and look at them daily, but boy do I love looking at coins online (and coins posted here).

In a span of 18 hours I managed to get, what I believe are 2 very rare pieces from Carthage. Both from Justin II’s reign, and both, to my understanding, 1 year issues.

last nights purchase was this SB 397. What makes it special, beyond being a Deca from Carthage, is on the left of the reverse, the coin has PR for Primo! Year 1 !

What makes this one extra exciting is the price, 14 dollars (plus 10 shipping From Canada) 

while the coin is in decent shape, I hope to clean up a little on the right side of the reverse, overall a great coin.

and maybe this next one outdoes it. I’ve been aware of this Carthage Piece for a while, seeing the decas and half follis often enough. I saw the worn obverse, and with a BIN of 75 (just listed), figured it was a well centered but worn half follis. Then I clicked on the picture… M!!!

now, I do appreciate it’s a well worn example, but acsearch only comes up with 5-6 examples.. whew I’ll take it. Coin nicely had a 28-29mm measurement but no weight, which that diameter matches CNG examples, so I immediately purchased it. I hope to clean it up a little, although obviously understand nothing is improving for the details in the bust.

All in all I’d say I’ve gotten 10 nice pieces at great prices on eBay over the last 3 years. Doesn’t sound like a high hit rate, but all the browsing has been enjoyable so I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

 

please post any of your great eBay wins (or other auctions that flew under radar)

[Hrefn]

I was not sure what I was seeing when I discovered this coin on eBay about ten years ago.   The seller had little information to provide.  It had been gilded and was certainly ex-jewelry, which suggested to me it was more likely to be authentic than not, because it would be a bizarre forger who would fake such a very obscure coin like this to make a cheap necklace. 

Armed with this, perhaps dubious, insight I bid on the coin, and when the price ran up toward the conclusion of the auction I raised my bid all the way to $200, and won the coin for just under this.

 
As the tag says, this is a penny of the last Carolingian king of East Francia.  My satisfaction with the purchase was considerably increased in 2015 when I saw CNG auctioned another example, not ex-jewelry but with a significant chip missing, for $1000.

ARGENTINA CIVITAS, the slightly garbled mint name, comes from the Gaulish description of Strasbourg as the silver or treasure fort.  

[ela126]

Another “gem” to me. Just bought for 33 shipped off eBay. Seller told me they’ve had it for 16 years. Wonderful coin as it is but it has so much potential to clean. Excited to share the finished product a few weeks from now.

Justinian - Deca - Ravenna - sb 326

[Celator]

I found this mis identified on ebay.

[ela126]

7 hours ago, Celator said:

I found this mis identified on ebay.

ohh, is that a Nicephorus Basilicus?!

[Celator]

8 hours ago, ela126 said:

ohh, is that a Nicephorus Basilicus?!

Yes class N, only one other bidder noticed it. 

[Alegandron]

I have posted this before.  

I have several Carthage EMPIRE coins, but only one Roman Empire - Carthage mint coin...  Otherwise, I probly have 60-70 Carthage Empire coins, all fabrics that they minted.

"One of my Daughters and her Family went out on a limb and got me an Ancient Coin for Xmas. She had no clue what to get me, she just surprised me.

Well, they did very well! I collect Carthage EMPIRE coins, but I have never acquired a ROMAN Empire CARTHAGE mint coin... I am very excited about this, so I will probly slot it in with my Carthage Empire coins."




Roman Imperial
Galerius
299-303 CE
AE Follis 28mm 9.9g
CARTHAGE mint
O: MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES (Large Head type)
R: Cartago holding fruit SALVIS AGG ET CAESS FEL KART
RIC VI 32b Sear 14411

 

[CaveBear2]

Talking about eBay, by the end of 2023 - begining of 2024, a german seller sold an entire byzantine collection on eBay, mostly solidus and a few silver and electrum issues.

I never asked from where they came (I suspect it was inheritance). The seller had no idea about the pedigree of those coins except for some of them that came with a certificate of authenticity from Ma-shop.

I remember some pretty good deal (sorry no pictures) :

* a solidus of Justin & Justinian (ex-iNumis, ex-CNG (Triton), ex-Harlan Berk) sold for 1600€  (Harlan sold it for around ~3500€);

* a solidus of Justin (probably GEM MS if it was graded) sold for... 420€ (a coin from the same dies and strike quality was sold by NAC for 1000CHF a few years ago, was slabbed and sold this year by Heritage for around a grand);

* a "fine style" solidus of Constantine IV sold for 500€ (ex: Numismatik Naumman, hammer 900€);

* a well struck Hyperpyron of John II Comnenus sold for 400€;

And a ton of other coins that sold weeeeell below their usual market price. I wish I could see such bargains again 😭, it was only a few months ago but it feels like eternity now.

 

I also saw on eBay a slabbed follis of Anastasius, basic NGC slab, XF, "light" smoothing, no more info', no pedigree. Actually, it was lot n°900 of Triton XXVI being sold for ~1/3rd of the hammer price.

I open a little parenthesis here (more like a rant) :

Later, I realised that coin was first sold at Leu Web Auction 18 in December 21 along with several other Anastasius follis, all those follis were then smoothed, all of them where later sold by CNG during various feature auctions as part of the Iconodule collection, all of them got ridiculously high hammer price (for the type), CNG didn't mention the smoothing for any of them. As a result, I took a closer look at the Iconodule collection and, dear me, there is a quite a number of smoothed / tooled coins in there, sellers tend to omit those  "details" 😒.

[ela126]

9 hours ago, CaveBear2 said:

Talking about eBay, by the end of 2023 - begining of 2024, a german seller sold an entire byzantine collection on eBay, mostly solidus and a few silver and electrum issues.

I never asked from where they came (I suspect it was inheritance). The seller had no idea about the pedigree of those coins except for some of them that came with a certificate of authenticity from Ma-shop.

I remember some pretty good deal (sorry no pictures) :

* a solidus of Justin & Justinian (ex-iNumis, ex-CNG (Triton), ex-Harlan Berk) sold for 1600€  (Harlan sold it for around ~3500€);

* a solidus of Justin (probably GEM MS if it was graded) sold for... 420€ (a coin from the same dies and strike quality was sold by NAC for 1000CHF a few years ago, was slabbed and sold this year by Heritage for around a grand);

* a "fine style" solidus of Constantine IV sold for 500€ (ex: Numismatik Naumman, hammer 900€);

* a well struck Hyperpyron of John II Comnenus sold for 400€;

And a ton of other coins that sold weeeeell below their usual market price. I wish I could see such bargains again 😭, it was only a few months ago but it feels like eternity now.

 

I also saw on eBay a slabbed follis of Anastasius, basic NGC slab, XF, "light" smoothing, no more info', no pedigree. Actually, it was lot n°900 of Triton XXVI being sold for ~1/3rd of the hammer price.

I open a little parenthesis here (more like a rant) :

Later, I realised that coin was first sold at Leu Web Auction 18 in December 21 along with several other Anastasius follis, all those follis were then smoothed, all of them where later sold by CNG during various feature auctions as part of the Iconodule collection, all of them got ridiculously high hammer price (for the type), CNG didn't mention the smoothing for any of them. As a result, I took a closer look at the Iconodule collection and, dear me, there is a quite a number of smoothed / tooled coins in there, sellers tend to omit those  "details" 😒.

Whew, those sound amazing! Yes, to me that sounds like an inheritance with no better idea than to get them on ebay. The joke of "sell them for what you told your wife you paid" situation. I also recently purchased the full 9 book set of DOC on ebay from a brother of a deceased collector. The price was so low Mike G. of CNG commented it was going for a song, seeing that, i took my opportunity to purchase it.

Regarding the smoothing. As a coin cleaner (i've cleaned the 3 coins i posted in this post), encrustrations and other corrosions growths on otherwise good coins i think are ok to remove. I know this is a continuous discussion, but if its removing something unorginal to the coin, i think thats ok. As long as you're not using a polishing/grinding wheel in the field i think its ok. 

[MrMonkeySwag96]

My favorite purchases from eBay:

 

 

Edited August 31 by MrMonkeySwag96