“I have some old coins I want to sell”.
DNADave
Posts: 7,265 ✭✭✭✭✭
You gotta love it when you get a cold call followed up with some pictures. Usually I can tell about what I’m getting into with a couple of decent pictures but this seller is giving me some homework.
I think I see India and ancients in there.
Anyone else crazy enough to buy from the public?
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I have bought from the public but only when I can see the coins in hand.
I always bring a loop and magnet with me for checking.
Low value Roman at the top.
Several of those. I have them in hand now. The Athena owls look fake to me.
I’m not sure about the Saudi or Indian stuff.
The Roman stuff is Constantinian, Arcadius etc bronze, and not in good condition. A few dollars each. Yes the owls and the scarabs look fake. I'm not sure about the large bronzes - they look like Byzantine but in poor shape (which is difficult for Byzantine!). The rest is probably real but very low value. Some look like they have bronze disease. The large silver bottom right is Ottoman.
This has all the hallmarks of a collector or small-time coin dealer's "too hard basket". No other reason why they'd all be mixed up together, with no attempt at identification.
Yes, some are fake - one not yet mentioned, the silvery-white powdery one in the middle is a very bad fake Alexander tetradrachm. Some are probably too far gone to ever be able to fully identify. Probably about half should be fully identifiable, including the big silver ones at the bottom, which are Ottoman Turkish.
As for the OP's question: I don't normally buy bulk lots of unidentified coins direct from the public. But I do volunteer as "the coin guy" for a missionary charity that receives donated coin collections, so I do often get the chance to pick through and try to on-sell coin lots resembling this one. However, I have the luxury of time - something a cold-called dealer does not have, when they have to make an offer for such a cache on the spot.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Meditations"
Apparently I have been awarded one DPOTD.
To be fair, only one or two might be difficult to identify. The Roman coins even seem to have their mintmarks. Whether it's worth it is another question.
Seller decided not to sell as someone told her she was “being robbed”
My offer was $100 and learned she was wanting $12,000
So yea I was a little low. Lol
Wow. Lucky escape! I wouldn't have offered $10.