How I've sold my entire Ionian collection, top pop between 2007 and still now, and in 1999-2005
SYRACUSIAN
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I've recently sold my entire Ionian collection. It was the finest in existence, and yet all things do their round and a certain moment comes that the owner decides that he has to let them go. Here's what triggered the sale and how it was executed.
Two years ago, I've sold the four 1819-1820 large copper proof coins and the very rare valuable and made in Corfu 1821 quarter obol, struck on other copper coins, a VF35 among the finest in existence. I got 10K for those 5 coins, I should have made a better deal, getting 12-13K, but the seller had just bought the previous hour litterally, (he comes from out of town) another Ionian of similar caliber and ate away 2000-2500 euros in our deal at my office, for a net total down to 10K euros. The little quarter was easily worth 4K but you need to find the right buyer, or a dealer who knows a few and get used to the fact that this info, plus down payment in full, plus top retail prices on the 4 others is not a free service.
Then, I've recently sold all the 1834-1862 set, only two denominations, both 16mm, one in copper -one lepton- worth 40% of a British farthing and the silver 30 lepta, worth and looking a lot like a British 3d. These went to a dealer for full retail, containing four top pops, two of which never to fear losing that spot, the other two at 70% chances. These went for 20000 euros, a total of 13 coins, of which 3 silver and one copper were worth 16500 euros already by themselves (although it's very hard to price a top pop MS67 with second finest an MS64....)
In the 10 years that I bought Gus Pappas' Ionian collection (his other, mainland Greek super complete and choice-gem BU material, all fresh, never before in the market for 40 years, went to other collectors and 4-5 tough gems to me, as gifts and at deals in between us, first or second hand. Ten years later I was glad to see my collection being sold to a wealthy and discerning collector as a complete group and intact.
I did however ended up with two dupes, the 1834 30L PCGS MS62 and a one lepton copper 1853 MS63BN .Already no reserve on ebay, closes EARLY SUNDAY AM for the US, it had been improved along with several other copper one lepton, by an MS64 (all PCGS) so I've kept this and a 1853 one lepton copper PCGS MS63BN ,medal alignement,( improved by a lovely MS64RB), also no reserve this week on ebay.
Some pictures.
Ionian 30L 1857, one of two key dates, PCGS MS67 ,top pop with a 64 as second
Ionian 30L 1848, the other key date, unique top pop, ex Spink auction 1979, No 5, ex- Dimitri Loulakakis . PCGS MS65.
This coin belonged to legendary Greek dealer in London, Dimitri Loulakakis till 1979. He owned and operated Chelsea coins and before his death and since Noble acquired Baldwin's he worked as a manager or other high level Badwin's level, with his own lovely desk at the basement, half independent as usual, an Arsenal member of board of directors ,and mostly a cigar smoker, even at shows till late 2000-2010 when he had to undergo a bypass operation that slowed him down considerably (he was also crazy for p....y) and was the "go to" guy for everything Greek and beyond.
Then this 1848 30L PCGS MS65 lovely coin went to Gus Pappas ,who in 1979 travelled all the way from Indiana to London and this was the only lot that he bought in this landmark sale,Spink no 5, 1979, still to this date the finest and most complete Greek collection to cross the auction block, till 2007 when he sold it to me and I had it till 3 weeks ago.Before that I had the Pittman example, a PCGS MS62, rather a good EF in British grading, but J.J. Pittman certainly got points for pedigree on that one. Still, it's so rare, that it too found a good home since.
1848 copper lepton MS65BN, top pop,almost equally tough with the silver of the same date.
And the 1851 30L, the only one that was cleaned and that I've improved with a replacement, a purchase from Numismatica Genevensis that later graded PCGS MS66 and became a top pop itself, imaged by Mark Goodman.
Finally I kept the two most common dates that wouldn't have contributed above $700 and decided to keep them. The copper lepton 1862 PCGS MS65RD, it too a top pop, is ENTIRELY RED, nicely captured by Mark Goodman, and the 1862 30L a PCGS MS66 that had been firstly butchered and its Trueview number correspond to its old 64 grade, not its current 66 (I really thought it had a chance at 67, these are 16 mm coins!)
And this high end MS66 from 1862 that completes my 1834-1862 type set.
So there you have it. I'm still managing my core Greek collection with gem coins from 1828 to 1930, and BU sets after that with few graded exceptions, plus the yearly euro blisters some commemorative Greek gold 1985-2000 and with only a couple of Ionians to show for my now sold collection. And a banknote collection that might have outgrown the coins in value, I have yet to write them down and catalogue everything. I hope that it wasn't a total bore.
(edited several times, and it's still too long, I hope that you like the pics at least)
Comments
What an amazing collection. Thank you for sharing the history behind the coins. It was a worthy read.
8 Reales Madness Collection
Thank you Roman. I had completely different intentions when I posted it, basically give the link to the ebay auctions at the BST, and then I remembered that duruing my 14 years in CU, I must have sold over a dozen raw or slabbed 1862 copper lepta (like the 65RD that I posted, only usually 65RB or similar grade raw) as well as several 1862 30 lepta, a few people were aware that my Ionian collection was probably the finest in existence since its merger with Gus Pappas' set but the Ionian coins are actually quite esoteric, collected by a very small percentage of Greek collectors by date, so I think that I chose the right time to sell them, in my case to two big dealers , and avoid the treacherous route of aucxtions, getting the cash straight away and moving my collection to a different directon than it used to be 10 years ago, facing both the financial crisis that often makes me sell coins to generate new cash for newps, as well a the creation of a now gigantic paper money set of which I'm very proud and generally more safe from an investment point of view, now that I know that my daughter will inherit the proceeds of the sale as well as a proof British sovereign set of her birthyear (2011) and a set of farthings from 1917 to 1956, all PCGS graded 64rb to 66RD (she's half English, I happened to win a farthing from Teletrade the very same day that she was born, so I've built that farthing set that at the time was not making sense to encapsulate but now it does) and I'm happy with my new decisions and changes.
myEbay
DPOTD 3
Great read and photos. Thanks
Amazing collection! Beautiful coins and your narrative provides great insight on this area of collecting. Thank you very much for sharing this!
Great coins and thanks for sharing the story behind them
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Thank you for posting these beautiful coins.