Day 3 of ANA WFoM 2018

Thursday came with me as a nervous wreck. Didn't sleep well, woke up a few times in the early hours and me checking the SB app to check on my watched lots.

Finally time to get up came, ate a crappy breakfast, packed and got to the auction room 30 minutes early. Ran into a veteran dealer who compared notes with me, and finally the action started at 9am with the first lot (a rare Ceolnoth penny) that was also my first lot of interest. I got blown out, as expected, but what was not expected was that it was a sign of things to come. I desperately wanted a coin with a John Whitney Walter provenance, but lot after lot I got shut out. None of his stuff went cheap, but all were at worst decent for the grade and some were really quite nice. @Nap sat next to me and bore witness to my frustration.

After the GB section concluded, Nap and I left for the bourse (it was 10am) where the poor chap had to listen to me grouse about what to do next... We decided to go to CNG again and I ended up buying a Mirabilia Fecit type Anglo-Viking penny that was not listed on their recent CNR:

ANGLO-SAXON, Anglo-Viking (Danish Northumbria). Cnut & Siefred (Sigeferth). Circa 895-920. AR Penny (1.22g, 7h). York mint. Inverted patriarchal cross; C И V T at end of limbs, R E X in quarters / + MIRΛBILΛ FECIT, small cross pattée, with pellet in 1st and 4th quarters. North 511; SCBC 998.EF, very slight die shift. Underlying golden luster on even gray tone.

The unusual reverse legend MIRABILIA FECIT expands to “Sing a song to the Lord for HE HAS DONE MARVELLOUS DEEDS” a direct quote from Psalm 98.1

I also wanted a second penny, which was an upgrade of a type that I already have. I tried to negotiate with CNG on buying my piece at a level that made me comfortable for me to buy theirs, which ended up happening eventually because they wanted to talk to their guy in the London office that is "my guy" at their firm and it took time to talk to him.

ANGLO-SAXON, Kings of Wessex. Ælfred the Great. 871-899. AR Penny (20.5mm, 1.53g, 12h). Two Line/Horizontal type. Canterbury mint; Deorweald, moneyer. Struck circa 880-899. + ELFRED REX D◊R–◊, small cross pattée / DIΛRV/ΛLD M◊ in two lines; three pellets between, pellets above and below. SCBI 20 (Mack), 733; BMC 10; North 638; SCBC 1069. VF, toned, slightly wavy.

My trade-in piece was a solid VF piece, struck with rusted dies and slightly wavy and formerly grade AU50 by PCGS. The CNG piece was graded PCGS AU58 and was in the SB NYINC 2018 auction as lot 20292.

You will notice that CNG grades my new piece "VF" but I grade it as "Near EF" (or better) because it has full luster on beautiful surfaces. Here is the SB lot description, in part:

Attractive old cabinet tone displaying a lovely slated grey with a beautiful blue sheen. Clearly an example which sate for a prolonged period of time undisturbed.

Trueview image of my new purchase:

CNG's image, which makes the coin look nondescript when in fact it is very flashy:

[I decided not to post an image of my trade-in piece out of respect for the new owner.]

Trust me As you can see, it is quite an upgrade.

Concluding the transaction at CNG took so long that I forgot about the ongoing SB auction, where it had passed by the Italian States portion before I remembered! That was quite a shame since I was eying a few choice lots that went cheap (IMO).

That leaves one final lot near the end of the session that I was banking on getting at less than full retail due to bidder fatigue:

SCOTLAND. Mary

1542-1567. S-5425. Fourth Period: 1565-1567 with Henry Darnley. AR Ryal. Dated 1566. NGC AU53. Scottish crowned shield flanked by thistles, Latin titles of Mary and Henry as Queen and King of Scots. Reverse: Tortoise climbing a palm tree, Latin motto on scroll "DAT GLORIA VIRES", (Strengths Give Glory), outer legend: Let God Arise and His Enemies be Scattered. Well-struck with superb design detail for the issue; slightly pebbly textured in portions of the fields. Deeply toned throughout with instances of aqua and gold toning around the raised surfaces. RARE quality for the type.

This coin is actually darker than the image, but still has very nice eye appeal. (Just to confirm my eye, I asked the girl at lot viewing if she also thought the coin was attractive.) Later when talking to a prominent US-based dealer of world material, he remarked that I got this coin cheap. That made me feel good.

This was now around lunch time and I met up with my Italian dealer and friend who told me he's here solely because Italy in August is too boring so he took a vacation and came to the ANA and will spend time in NYC too. We went to a nearby Luke's Lobster Shack where we argued about who pays (I wanted to pay because he's my friend and a guest in my country, but he outmaneuvered me and paid too quickly).

After lunch, we part ways and I wander around the bourse floor chatting up various dealers and getting some cool swags from Legend Numismatics. I also showed the wonderful Mrs. @CoinRaritiesOnline some of my Anglo-Saxon and British material and she gave me a tasty breakfast bar.

5:40pm rolls around and I meet up with my ride home (a light side collector who lives just north of NYC) and he has an authentic home cooked Chinese meal with my wife and me before departing.

In conclusion, I had a successful show: saw old friends, met up with other collectors and friendly industry personages, and got 5 coins that will really enhance my collection (and traded in one coin).

EVP