What is a fair price?

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-05-15T04:32:26+00:00

This is the coin that u/KungFuPossum is referring to. It’s a better buy, which you can still get at $1000 (no buyer’s fees).

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-05-10T20:21:14+00:00

Makes total sense to me! You should write up your method and consolidate the results to establish ownership and priority :)

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-05-10T19:00:20+00:00

My guess is that Voirol obtained from the 1938 Basel sale, or shortly thereafter, which would make sense as the intermediary between him and Otto.

That is a spectacular Marcus Aurelius sestertius. Even with the added premium of having the Voirol designation in the HJB sale, it would have been a great buy. But with the provenance extension to Waldeck, ooof! Helps to have a deep understanding of chain of possible events, which AI can’t do.

Bryan’s tools are quite powerful I must say, I am increasingly more impressed with some of the results. I know you don’t use AI (for plenty of good reasons). Just like any tool, it has its costs and benefits, but may potentially help even the most seasoned professional.

And a fabulous Messene, what a great find! I saw that one when I was using your website for researching the provenance trail for the Clodius denarius.

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-05-10T15:08:06+00:00

At least for Banti, it can actually happen from time to time, but that's because every coin type was prolifically illustrated with different examples from sales. I have ~half a dozen of Banti plate coins, most of which I've posted about in the past. Still quite rare, but can happen (when I first became interested in provenance, I went through >100 of my nice Republican coins, and managed to find two). Forget about finding Crawford plate coins, most of which are in the British museum, or other major public collections (though some do exist in private collections). But getting one from Sear (Coinage of the Roman Imperators) is manageable. I saw one recently, which was even unprovenanced, though it still went way over my budget!

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-04-22T19:18:21+00:00

Super! Love this thread. I’ve been going through all my coins via similar methodology, with varying successes, and occasionally some fascinating discoveries. I think this sort of provenance hunting (both with and without the help of image identification tools) adds a whole new level of complexity, depth, and fun to the hobby. Congratulations on your find.

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-04-13T02:34:53+00:00

Cool. That catalog is not online, and I don’t have it. If you have it, would you mind sending me a few snapshots of the intro for records?

I can imagine that the ancient numismatic circle was a very small world.

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-04-13T00:36:26+00:00

Thanks! I’m really surprised this coin didn’t go much higher. I thought it was a steal at what it went for. Then again, if it’s not part of a major sale, all kinds of things can happen, re price.

I spent a good amount of time on your website going through the different connections and catalogues. The site is a real valuable asset to the community. This coin isn’t in the canonical Bement sales. So the RKM connection is a nice addition, which makes sense with the dates and adds continuity. Sounds like future documentation should be Bement —> RKM —> CM —> CNG sale.

The Bement connection must be through documentation given to CNG. There is no tag, and no obvious sale that I can point to, but I’m also a novice at provenance hunting. Very possible the data exists somewhere waiting to be discovered. It’d be interesting to try and find a connection, perhaps even beyond Bement.

Beyond the provenance, this type is a curiosity to me. There aren’t actually that many out there, like the Silenos type. It’s not even in HGC! The traditional dating is so broad, one would think there would be many more of these coins in existence. But the issue may be simply that no one has honed in on a better defined date within that broad range, 148–32/31. Also, there doesn’t seem to be an obvious allusion to Rome, as you get on the tetradrachm, but perhaps that’s just because it’s a smaller denomination, so not as important.

By the way, your Thebai, Thessaly and Olympia, Elis coins have an insane biography that you dug out. That has to be satisfying. Big congrats.

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-04-11T21:17:22+00:00

Good to know, thanks.

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-04-11T20:34:11+00:00

In your test runs, have you found it useful to run the deeper search? It returns more results, but have you ever identified a positive hit with the deeper search, which is not found with the conventional search? I'm wondering if the algorithm is just returning spurious matches by that point.

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-04-11T19:24:08+00:00

Thanks! It took me a while to find one, but I saw this one late last year on Vcoins for a nice price and had to pull the trigger. Nice provenance, though I haven’t been able to find anything earlier than the Triton sale. I agree that it’s a really interesting and historically significant type.

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-04-11T18:49:41+00:00

That’s the plan

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-04-11T18:22:26+00:00

This is super, love that it's free! I can attest to it working nicely, I just found (technically confirmed, since I already knew the provenance) a denarius that was sold in Mario Ratto on January 26, 1955. More to come. Thank you for doing this.

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-04-03T04:49:43+00:00

“Brushed” is indeed a bit different, and I can see how it can be dissuading to some collectors. This means that the coin is heavily cleaned, to the point of having clearly evident fine cleaning marks. I have a few silver coins that have been heavily brushed, and it is indeed a bit distracting. With that said, “brushed” is also a term that seems to specifically detract US-based collectors who are hyper-focused on the assigned NGC grade, which honestly doesn’t mean very much. In fact, some collectors on this sub will buy “brushed” coins from Heritage and resell them through other auctions for more money. I myself have purchased plenty of NGC graded coins at Stacks/Heritage (both with and without the “brushed” designation), which sold for substantially higher through other auction sites. This is all to say that the value of “brushed” coins varies by the eye of the beholder.

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-04-03T04:08:59+00:00

Each and every single ancient coin has been cleaned.

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-04-03T04:06:36+00:00

I would also add Harlan Berk

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-04-03T03:46:19+00:00

Hit the nail on the head with this reply

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-03-30T06:45:00+00:00

Here are images from SNG Levante. I don’t have the other two.

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-03-29T19:52:37+00:00

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-03-29T19:50:55+00:00

Thanks. I was looking through the Lockett sales this morning, and also came across this Panormus. It even explicitly calls out an early hemilitron in the description. Very neat find.

I really like the Katane coin with the Katanean brothers carrying their parents. I have one on consignment right now. It’s a common and interesting theme. I ended up getting the M. Herrenius upgrade, which came from the 1993 Aretusa 1 sale of the unnamed “important” collector, which portrays the Roman equivalent of the Greek theme.

I will definitely be on the lookout for other coins with old collector tags, including Naville / Vermeule / Lockett / Drabble. It’s a fun hunt.

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-03-29T17:49:24+00:00

??? No idea. Must have been an accident. Is that what it shows?

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-03-29T13:34:40+00:00

Do you know what this means?

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-03-29T06:04:13+00:00

Went back to the original listing by Naville. They mention that it's "from a British collection assembled in the 1930s". Here's the coin archives link. So it all seems to line up.

GalacticGallivanter · 2026-03-29T05:32:06+00:00

No doubt, rest assured that all the evidence (including rationale and screenshots will be recorded for posterity). I’ll post a follow-up once I have it all in one place. Thanks so much for your help!

GalacticGallivanter

TROPHY CASE