Augustus Provident Variant?

Of course I wouldn't know and you have said that you've purchased a few really expensive coins before in another post. But then again, I didn't say that you would pay that price but I am sure others might.

Yeah, I think it is good to use to see what the market is, just like I've been doing on ebay. But I haven't really asked anyone for a discount yet. I wouldn't mind getting a few tips on how to find decent coins for the price and how to negotiate with some of these sellers.

I know I could do it verbally, like I went into a coin shop and purchased about 30 Indian Head cents. They wanted $1.40 and I asked if I could get them for $1 and they agreed. Still better than online for avoiding S&H and you can cherrypick out of a bin.

Thanks for all the tips. I appreciate it.

Yes, I have been using the NFSL. I ran into a fake seller already and of course I avoided it. I found it suspicious that this seller was pumping out a great deal of silver and popular denarius coins. I couldn't really tell that they were fake, honestly. I just listened to the NFSL. Although, that list has all the names but there is not a reason for all of them, why or what reason people think they were fakes or retooled.

I wonder how reliable the shop is at FORVM. The prices don't seem to follow any logical pattern as I mentioned in another post just like other places. Prices seem higher on some lower quality coins and one that was cheaper seemed to be better quality for a similar obverse and reverse type. Some prices seem really high too.

Also, I found a nice coin for about $4.50 and I really liked it but about 20% of the bottom of the coin was gone. It was a Constantine The Great coin with a quadriga and a hand taking Constantine into heaven. Too bad though, while I was thinking about it, it was purchased and I lost it. Oh well. lol

I must have looked through 20 pages of coins on Forum, and I had the same impression--they are targeting a higher-end market. Their low-mid range doesn't seem as good a value as the other sellers you recommended--or Civitas or Ephesus on vcoins.

wow that is a nice coin.

I suggest working hard on being able to negotiate from an intelligent position. A dealer is much more likely to respond to an offer when he knows that you know he is asking too much for the coin and that he will be lucky to sell it. Know which coins are going to be easy sales and which could have or have lingered in stock for years with no one showing any interest. It is a waste of time to negotiate on a popular coin that will be snapped up by a dozen other collectors if you let it go. I rarely negotiate for coins because I don't waste my time on coins I don't want bad enough to pay over market for a generic coin. I usually see something I want in a coin that means something to me and have even had the honor of a dealer (soon out of business) so worried what I saw in a coin that he refused to sell it to me. Some/many (the better) dealers sell based on what they had to pay for the coin rather than trying to gouge every cent they can for each coin. They may think they have more to gain out of making a return, satisfied customer than they do getting $11 for a $10 coin. There are a couple dealers out there that each have supplied me with over 10% of my total collection and others that have sold me exactly one coin with only a lottery winners chance of ever selling another.

Become a regular customer of someone you trust. Milk their brain for information and reward them with buying things priced fairly without beating them up over a couple dollars every time. Don't become known as someone who buys indiscriminately (a place they can dump junk at high prices) but as someone they hope will revisit them again and again each time leaving a small profit. After a while you will be sufficiently schooled in the process that you might venture off the porch and risk buying from ebay unknowns and yard sales (still checking that fake sellers list!).

I've posted this coin before on other venues where some of you also play but it may serve a purpose here. I paid the seller exactly 35% of his original ebay asking price. 98% for you would say I overpaid but I wanted the coin enough to go 35% of an unreasonable/ridiculous price. Other recent purchases were made at under 50% of what I would have paid (but didn't have to because that is the way auctions work). Buy what you want; pay what you will. You will enjoy the hobby more that way.

The NFSL is kinda like wikipedia in a way. It is added to by collectors who have either purchased a fake from a particular seller or they have noticed a seller with an inventory loaded with fakes. Selling one or two fakes by a dealer does not automatically put them on this list. In fact, many reputable dealers will be glad to refund your money in order to maintain their reputation. It takes a lot of fakes being sold by a single dealer before they are added to that list. I think it is policed fairly well and it's not that easy just to add a seller because of one or two bad coins.

The biggest problem with the list is that once a seller knows they have been added to that list, they just move on and start selling again under another identity. Some sellers will mix in genuine coins with the fakes so that it takes longer to identify them as sellers who should be on the NFSL. Bobbyhelmet and I found one such dealer not long ago named coinpouch. He had genuine coins mixed in with very good fakes. In fact, their were disagreements among the experts about various coins being genuine or not.




We all have our own buying strategies. I have lived overseas for a good portion of my adult life where haggling is the normal way of doing business. I enjoy the game, my wife hates it. I will haggle whenever and wherever I think it is possible. In many countries, it is not only expected but you are considered a fool if you don't. Case in point: I have a very nice Septimius Severus Denarius the Spanish seller had listed for $130 or best offer. After looking around to get my bearings on this coin, I made an offer of 60% or $80. Without hesitation, it was accepted (which makes me think I could have offered less). This is a seller I routinely deal with and I know he expects it of me. Here is a picture of the coin:






Attribution: Septimius Severus. AD 193-211. AR Denarius 3.5g. Rome mint. Struck AD 204. Laureate head right / Dea Caelestis riding lion right, head right, holding thunderbolt and scepter; below, water gushing right from rocks

Haggling is an interesting concept, and in the context of Europe and the Romans, has anyone lived where haggling is the norm? I always think about historical legacy and the origin of things such as haggling. Culturally, I have the exact opposite experience--haggling would be a major faux pas, where it's customary to set a "fair price", and not quibble about it.

Good work JW - at 38% of the original price you can still be happy with the coin regardless of the tooling.

I usually only buy in auctions but if I want to buy set price items I always try to buy a few at a time and negotiate a discount, the worst that can happen is the seller says 'no'.