Was This A Good Buy?

Thanks Jwharper for your reply.
I did really like the look of it, but had to think with my wallet not heart.
This gives me a really good way of finding whats a good price to pay, and what to look for.....Thank you.
I will keep my eyes peeled now....

Lee.

Small world - I was watching the same coin, I also didn't bid.

What needs to be stated about the above coin is that its a Diocletian Follis rather than the more common Antoninianus. This means its around 30mm and 10 grams as opposed to 20mm and 4 grams (all very approx measurements as they vary (and shrink over time) quite a bit). Looking at the ebay listing it states 8.65g and 27mm. I dont know if the coin is considered 'rare' but I doubt it.

These bigger coins will always pull a higher price, a good Diocletian Antoninianus might cost you £10 and £20 for a very nice one whereas a good Follis will cost about £20 and a very nice one perhaps £40. As soon as silvering is included both prices will go up. There are 'By It Nows' on ebay for coins not as nice as the one above for £80+.

Did you miss out on a bargain? No. You set a price and you stuck to it, perhaps the most important rule when buying coins . Had you got it for £15 it would have been a good buy, £20 reasonable, even £30 would not have been a rip-off but it would have been 'all its money' IMHO in an auction situation. As already stated BINs will have these coins at £50-100.

Sit tight and wait for a bargain would be my advice, or look more at the smaller coins where £20 will go a lot further.

Here is a page on Dougs site that will explain coin sizes a bit:

Roman Imperial Coin Denominations

No probs - 'When in doubt, pull out' is the best strategy on ebay. There will always be another coin but you can only spend your money once!

I'm tight as a ducks butt when it comes to ebay, eventually you will get what you want for the price you want

Doug, there are over 4000 GENIO POPVLI ROMANI Follis coin 'varieties', over 800 for Diocletian alone. All, I believe produced in about a 20 years from the end of the late 3rd century.

As you have already stated quite strongly in other threads, and most of us already knew, RIC rarity ratings are hugely inaccurate and almost not worth the bother of looking up. I collect a few varieties of the above coin and although RIC states that they are common my experience is they are far from this.

The chances of this coin being a 'rare or interesting' variety were tiny at best, the chances of anyone outside the most obsessive collectors caring that it was 'rare or interesting' even less again.

Everybody collects for different reasons, the vast majority of Roman coins are bought by people who aren't 'in the know' and want them for the history, the art, the eye appeal or just for the shear heck of it.

You might think people are crazy for buying a coin because they 'like the look of it' and do so for no other reason and with no other investigation. I think people are crazy not to do this.

Most of the people you will encounter on this forum are are not classical numismatists (thank god - they also dont possess the superiority complexes associated with the former) they love the coins for the history, the beauty and joy of owning and sharing something that links them to the past.

Did you consider this before you commented?

I too am a member of that forum - I also rarely post for the same reason, its a shame as the knowledge is incredible on it, truly, almost as incredible as the egos.

This is my hobby and I want to enjoy it, I also want other people to enjoy it in an atmosphere that reflects the 'Coin Community Family' name. This forum is where I can do that the best. 'Points scoring', put-downs and belittling have a place on the internet but its not here, we all know a forum where thats the norm and thats where it should stay.

Just say to your wife 'Honey - I want 500 coins but I'll only ever want 1 women' works every time, she'll prob even buy you a coin as a reward!

Thanks honey

One final comment before I stop hijacking cosmokramers post.

The attitudes displayed on that forum puzzle me a lot. That forum only exists because the shop its attached to no doubt pays to host it. Its a good sales strategy to have discussion and 'experts' floating around as this will increase interest and therefore trade. Whatever we can say about many of the members they are knowledgeable.

I also find their fakes database a very valuable asset and uploaded over 100 reports myself last month alone. I know of one of the administrators through his involvement here and he has always been friendly and helpful. The fakes administrator is a respected published author.

The shop too is excellent - I only started buying from them last month but they were faultless and friendly and I will use them again. It seems very responsibly ran, I particularly like the way fake reports are encouraged. Any seller who is happy to have 10,000 fake reports hosted on his site must be so confident in his own coins that I need never doubt a single one!

What I dont understand is why the current terrible attitude towards newcomers and beginners, even just 'non-experts' is tolerated. I lurked on that board for a long, long time before I posted as I felt uncomfortable having read some of the past thread replies and winced at some of the comments. I wonder how many newcomers and potential customers have been shot down in flames after their first post and never returned to spend money.

Its like having a great shop with reasonably priced items but allowing 100 idiots to stand at the front door and scare away all your potential new customers - It makes little business sense which is a shame as I really do like the spirit in which the shop is ran.

OK, rant over, back to discussion about cosmokramers 'almost buy'