Attica, Aegina Stater

I've been busy trying to track down the provenience of this coin. I bought it from Ancients Numismatics in Poland, who at first said they did not think this was an ex-CNG coin. I persisted and they provided the name of who they bought it from, PalmyraHeritage Coins. When I contact Palmyra, the owner said he bought it from CNG earlier this year. He suggested I contact CNG to see if they would provide any information regarding previous owners. Is this ownership history important to keep on coins when it is available?

If you have gone to the trouble to find out then I would go to the trouble of recording it.

Is it important? I don't know but it is certainly interesting...particularly if you can find out where it was dug up and when. I certainly would like to know where and how my coins were discovered and it seems that when a coin is from a particular hoard sellers seem to like to advertise that fact and charge a little extra.

Also as the quantity of fakes increase this information is good for proving that you have a genuine item...maybe not so important at the moment but with the increase in 3D printing technology maybe important in the future.

I would strongly support this comment. I think in this day and age coins with known provenance will be worth mmore than those of unknown sales history. I wish Auction houses and dealers would be more open about naming sources ( not just for coins from important collections) Being able to know the ownership history completes the story behind the coin. I started recording on my collections spreadsheet where and when I obtained the coin last year.......I really wish I had done from the day I started collecting.

I agree. I value knowing that my coin once belonged to another collector who selected it individually and made it part of his collection but all I have is the name of the dealer/person that sold the coin to me in over 90% of the cases. Unless a coin was from a special collection like Kelley/Spink or Bickford-Smith/CNG or aquired by private dealing (I traded for it with Randy) all I have is a list of agents. I also would love to know how many of my coins have done time in another collection rather than being straight out of the ground. Occasionally we get information (like ex Brignorth Hoard 2007) that shows the coin was new to the trade. In 1974, I sold most of my collection and have never since seen a single one of those coins (I have photos and/or aluminum foil pressings that would make them identifiable). I wonder how many hands they have passed through in those years? If you bought a coin from Joel Malter in the mid 70's, you may have one. Unlikely.

"(I have photos and/or aluminum foil pressings that would make them identifiable)."
That's a very interesting way to record ownership--that would prove the coin is in your possession.

Frequently CNG does list coins as from a specific collection but I'm sure more of their coins are consigned by investors rather than collectors. For example if you found a sleeper in your uncleaned coins that was worth a thousand dollars, you might consign it with the idea of spending the proceeds on other coins more in keeping with your collection. Small dealers that get a coin too good for their low end clientele can consign to CNG realizing that someone will pay them more than they would pay a small time dealer. Just because they have a coin does not mean it was ever loved as part of a collection but may have been shuttling back and forth among dealers and investors ever of the hope of not being stuck paying too much for it and not finding someone willing to pay even more. If you look at CNG back catalogs you will see the same exact coin sometimes shows up more than once. I do wonder how many coins they sell have not sold previously for 50 years and how many sold several times last year.