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 Replies: 13 / Views: 1,998 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
616 Posts |
I'm down to 2 coins for my 12 Caesar's, and one of them is Otho. Of course.  There aren't many options for him on Vcoins and they're way overpriced. I've been watching Numisbids for one to come up in a European auction but notice that things have really slackened off on that continent. There doesn't seem to be many auctions this spring as there were earlier in the year. I don't recall this happening in past years, but then again, I was busy chasing down more coins. Is it my perception or has the market dried up some? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7066 Posts |
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Is it my perception or has the market dried up some? It has, a bit, for my collecting area, it seems. I've been wanting to make some purchases but it's been slim pickins' for the rarer Eastern stuff I'm after - which means tough competition when some things do appear. I share your frustration. |
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
The market does appear to have dried up which has cause even the lower grade coins that are in the market to double and triple in price.
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Valued Member
Canada
266 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
616 Posts |
Arnoldoe
Thanks for the sixbid link. I should probably use that more. I notice that most of the bids are high already, likely due to pent up demand.
Egad.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
949 Posts |
Quote:
I'm down to 2 coins for my 12 Caesar's, and one of them is Otho. Of course.
I've been watching Numisbids for one to come up in a European auction
I think I'm trying to do the same thing with my 12 Ceasars, and have been pursuing Otho as one of the last as well. My recent experience is a bit different however. Until about two weeks ago I had never bid in one of the European sales; neither online nor through an agent. Direct purchase I have done many times over, but the international bidding scene was not known to me until BobL mentioned the SixBid bidding service in another post on the list. I did a search like the one arnoldoe showed us, with almost identical results. Plenty to choose from, I thought. So I signed on with two bidding services, and three auction houses. But the rules of the game were not well explained. Prior to one of the sales of interest I placed "pre-bids" in that sale via the service "biddr." For an Otho I placed the start bid as posted, then I posted a "pre-bid" that was a few advances above that. On the day of the sale I logged in with the house and was given a bidder number. When the Otho came up I held off on live bidding, lest it be against myself. To my horror I saw the lot sell for less than my high bid, but it was not to me. I figured/hoped that the house identified "me" with the latest bidder number, and probably did not connect "me" with the ID I had through biddr. However, about 48 hours after the sale I got my results from biddr and it did not list me as winner for that coin either. However it did show my win on another lot for which I had bid live through the house. That got me worried. I tried contacting the house and was connected to an agent who was trying to handle another sale for the company at the same time. Via email I left my description of the mess in his hands and decided to write it off. At that point I had passed on a lesser grade example in another sale that had sold for more, and was feeling pretty glum about "what might have been." What the heck, I decided to use the other bid service to bid on another example in a house whose sale has not yet taken place. That evening I got confirmation that at the moment I am high bidder for that one. This morning I tried again to speak to someone at house number one (never say die!) but no one answered. However, about noon today I got an invoice from house number one, and the Otho I really wanted had indeed sold to me AT THE START BID. Oh me of little faith! So at the moment I am about to send off payment for the one and have a good bid out for another. Aaarrrrgh! Ah well, maybe jskirwin will rescue me? BTW what is the other emperor you need for completion? If the Otho I just bought comes through as I hope, I will still need Claudius and Caligula in silver (have them in bronze for now). At any rate, I am still not sure how to take control of the number of bidder IDs I have with a house if I use a service and also register for live bidding. If my pre-bids don't work I need to bid live, but without bidding against myself. Is ther any way to find out the bidder ID the service has given to the house in your name? What do you guys do? |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1269 Posts |
@lrbguy
Congrats on picking up an Otho!
I had a similar experience on a live bidding site of a European auction house. What I do now is forget the pre-bids and bid live, either on the auction house site or biddr. I go through sixbid and numisbids, identify my targets and then go to biddr and find out if the auction is listed. If it is not then I go to the auction house site and make sure I am registered for the upcoming auction.
Btw, do not forget to check out numisbids. They have many auctions in common with sixbid, but there are some that are not.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
616 Posts |
IRBguy
I've hit the Europeans auctions several times, but I always bid live and never messed with the pre-bid stuff. I use a spreadsheet to calculate the buyer's premium, shipping, and currency xchange fees - and man does it add up.
It's a tough market over there, that's for sure.
I'm trying to walk that thin line between slug and high-dollar on the Otho. I've budgeted $300 on him, but so far nothing comes close. (edit: I am wiling to stretch but within limits).
Vitellius. He's easy and I already have a candidate on VCoins. I've got Claudius and Caligula in bronze. Can't afford to go silver on those boys just yet.
Edited by jskirwin
03/27/2017 5:50 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6130 Posts |
What exactly should an Otho denarius be "worth"? He is also on my list, but I have some other big game before I feel like he's a "must". Dr. Lanz listed one on ebay a couple weeks ago. Good portrait but rough surfaces. I was actually in the lead ("checklist" order goes out the window with no reserve auctions) until the last 5 seconds, then the bid shot up $200+ over my max bid. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
616 Posts |
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What exactly should an Otho denarius be "worth"? He is also on my list, but I have some other big game before I feel like he's a "must". CoinArchives lists most of them going into the thousands, but these are high quality specimens. I'm looking mostly at the other end, so $300-400 range seems reasonable for a recognizable obverse. But CoinArchives doesn't include BP, so when you add 20% to those figures that price range makes me wish that Suetonius had forgotten the dude. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
949 Posts |
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What exactly should an Otho denarius be "worth"? First you have to know what you are seeking. Mainly, what grade. Then you do a search to find out what examples in that grade tend to sell for. That gives you a basis to tell what an Otho (or any other coin) is worth to YOU. With that in mind you go for it. I wanted an example that would fit in with the rest of the set I have based on grade and type (portrait denarii). I saw suitable examples sell at CNG for about $800 and up. So $800 became a benchmark for me. If I could do that well for $800 I would feel okay. And If I could improve on that, up in grade or down in price, so much the better. The coin for which I was invoiced has full legends on both sides, no defects and only moderate wear. It was worth what I paid and then some, based on what I have seen otherwise. The alternative coin has a strong portrait, but with cuts and scratches and the legends are cut into on both sides but readable all the way around. It should be worth at least half of what I paid. I'm curious to see how much it finally brings. |
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Moderator
United States
34428 Posts |
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wish that Suetonius had forgotten the dude  "If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5177 Posts |
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wish that Suetonius had forgotten the dude I think I've already mentioned that I'd rather prefer that Suetonius had included Clodius Macer (and/or Vindex), so that nobody would have taken collecting the full set seriously. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1269 Posts |
Personally I had a lot of fun building this set. I built mine in silver. It took about 6 months but I still upgrade my examples when I see better examples. I love studying the time period of the 12 and so collecting them was the next logical step for me. To me this period is very important to the history of the empire. While not every one of the 12 is a famous emperor enough of them are and that makes them sought after.
I have no problem with anyone trying a 12 caesars set. The important thing is to do it your own way and have fun with it. I really enjoy tracking down upgrades for mine and I expect I will for years to come.
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Replies: 13 / Views: 1,998 |
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Posted 03/26/2017 2:44 pm
