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 Replies: 13 / Views: 1,550 |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7933 Posts |
I ran across an interesting example of a very rare coin that apparently underwent a conservation process, only for the coin to subsequently sell for a considerable loss. The coin in question is a Tetricus (271-274) Aureus with IOVI CONSERVATORI reverse. I could only find a single example of this coin on acsearch, which is which is why I am calling the type very rare. That example sold three times in the last five years. 1. March, 2020 it was in the condition shown below, mounted and had rather deep grafitti obverse.  Copyright Roma Numismatics Sale price 2400 GBP, equivalent to about $3100 2. February, 2021 in the same condition, it sold for 4250 euro, equivalent to $5100 at Numismatik Naumann. (Maybe that first buyer played a "pandemic bounce" well?) 3. November, 2021, now with the mount removed and the grafitti gone, it sold at Heritage for $2700:  Curious if that's normal (i.e. that conservation yields unpredictable outcomes), or if anyone has other experiences. Edited by tdziemia
05/05/2025 2:34 pm
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Moderator
 United States
187582 Posts |
Ouch!  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3848 Posts |
The coin looks more presentable restored, so I would assume the coin would have achieved a higher auction realized value. I am unfamiliar with ancients but generally eye appeal heavily impacts the value across coin collecting. Likely this coin was at the wrong place at the wrong time and the auction failed to perform. Auctions can certainly have mixed results, they are always a risk after all!
Ouch to the one who paid a lot of money to have that work done...
Suffering from bust half fever. Want to learn how to attribute early half dollars by die variety? Click Here: http://goccf.com/t/434955Shoot me a PM if you are looking to sell bust halves. |
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Moderator
United States
94728 Posts |
shame all the issues this coin went through.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
73628 Posts |
It's a bummer it sold for less. Bad luck I guess.
Errers and Varietys.
Edited by Errers and Varietys
05/05/2025 9:56 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
24906 Posts |
The new buyer got a great deal on it.
Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
7933 Posts |
Quote:
The new buyer got a great deal on it. I'm tending to think like this too. As mentioned by jacrispies, the eye appeal is undeniably WAY better after the repairs. And given that only one example of this coin was findable on acsearch, I am assuming there are fewer than 10 known specimens, possibly fewer than 5. The wording in the Heritage auction listing may also have scared off bidders: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8766262 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6505 Posts |
I can't see how that is the same coin
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1767 Posts |
It is the same, just ruined. Soda blast to rid the scratches, but can still see traces of them.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6505 Posts |
I'm going have to disagree.
The marks on the neck, look different.
But what do I know.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7933 Posts |
Pretty sure it's the same based on the unusual planchet shape.
actually thought it was amazing that I couldn't see any traces of the scratches, but my eyes aren;t as good as they used to be.
Edited by tdziemia
05/06/2025 11:53 am
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Moderator
Australia
16806 Posts |
Curious: that third time, was it sold as a restoration job, with its prior provenance and appearance well-known?
I'm wondering if the reason for the reduced price is that this coin has perhaps crossed the line from "conservation" to "reconstruction", or "tooled".
The coin in its original state had some context: someone in ancient times had turned it into a piece of jewellery. Perhaps less appealing to coin collectors as a "damaged coin", but as a piece of history, quite interesting. Now, that piece of its history has been erased, leaving just a tooled coin.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
24906 Posts |
Excellent point, Sap.
Inordinately fascinated by bits of metal with strange markings and figures
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3170 Posts |
The term "smoothed" comes to mind.
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Replies: 13 / Views: 1,550 |
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Posted 05/05/2025 5:46 pm
