Hi folks,
There is an ancient coin [REMOVED BY ADMIN] In that
auction, there is a
Campania, Hyria coin for sale. It caught my attention for 2 reasons. First, the dealers used a photo of that coin in their
bulk email announcing the
auction. Second, I specialize in collecting
Magna Graecia,
Campania coins. That coin was issued in Hyria, which is believed to have merged with Nola, which is very close to my maternal grandparents'
home town (Maddaloni).
When I visited their website, I immediately clicked on that coin and enlarged the photo. What I saw was frightening. The
obverse portrait was clearly severely and horribly
tooled. It looks odd. It does not match any known examples of that issue. It has numerous scrape marks and cuts. Also, the
obverse portrait and hair are smooth, but the entire rest of the coin has
porosity. It is a shame that someone ruined what could have been a beautiful
Campania coin.
The text description for that coin did not state that the coin was
tooled.
I emailed
Nick Molinari for confirmation. He confirmed my suspicion.
So, I emailed the dealer and informed him of my thoughts regarding this coin. I also advised him that the ethical thing to do would be for him to disclose this fact in the text description.
He responded immediately. Apparently, he was totally unaware of the horrible tooling. I seem to have caught him off guard. After all, as I mentioned above, he used a photo of that coin in the email announcing the
auction.
He thanked me for providing that information. Within a span of less than 48 hours, he modified the
auction text description to state "
tooled obverse". I was pleasantly surprised that he added that phrase in a timely manner. He did the ethical thing, and he should be commended for that.
Meepzorp