Classical Numismatics Discussion
  Welcome Guest. Please login or register. 10% Off Store-Wide Sale Until 2 April!!! Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! Expert Authentication - Accurate Descriptions - Reasonable Prices - Coins From Under $10 To Museum Quality Rarities Welcome Guest. Please login or register. 10% Off Store-Wide Sale Until 2 April!!! Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! Support Our Efforts To Serve The Classical Numismatics Community - Shop At Forum Ancient Coins

New & Reduced


Author Topic: Gréau woes...  (Read 670 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline helvetica

  • Tribuna Plebis Perpetua
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 1799
  • Helvetia Libera Deo Gratia
    • ID Help pages + RIC lists + www.wildwinds.com
Gréau woes...
« on: May 22, 2022, 07:42:13 am »
I don't usually spend a lot of money on a single book. However, I have been searching for the Gréau catalog of Greek coins for 15 years and I finally found one on 16th April on the website of a shop in Paris. When I wrote to the owner, she told me the book was still available and she would allow me a 25% discount, which was very kind of her. The total price including postage still came to nearly 200 Fr.
So I made the payment by bank transfer on the 16th and she wrote back "The book will be sent on Monday because of Easter, but send me your address so that can be done". I sent her my address and on 19th April my bank system informed me that my payment had gone through.
By the end of April the book wasn't here, so on 4th May I wrote and asked whether it was already on its way.
She replied "I am on holiday but I will write to the storage depot because your package went out a long time ago".
On 6th May I was told that "the storage depot has lost your address, could you send it to me again?", so I sent it again.
On 14th May I wrote again, "Could you please ask the depot when the book was sent, and the registered post number?"
Reply: "I will ask them on Monday, but don't worry, the packet is registered. I will write again soon"
After a week of silence, I wrote again on the 20th May, "It's good that the packet is registered, but where is it? And what is the registered post number ? It's been more than a month since my order and my payment and the delivery time is not normal for a packet from France. In the same time I have received a packet from the USA which was sent by surface! I don't like to keep asking, but it's very worrying to pay such a sum (it was a lot of money for me) for a book which doesn't arrive."
No reply since then.
I wonder whether I have been ripped off and need to contact a lawyer in Paris or at least to ask her for my money back. However, the book is no longer on her website, so it might just be inefficiency. If Paris weren't so far I would go past and demand they give me the book in my hands..

Offline Kevin D

  • Consul
  • ***
  • Posts: 314
Re: Gréau woes...
« Reply #1 on: May 22, 2022, 05:41:53 pm »
It would have been good (and probably normal) for the seller to have provided you with the package number so it could be inquired about.

If you were looking for a lawyer in the US, I would suggest that the cost would be more than the value of the book (or possible loss). However, hopefully there is a reasonable cost legal option for your location.

------------------------------------------------------
Listing what I have found so far:
Description des médailles grecques, composant la collection de M.J. Gréau / par Henri Cohen ; dont la vente aux enchères publiques aura lieu le lundi 11 Nov., 1867.

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t53738679


https://library.aarome.org/bib/60114

I was able to download the PDF of this catalog from the Gallica link above (144mb). I stepped through the download and it looks like it is all there. If this PDF would work for you, but you can't download from your location, let me know and I will try a WeTransfer...


Offline helvetica

  • Tribuna Plebis Perpetua
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 1799
  • Helvetia Libera Deo Gratia
    • ID Help pages + RIC lists + www.wildwinds.com
Re: Gréau woes...
« Reply #2 on: May 22, 2022, 06:22:10 pm »
Oh Crikey, Paris must have scanned that very very recently. I wrote to Michel in Paris last autumn and asked them when they were going to scan it and he said it was on the "to scan" list, but along with thousands of others.
Dammit, if I had looked again and found it on gallica, I would never have paid out 200 SFr for the hard copy.

Offline Kevin D

  • Consul
  • ***
  • Posts: 314
Re: Gréau woes...
« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2022, 06:26:18 pm »
I know feeling, having spent money for hard copies myself only to then find the PDF...

Offline helvetica

  • Tribuna Plebis Perpetua
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 1799
  • Helvetia Libera Deo Gratia
    • ID Help pages + RIC lists + www.wildwinds.com
Re: Gréau woes...
« Reply #4 on: May 22, 2022, 07:05:28 pm »
The Gréau pdf was put online on 2nd May 2022. Damn . if only I had waited 12 days after 15 years... ::)
I just checked what else they have put online lately. I discovered that you can list the items by date of upload ascending or descending...

Here are some of their latest goodies, god bless 'em.

Gréau Collection - Roman Coins
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t53744222?rk=579402;0#

Bank Leu auction 26 May 1994: Arcadius to Constantine XI, "The Coinage of the Eastern Empire"
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5374441c?rk=600861;2

Bank Leu auction 28 mai 1974: Greek Coins
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5374514s.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=665239;2#

Sammling Walter Niggeler Part 1 (Greek Coins), M&M Basel, 3-4. December 1965
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5373879d.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=2897010;0

Sammling Walter Niggeler Part 2 (Provincials and Romans to Augustus) 21-22 Oct. 1966.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t53737801.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=4270407;2

Sammling Walter Niggeler Part 3 (Roman Coins after Augustus), M&M Basel, 2-3. November 1967
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5374458c.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=772536;0

"Catalogue of the important library on numismatics and archaeology of a well known scholar lately deceased. "
Bank Leu auction 31, 29-30 April 1982
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t53744612.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=815454;4

Silvio Baldassari Islamic Coins sale, Leu auction 62, 18 May 1995
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5374463t.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=1824043;2

Bank Leu auction 28, Ancient Coins, 5-6 May 1981
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5374460p.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=1845502;4#

Bank Leu auction 6, The Virzi collection sale, Greek bronze coins of lower Italy and Sicily, 1973:
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5373794w.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=3197440;4

Franz Trau Collection (mixed incl. 522 Greeks and Romans), few plates, Gebrüder Egger, 11.1.1904
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5373524v.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=4356244;4

Catalogue of coins of the Bosphoros, collection Jules Lemmé of Odessa, 10-11 May 1872
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t53736847.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=4592297;2

Collection Photiadès Pacha, Greek Coins, 19 May 1890
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5373558d.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=4613756;4
and the sale of his Byzantine coins
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5373713r.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=5064402;4

Bompoise Collection, Greek autonomous coins, Hoffmann 15-16 Jan 1882
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t53735482.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=4699594;0

Moustier collection, Hoffmann 17 June 1872. Quite a few provincials amongst the emperors' sections, but no plates.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5373542s.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=4935646;4

Bank Leu Auction 52, "Greek and Roman Coins from a distinguishehed American Collection" (anyone know who this was ?). 15 May 1991.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t53737793.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=5236077;2

Brüder Egger, auction 10. Dec. 1906. mostly ancient coins of Sicily.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t53735257.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=5729642;0

Fontana collection, Roman coins, Hoffmann 25 May 1860
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5373538q.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=5815479;2

Unger Collection, Brüder Egger, 26 April 1897
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bd6t5373521q.r=m%C3%A9dailles%20m%C3%A9dailles?rk=6180288;0

There are loads more, even just from the past 3 weeks. Note that some of the above titles are in French or German, I just translated them. The list in order of date of upload begins here - I added the search term "médailles" to try and limit it to coin stuff, although it shows other stuff which mentions "médailles".
https://gallica.bnf.fr/services/engine/search/sru?operation=searchRetrieve&version=1.2&startRecord=0&maximumRecords=30&page=1&query=indexationdate%20%3E%20%222017%2F02%2F17%22%20and%20provenance%20all%20%22bnf.fr%22%20%20and%20%28subgallica%20all%20%22m%C3%A9dailles%22%29%20sortby%20indexationdate%2Fsort.descending

Offline Kevin D

  • Consul
  • ***
  • Posts: 314
Re: Gréau woes...
« Reply #5 on: May 23, 2022, 05:23:57 pm »
Thanks for taking the time to post these individual URLs, there are some great catalogs here!

Offline helvetica

  • Tribuna Plebis Perpetua
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 1799
  • Helvetia Libera Deo Gratia
    • ID Help pages + RIC lists + www.wildwinds.com
Re: Gréau woes...
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2022, 07:42:04 am »
FINALLY, the Gréau arrived. She posted it in late afternoon of the 20th May only 4 days ago, so after she received my last email. She sent it herself (from her personal address so the "depot" she mentioned seems very dubious) by surface, unregistered (post cost under 3 Euros despite my paying her 15 Euros for registered post).
It is nice condition, some heavy foxing on the blank pages at the front and back of the book, but it is an original bound version from 1867 with a different coloured binding that the one on gallica. (The Gallica one is blue marble, mine is a red curly type pattern much favoured by 19th century book binders) so I don't think it is a reprint (there is no mention of a reprint on the inside pages which are identical to the ones on Gallica).

So I don't need to contact some biker friends in Paris and "send the boys round"...  (which I once had to do with a shop in California) :D

Offline Kevin D

  • Consul
  • ***
  • Posts: 314
Re: Gréau woes...
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2022, 07:12:02 pm »
Glad the catalog showed up. Sounds like an original to me; not sure how much demand there would be for a reprint of this.

Really happy to get the Pacha Greek catalog you linked to previously. That's one I did not have and it is not easy to come by.

Offline Virgil H

  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 1404
Re: Gréau woes...
« Reply #8 on: May 24, 2022, 11:39:28 pm »
I am happy you finally got the book and hopefully it was finally worth it even at the expense to have an original and not a scan. I am assuming you are in Switzerland. All things considered, I would want the real book over any digital copy. Sounds like your seller was just lazy. Myself, being in the US, mail has become a huge issue with international shipments. Things coming from Eastern Europe can take two months or never arrive at all. Western Europe not as bad, but not great, either. Even within the US, things have become bad although stuff at least usually gets to me. I always worry about bidding on auctions with European houses because of mail issues and not because I don't trust them. But, Europe often has things I want that I either can't find in US or are significantly less expensive than here as far as coins go. I stress out about the mail. LOL.

Regards,
Virgil

 

All coins are guaranteed for eternity