There are really only a handful of ways a person can acquire an ancient coin. The most painless way is to receive a coin as a gift from someone who already had an ancient coin. Or with use of a metal detector, a keen eye and lots of luck, it is still possible to unearth a nice ancient coin in Old World locales where the coins once circulated. Of course, a new collector can always purchase an ancient coin from a dealer or collector who already have a selection of coins for sale or trade, (just try us at Malter Galleries.) But in recent years the vehicle which seems to be the most popular for disseminating ancient coins is the auction route. There are two major auction techniques. The old traditional audience participation type where each lot for auction is hammered down by the auctioneer. There are no time limitations as there are in the second relatively new auction technique called the mail bid auction. In both types catalogues are issued describing the coins to be offered. In the mail or really telephone bid sale, there is a frenzy at the end of the allocated bidding session by collectors who want to know if they have to raise their bids or if they already won their coin.

      The mail bid type of sale is completely controlled by the auction house and I can only leave it to your imagination the things that can go wrong during that tumultuous end of sale time period. I have heard of untold stories where people were assured that they got their coin only to find out that someone in the "eleventh" hour beat them out and sometimes at a considerable advance in price, and strangely, sometimes at only one bid over the bid submitted by the loser. Malter Galleries only holds auctions with a live bidding audience. We expect a large crowd for our autumn auction that will feature ancient Greek Coins. On August 15th we will have a "live bidding" auction at our galleries in a sale that will feature some ancient coins, but mostly foreign and American coins as well as ancient art and ethnological artifacts, graphic arts, weapons and the like. Local people are invited to attend, out-of-state bidders should read the auction catalogue which is on-line at this home base and mail, fax or phone bids in prior to the auction date. A limited amount of catalogues have been printed for people who still require a listing, and a small charge is placed on orders for catalogues or for requests of photographs of coins or objects being sold at auction.

      In recent years the fierce competition to obtain good ancient coins has seen more auctions that ever take place. One reason for this increase in auctions can be based on the simple fact that the prices obtained for better coins in an auction for at least a 20% increase in the "real value" of the item. There is, indeed, more than just a grain of truth in that dictum. Most people who have participated in auctions can probably attest to the fact that it is easy to get carried away. Private collectors today realize that this phenomenon works both ways, not only do they find themselves paying more at auction, but when they want to sell their collections they want their coins sold at auction in order to obtain the top price. With strange stock market values and stable precious metal prices, it is sometimes rather difficult to pinpoint a price for a rare ancient coin. A well-attended ancient coin auction alleviates such a problem, and collectors and dealers don't have to quibble over values as long as the coins are put into auction where the competitive market decides values by itself.

      We recommend that viewers keep a sharp look-out on our website to view the actual coins we will be auctioning in future months. It is here where we'll be making suggestions on how to bid on the best coins in each sale. And we hope that each of you out "there" in our website world will continue to either offer us material for our auctions and website or will seek us out by participating in our various auctions and special sales.

      If you are interested in receiving more information on up-coming auctions, please notify us at once!

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