2016-05-09 Mon

The Numismatic Guaranty Corp.’s NGC Ancients program makes buyers comfortable about collecting ancient coins by authenticating them accurately. This was needed because cultural patrimony laws, in a way restrict American collectors to buy and sell some ancient coins.

The Pegasus silver stater of Syracuse, dated 317 to 289 B.C. was sold for an impressive $1,997.50 at the Heritage Auction held from April 14th to 19th at the Chicago International Coin Fair in Rosemont, Ill.

This Sicilian silver stater from Syracuse was struck under Agathocles as King of Sicily. Hand-engraved dies were used to mint these coins due to which they vary even among coins from the same series. The style of a coin is based upon the quality of its composition and engraving.

The coin fared 5/5 for strike and a 3/5 for surfaces. Surface quality is calculated based on lustre, corrosion, porosity, encrustation, silvering, cleaning, marks, hairlines and scratches. It is also classified according to the three main phases of an ancient coin’s ‘life’: circulation; use, burial and recovery; and conservation.