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| Passion Investments: Collectibles |
Currency of the Realm
Catherine Curan
11/01/2007
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Despite the excitement generated by recent price gains and the
sale of BCD’s coins, affluent coin collectors face a major new challenge. The
growing global trend toward careful examination of an ancient artifact’s origin
is reverberating beyond museums to the coin world. In July, the United States
approved new restrictions on the importation of ancient coins from Cyprus, a
precedent-setting decision that reverses previous policies. Archeologists and
the Cypriot government supported the rule, saying it will help prevent looting.
 |  | HANS BERQUIN paid $45,000 in 2001 for this stater, depicting
Demeter on one side and Hermes holding Arkas on the other. (Photographs courtesy Hans Berquin.) |
Although he supports laws to stop looting, Weiss says that such
pilfering of coins has declined since the 1980s, a period when amateurs with
metal detectors sought to cash in on hordes. He fears that the primary
consequences of the new rules will be to hamper U.S. collectors’ ability to
compete. Collectors and dealers also worry that this deal will inspire other
nations to seek similar agreements, further limiting an already tight supply of
ancient Greek coins.
"It sets a precedent for problems with other countries, and how
one determines what was, quote-unquote, looted or was languishing in a
collection someplace," says Rob Freeman, managing director of Santa Monica,
Calif.–based coin dealer Freeman & Sear.
So far, increased attention to provenance has served to
heighten the interest in pedigreed coins—and the premium they command. Before he
makes a purchase, Belgian collector Hans Berquin gives heavy weight to who else
has owned a coin and whether it has been published. He has spent the last 30
years building a collection focused on Magna Graecia (southern Italy), and has
amassed roughly 150 coins valued at about $1.35 million. Berquin purchased a
Sicyon silver drachm adorned with a dove, circa 431–400 BC, for about $5,000 and
a silver hemidrachm from Phlious, circa 270 BC, for about $4,600 from BCD’s
Peloponnese sale. Solid provenance reduces the chance of a fake and reinforces
the coin’s chances of retaining value over time. "When a collector buys from a
collector, that is the best he can do," Berquin says.
Like most collectors, Berquin has fallen for a false coin on
occasion. One year he sent out his customary New Year’s card with a picture of
one of his coins—only to hear from a dealer that the coin looked suspicious. It
turned out to be a fake. BCD finds clever fakes instructive, and keeps a
collection of several hundred examples.
Veteran collectors recommend that novices work with a reputable
dealer who is a member of the International Association of Professional
Numismatists, and follow the popular maxim, "Buy the book before the coin."
Weiss says new collectors should learn to tell what corrosion looks like under
magnification because it cannot be faked.
Even after two decades of collecting, Weiss says he still gets
the same rush he felt when he picked up that first Alexander tetradrachm.
"Once you possess something, you are looking for the next
thing," he says. "The chase and the history are just fabulous."
Some coins have a provenance dating back a century or more, and many have been published in scholarly
auction catalogs. This history reflects the hobby’s long roots as a favored
pastime of the wealthy. Even Alexander the Great’s teacher, Aristotle, is
believed to have collected coins. Modern coin collecting—the building of large
collections and the emergence of a market—began during the Middle Ages,
attracting Petrarch and later the Medici family. In his book, Ancient Coin Collecting, author and collector Wayne G. Sayles says that 17th-century painter
Peter Paul Rubens brokered the sale of 18,000 ancient coins. As the hobby gained
popularity, it became standard practice for kings, queens and European
aristocrats to amass ancient-coin collections as part of a classical education.
Ute Wartenberg Kagan, executive director of the American Numismatic Society,
notes that during the late 18th century, the coins were highly sought after by
travelers on a grand tour of Europe. Those who could not track down genuine
coins would purchase copies—some of which now circulate as fakes.
Catherine Curan is a senior correspondent for Worth.
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