I recently was fortunate to win an ancient Phoenician coin from an online auction. The auction ended at 11:00 PM but I didn't want to sit there and stress over it so I upped my bid about 7 minutes before auctions end. I was fortunate to purchase it but one thing I noticed is that at it's price, the bid increments were $10 and I noticed that someone had put in 3 bids to up me to my maximum bid. A little shady but at least I won the auction, albeit by a spiteful bidder, or by the owner of the coin. Nevertheless, the coin arrived today and it looks better than the pictures.
It does have one issue though, it's in an NGC holder and not a PCGS holder. I find NGC holders too bulky as compared to the PCGS holders and less scratch resistant. Nevertheless, I know that this is a problem free coin since it has a bonafide grade rather than the holder merely authenticating it as a genuine coin. Moreover, the annoying mounts interfere with full enjoyment of the surface of the coin. I liked holder more when they were snug around the coin rather than suspended within the holder so one can see the edges. Who cares about the edges when the mounts interfere with taking a nice quality image of the coin.
Anyway, here is my Phoenician coin from the ancient city of Arwad, known as Aradus to the Greeks. It is a Drachm from the regnal year of 103 which translates to 157/156 BC. It harbors a bee on the obverse and a stag and palm tree on the reverse. The toning, along with the high relief, makes this coin a stunning example, albeit several examples can be found in higher grade.
The positioning in front of the lens of my camera, along with the concaveness of the reverse makes this coin appear a little darker on the reverse than the obverse. They were photographed at the same exposure but I chose not to adjust the exposures to make the surfaces of the coin look identical.
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