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Chose the busted Roman coin over the shiny one at a flea market in Tulsa
The dealer had two denarii, one worn down to a blob and one with a clear emperor profile, and I picked the blob because it felt more 'real' for $45. My friend laughed until we got home and checked online, turns out the blob was a rare 3rd century mint error worth maybe $300, while the clean one was a common fake. Anyone else ever luck into a good buy by picking the ugly artifact?
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taylor_barnes591mo ago
Tbh I used to be the guy who always grabbed the cleanest looking thing on the table, figured shiny meant better and beat up meant junk. Then I watched a buddy pass on a crusty old coin because it looked like a washer, and he found out later it was worth way more than the pretty stuff sitting next to it. Since then I've flipped my whole way of thinking, ugly and weird beats pretty almost every time when you're talking old stuff. Fakes are cheap to make nice, but nobody bothers faking something that looks like a rock. That blob you grabbed basically told the faker to stay home.
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