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 Replies: 31 / Views: 4,664 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
There is an estate auction happening this weekend nearby where I live. I haven't been to one in a loooooonnnnng time, and am thinking about grabbing the daughter and attending. And if the wife doesn't object too much about "spending money" and such things, I MIGHT even bring her too....  But anyway, there are A LOT of coins up for sale, but what caught my eye was the 40 Proof Sets. Doesn't say if there are a lot of duplicates and/or any Silver Proof Sets with this too. There is a "viewing" the day before the auction though.....maybe I can go scope things out. 400 Wheat Cents will be sold too. (If I could get those for $8.00 or so, assuming they're common dates.....I'd do that too) I have somewhere under 10,000 Wheats already...why not add some more right ? Handfull of Morgans, Ike's, Peace dollars supposed to be there too. I'm just tempted to bring $100.00 or so and see what I might be able to pick up. The coins are supposed to sell first, so thankfully I won't have to wait while they sell off all the antiques, cars, motorcycles, jewelry, beds, tables, lamps, mowers, garden tools, carpenter tools, books, National Geographic collections, pots and pans, etc. etc. etc. etc. I'm JUST THERE FOR THE COINS ! For those who don't know.......... "Coins" at these estate auctions are a different animal altogether when compared to other auctions, and a lot of coin collectors DON'T like to go to them.
The coins at these, are generally a small after-thought, or at least just a VERY SMALL PART OF THE WHOLE THING. They are NOT the big money items........they DON'T command the attention of everyone there....(in fact most attendees don't care at all about the coins) They are looking for antiques and household items, or farm equipment there.....whatever.
The coins are just something the person or persons had stuck up in the closet for 45 years, and someone died, so they have the "estate auction" to get rid of all the stuff. Often it's just the wife left as a widow, and her breadwinner has passed away unfortunately......so all the stuff has to go !
Hence.....there can be COINS THERE !
I'm not happy about someones misfortune of course, but such is life, and they're selling it at auction...so.......there I am.If I go.....I'll certainly post anything I pick up ! Edited by eaglefoot
03/23/2012 3:57 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2295 Posts |
Good luck and I hope you can get some good deals.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
594 Posts |
I think I would bring more than $100 just incase something really good pops up. Good luck.
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Moderator
 United States
187702 Posts |
Good times ahead. Best of luck to you!  We await your report.  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
6326 Posts |
Thanks all....  The ad says there are a bunch of Buffalo nickels too......dateless or not I have no clue. I should pay no more than what ? .... .40 or .50 Cents for a dateless Buff right ? .... less ? Common-date readable Buffs.....maybe a $1.00 or $1.50 ? It says...... "Lots of other coins ! Too many to list here!" With Silver up like it is.....I don't think I wanna buy any " junk silver" there, unless it's at melt or better, which they never are at these kinds of auctions.....  Curiosity is driving me here though......it's so different than going to the coin shop looking for a certain date or a certain higher grade coin. At these, it's just kind of.......what do they have ? Oh that's neat ! How much can I overpay for THAT one ! It's similar to a Chinese food buffet......no matter what you like or don't like, THERE'S SOMETHING THERE FOR EVERYONE ! .... (except it's price may not always be "cheap")At one estate auction I went to, they did the coins LAST. And so I waited THREE AND A HALF HOURS for them to sell off ALL KINDS OF STUFF, before they got to the coins....UGH ! ACK ! That sucked ! And all I ended up getting was a whole bag of foreign coins for $2.00 ! ..... A few old guys there seemed to want EVERY coin item up for bid........no matter who else bid on it....they went higher until they landed it. And that included a California gold piece too. I left that auction a bit steamed....   They had a large collection of "old uncut notes in sheets" at that one too...but again.....went for wayyy too much money. So, if nobody is at THIS auction trying to buy EVERYTHING at any cost.....then it should be fun ! Just gotta stick to some "buying parameters" and I shouldn't get burnt. BUT I GUARANTEE YOU I WILL COME HOME WITH SOMETHING !(hopefully not just a headache) |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Hope you have some good luck.
However, from the sound of this one being advertised well, you just might run into a lot of others looking for the same coins. From my experiences with auctions is they are usually well staffed with people in the audience counter bidding you. Hopefully this one is not like those.
And too as you said, if they do the coins last and there is lot of items first, you may be there for hours and find nothing worth bidding on. Problem with some auctions.
Hopefully they allow people to view the items to be auctioned off so you have an idea of what is really there.
Good luck.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
They open up for two hours the night before, to let you look at everything for sale .... including the coins. If the guys "I've" observed at these auctions were "plants" to up bids......well, it's BACKFIRED EVERY TIME ! Ha Ha ....... Because they actually LAND every item they bid on ! And quite happily land it too ! "Plants" aren't supposed to actually WIN THE BID EVERY TIME ! LoL Ha Ha These folks I refer to, and that I see at these things always go home with the most loot. And they showed up with the most money and no thought or care to what the coin or coins were actually WORTH apparantly ! So, I don't know what to expect really.....but that's mostly what I see. BUT ...... It's far enough away, that I don't think I'll make two trips though. I'd rather just go once and get there early, look things over, decide what I want, then what my ceiling price is, and just go from there. If nothing else, I'll have a few good cups of coffee there, because it's gonna be "catered" too ! .... I won't be spending a great deal of money here, nor will I be pursuing any high priced coins......gold... or anything like that ! Heh Heh........ watch me end up coming home with a Lamp and a chain saw or something ! ........  Edited by eaglefoot
03/23/2012 4:08 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
11951 Posts |
Good luck on the sale eaglefoot. I hope you come home with lots of good coins
You mentioned Buff nickels. At the shop I help at, we buy dateless buffs at .06 to .08 each.
If you can check the dateless ones look for mint marks. If some have mint marks, you can sell
them to the guys that restore them, between .10 - .20 each
Common date buff .. full date we buy at .20 each.
Proof sets of course depends on the dates and if any have silver. We get boxes and boxes of mint and proof sets.
The 70's and 80's you should buy very cheap .. maybe $2.00 a set.
These are just some of the prices we trade for in my area .. other members might see different prices in their areas
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New Member
United States
26 Posts |
Well why don't you tell us where the auction is?!?!?! lol
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Valued Member
United States
429 Posts |
Make sure to look at what you want to buy first because they are usually never the condition they say they are. Most coins are graded high but the 1-2 that slip through can be picked up for a steal. Also, if you do not have anything in that category, this could be a good time to start.
i went to an auction this morning and was happy to pick up a 1846 large cent that was marked XF, and it was even better than that so I will not complain spending $25 9+10% and taxes). One of the people bidding was going just for the large cents and got about a dozen or so in VF-XF from 1818-1851 for $22-40 a piece and that would be a great starter set for that price.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
I'm back ! ........  Well, I ended up getting the 400 Wheat Cents. Took a gamble here that there might be a good mix of older dates. I could not see well enough due to bad lighting when I looked at the bags before the auction started. I paid $32.00 for two ziplock bags with 200 Wheats in each bag.I pursued them because I WAS GONNA WALK OUT WITH "SOMETHING" ! There was a Whitman album of Wheats too, 1909 - 1958 I believe. No key dates in there, but fairly complete. But most of the Cents did look "polished" or cleaned though, disappointingly enough. I'm certainly not adept at recognizing cleaned coins all that well....but these were obvious, so I steered clear of it. Somebody did some serious "rubbing" on these to prepare for the auction I think ! ....  Just couldn't spend money on an album filled with these....  I got a bag of "Mexican coins" for $6.00. (there may be a silver coin or two in with these) I bought a 1922-D Wheat cent for $15.00 ...... I believe in it's condition, I overpaid slightly for this one as well. I have not had time (or taken the time) to go over my purchases yet ! Or take any pictures either. Trying to get a garden planted and a flower bed built with nice fancy red bricks......still gotta mow the lawn too ! (Dang RAIN !) But overall it was a fun time.My daughter bought an old antique milk bottle (glass) for $10.00. She's 7 years old. .........  ...... that's an expensive bottle ! She grabbed my bid number from my wife and started bidding on it..(which surprised and startled us !)...the auctioneer asked us if it was a "legitimate bid" ......we shook our heads yes....nobody challenged her.......she then became the proud owner of a bottle...... The wife did no complaining ! .......... Life was good !...... then we began the journey home, and ......well....nevermind....  |
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Moderator
United States
187702 Posts |
Thank you for the report. I hope you find some interesting dates in those bags of wheat cents. Lets us know if that Mexican bag had any silver in it. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1116 Posts |
Did you try for the proof sets? Just wondering if they would have been worthwhile to bid on.
A 1922d penny is still a good find purchased at a good price. Hope the condition is good. Check out numismedia about pricing. Although I'm not sure of how accurate their pricing is.
It's still fun going throught all those wheats to see what you've purchase.
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Valued Member
United States
355 Posts |
I'm actually headed to bid at my first estate auction next Monday. I figured I'd try and estate auction instead of an estate sale this time. My first and only estate sale was crazy. People are nuts. There was almost a fist fight over the right to purchase the coins and the numbers they handed out were worthless when everyone just barges through the door. I'm hoping that an actual auction will be more structured.
Anyway, besides researching the items, bringing a cheat-sheet, viewing the items before bidding, not getting caught up in the excitement of bidding, does any one have any tips for purchasing coins at an auction?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2295 Posts |
Quote:
If the guys "I've" observed at these auctions were "plants" to up bids......well, it's BACKFIRED EVERY TIME ! Ha Ha ....... Because they actually LAND every item they bid on ! And quite happily land it too !
"Plants" aren't supposed to actually WIN THE BID EVERY TIME ! LoL Ha Ha That is called shill bidding and it is a federal crime. A very serious crime too. ebay does investigations on it when it happens on their auctions. They have some software in place to help find them. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
I did not try for any of the Proof Sets.....though there are a few Proof coins that I still need for some albums.....some went for $6.00 or $8.00 bucks.....some for quite a bit more. Some " State Quarter" collections did not sell at all. The auctioneer said he wasn't going to sell for less than face value, and took them back ! LoL Ha Ha All their Morgans/Peace dollars sold for over $50.00, there were NO melt/spot prices to be had for ANY of the silver here ! (which is normal) All the Buffalo's sold for too much money too. They came in lots of plastic sheets with various common dates stuck in there in 2x2's. No keys......no semi-keys, but still sold for very high prices. Common date IHC's were there too........same story. Folks just got too excited over "common items" of average value, which generally puts me "OUT" of the bidding. There was gobs of other coins too, but I just tuned out when I met my allotment and goal....... I did bring my 400 Wheaties and the Mexican coins to the office with me this morning... ...when I get a chance I'm gonna go through them and see what I have here. *************** expectations are low ! *************** |
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Replies: 31 / Views: 4,664 |
Posted 03/23/2012 11:09 am
