| Author |
 Replies: 18 / Views: 3,604 |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1088 Posts |
Attended my first coin auction today. Over all had a great time. I bought a few coins, nothing crazily amazing. I did, however, see many items go for much higher than book/spot/etc. A few APMEX silver 1 oz. bars, which go for $3 over spot at my LCS went for $35+ in some cases. When there were a few and it was bidder's choice, the backup bidder could buy the others at last bid, which they would do. We are talking almost $15 over spot on them. I was blown away on why this was happening time and time again. I found that it was a very friendly crowd and had a blast being there. I got to see some coins that I normally would not see and met some neat people along the way. Just wanted to throw my opinion out there about my first coin auction. |
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
9163 Posts |
Tim, where was the auction at and what did you get?
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2543 Posts |
People get caught up in the atmosphere all the time. The excitement of bidding and actually winning an auction causes non coin people to overpay all the time. You have to show restraint. And sometimes it is sooooooo ..... difficult.
You preview a coin, it is a coin that will fill a slot in your album, you really need/want it. But, being a CCF member, you know exactly what it is worth. Well it comes up for bid, you bid low, next thing you know, two newbies, who read two years ago that silver was at $50/oz, think that silver must be at least $70/oz by now, start bidding. Well the coin quickly goes over bargain price, you keep bidding. Now it is approaching retail price. Well at this point, you have to keep in mind that, you still have to pay 15% BP on top of the retail price that it is now at. You HAVE TO quit, these two bozos get caught up in the excitement of a bidding war and end up paying $37 dollars plus 15% BP for a $21 piece of silver. It is infuriating sometimes when you really need a coin. But auctions are about getting good coins cheap, but more importantly it is about knowingly when to walk away.
|
|
Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
I would also like to know where the auction was and see some pics of what you got.I have never been to one. John1  |
|
Rest in Peace
United States
4078 Posts |
Tim, good to hear from you.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
1088 Posts |
Hey there gents. Sorry for the delay in response. My fiancée has me doing all sorts of things for our up coming wedding. Mike, I went with Don to do his bidding for him. We took a ride to Lansing the previous week to a friend's coin shop and while driving he was telling me about this gentleman's auctions. The guys name is Mike Doty, his auction website is dotyauction.com. He as many more auctions coming up in the next few months (usually an auction every other month or so). All of his auctions that are currently listed on his web site are in Wheeler, MI. It is near Merrill. There were about 400 coin lots at this auction. Don had his sights on a quite a few but we ended up winning only a handful because the price went sky high as I mentioned before. Also on this guy's website, he will include pictures of the "rare" or "featured" items. I will say that you have to watch the grading of the coins. I often found that they were graded a grade or two higher than they should have been and we bid accordingly.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1088 Posts |
By the way, good to hear from all of my Michigan area coin friends! (Mike I use "Michigan Area" loosely for you) lol
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1088 Posts |
Denco, I also found that certain subject matters brought really high prices. For example, there were some bullion silver rounds with POW/MIA/Veterans/Military that went in the $40/per oz. There were quite a few Vets there
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
1823 Posts |
@ stud722
How much did these set go for if you don't mind. Has a lot of coins .
Book NewFoundland 5 Cents 1896-1943c
Book Newfoundland 10 Cents 1896-1947c
Metal Box w/450 2x2 CAN. Cents (1938- 2013) Mostly Higher Quality
Edited by yingyang
03/04/2014 10:49 am
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
When at auctions be sure you know the real prices of anything. So many places have people working the floor to raise prices. With coins just really make sure you know what it's worth.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2797 Posts |
I love auctions for cherry-picking oddities. I avoid key dates, semi-key dates and bullion like the plague. Folks pay stupid amounts for these things. I was able to pick up a 1983 LMC struck on a clad dime planchet that graded MS63 at PCGS for about $15. I've also gotten some hard to find Morgan VAMs for the price of the coin alone. Definitely come early and look over the lots. Make your selections and determine your high bid, then stick to it. You can also use your cell phone to get a ballpark on prices if you don't have a greysheet handy. |
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
9163 Posts |
Quote:
(Mike I use "Michigan Area" loosely for you) That's OK, I think I have more friends in MI than here at home. Glad to see you and Don are getting along, I can email you next time I come down to see what Don needs. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2543 Posts |
My 11 year old and I used to go to the coin auctions every other Sat. We used to get the catalog ahead of time. We went through it together and picked out the coins we needed for our collections and some we just liked. He wrote down the retail value of each coin and then what it was worth to us,( why go to an auction if you are only going to pay retail anyway, might as well buy it at a coin shop )if it wasn't a deal we didn't want it.
We would then subtract any Buyers Premium, (it is amazing how many people overbid for a coin and then are further dismayed when they didn't realize they owed another 10-20 percent on top of that). He would then right down our top bid next to each coin (retail - 20% auction deal - 15% BP = our top bid) It was a lot of fun preparing our bids, going and bidding on coins up to our preset price, getting some great deals on great coins and laughing at people who got caught up and way overpaid for coins that they could never sell.
Of course we both got caught up sometimes on coins that we really wanted and had to put the breaks on each other, but it was great father-son fun.
Edited by denco7
03/04/2014 8:05 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1088 Posts |
yingyang-
I am sorry to say that I do not recall what those items brought at auction
|
|
Moderator
United States
56855 Posts |
stud722, When you say Don do you mean from the coin shop in downtown Bay City? How long have you been friends with him?I have been a customer of his since he had a shop in the Wenonah hotel,ha-ha-ha.I bet he couldn't pick me out in a line up  John1 |
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
9163 Posts |
Quote:
When you say Don do you mean from the coin shop in downtown Bay City Yep that's the same Don, and I did ask him if he know you when I was in there last, he wasn't sure.  |
| |
Replies: 18 / Views: 3,604 |
Posted 03/01/2014 7:35 pm
