Buying Coins From Europe - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 5 / Views: 2,281
caesar77 Valued Member United States 356 Posts	Posted 05/15/2015 03:56 am I am curious as to whether one can legally buy coins via NumisBids and from European Auction Houses, via online methods? I know it is done easy enough on ebay, but what about the larger houses? Is it legal just to bid, win, and wire the funds and then have the coin shipped here? Is it that easy? Report this Post to the Staff

Tom Goodheart Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 856 Posts	Posted 05/15/2015 05:40 am I can only say that I have done the reverse, buying from Goldbergs and Heritage and having the coins posted to the UK. I've not had any problems. Many auction houses (both in Europe and possibly US) ask for references - I just list auction houses I've bought from and it's never been a problem. I use a credit card to pay. The only time I ever had difficulty I tried to buy a Cuban coin from a Spanish auction and pay by PayPal ... apparently in the US it's illegal to buy anything from Cuba and despite the auction and myself both being located in Europe (and PayPal (Europe) being registered in Luxembourg) they refused the transaction and reported me to the US Department of the Treasury .... what a pain that was! So I guess unless there are some odd import restrictions on the coins you are buying (and of course, there are international restrictions on the purchase and sale of some ancient coins as you probably know. Some more details from the CNG site here: https://www.cngcoins.com/Informatio...lations.aspx)) it should be OK I guess. Remember to factor in the postage and any additional charges (some auctioneers charge a bit more for sales through a site like NumisBids or Sixbid). Don't forget sites like VCoins (https://www.vcoins.com/en/coins/Ancient.aspx) which is a 'shop front' for many dealers. acsearch (http://www.acsearch.info/search.htm...r=0&company=) and CoinArchives (http://www.coinarchives.com/a/resul...&results=100) list past sales which can be useful for both pricing information and to identify which European auction houses might stock coins of interest to you. The internet has made it possible to collect internationally. Enjoy your searches and good luck! . Edited by Tom Goodheart 05/15/2015 06:14 am Report this Post to the Staff
Whizb4ng Pillar of the Community Canada 579 Posts	Posted 05/15/2015 09:53 am I haven't heard of any real troubles buying overseas. I have bought a coin from a Pecunem sale previously and experienced the fasted shipping to Canada I have ever received! There are also many from the States who have bought from Nomos, Roma, and many of the big auction houses with no problems. Report this Post to the Staff
orfew Pillar of the Community Canada 1269 Posts	Posted 05/15/2015 11:10 am @Ceasar77 Thanks for posting this. I was curious about this as well. Report this Post to the Staff
GERMANICVS Pillar of the Community Germany 1849 Posts	Posted 05/15/2015 12:05 pm As far as I know, the major german and british auction houses ship to the U.S with no problems, besides possibly customs clearance in the U.S. Going the other way, i.e US to Germany, customs clearance is a major (and expensive) headache. The only exception is possibly shipping from Spain to the US. The spanish have some kind of authorization regulation for the export of antiquities (including coins) which takes a long time to clear. A year ago I purchased items at a major Spanish auctioneer and had to wait more than 3 months for the paperwork to clear to be able to get the items shipped to Germany! Edited by GERMANICVS 05/15/2015 12:06 pm Report this Post to the Staff
Kamnaskires Pillar of the Community United States 7066 Posts	Posted 05/15/2015 3:10 pm Quote: As far as I know, the major german and british auction houses ship to the U.S with no problems This is correct, at least in my experience. I have won lots from Baldwin & Sons (UK), Kunker (Germany), Teutoburger Münzauktion & Handel (Germany), and HD Rauch (Austria), and received the coins from each without any problems. The one time I attempted to bid on lots from an auction house in Italy, I did have problems - I had the winning bids on a couple of lots, but never got the coins - but, thankfully, I was never charged either. I had figured that since the lots were Parthian (and thus not part of Italian cultural heritage), I would not have to deal with fallout from Italy's Memorandum of Understanding with the US. And, in fairness, I don't know that the MOU was the reason I never got the coins. After weeks of my trying to get info, the firm stated something vague about an investigation about a possible theft...something about the coins' provenance. Whatever. I think it best for Americans to be aware of MOU's before bidding on lots from auction houses in countries with which we have them (like Italy, Cyprus, and Greece, I believe). Clicking on the country names in the left column of this .pdf brings up info (if the link works): http://eca.state.gov/files/bureau/c...rictions.pdf Edited by Kamnaskires 05/15/2015 3:21 pm Report this Post to the Staff
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