Auction Tomorrow

which auction?

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Just my personal experience but I've noticed very few good deals to be had at auctions......by that I mean the type of auction conducted by an auction company that typically liquidates soup to nuts. In the case of the typical "grandpa" estate being liquidated, in most cases I suspect high grade coins are sold directly to buyers/dealers in advance --- considering most auction houses charge up to a 30% premium and the seller has no guarantee as to top bids. As a buyer, you may or may not know that you may also be required to pay an auction premium as high as 20%, plus tax, therefore you'd want to consider any indirect costs in case the bidding fever takes over!

That said, I do enjoy the auction atmosphere......must be a throw-back to the days my grandfather stuffed granaries full of useless things he bought, only because he was "upping the bid" on something he thought should sell for more.

I ended up with 29 rolls of 1953 pennies and 18 rolls of 1969 pennies that are as red as the sun. I opened up one roll of each date just to make sure and they are beautiful. I'm really not sure how to proceed with those and any advice would be appreciated. Do I pick the 53s apart to look for shoulder folds or keep them mint in the rolls? I bid on a 1955 mint set but the bidding got a little carried away because 1955 was somebody's birth year and had to let that go. Got a few common silver dollars in great shape and a nice plaque showing every type of 5 cent Canadian piece. There were a lot of mint sets going way above BV and some paper money that I don't know enough about to bid on. Overall I did ok I think. The verdict is still out on those pennies, anyone know what those rolls are worth?

Congrats on the pennies! The glow of the old red cent is really very unique. It was always a thrill to get a bright, shiny copper penny in one's change! I

wrote about this in another thread, but to repeat -- based on my own personal experience with a roll of 1965 cents, I woukdn't advise sorting through an pristine roll looking for oddities or varieties with the intention of later putting them back into a roll. I was careful to use gloves and tongs and be as quick as possible BUT a few weeks later I noticed the wonderous red glow of the edges within the clear plastic coin roller was already beginning to turn to brown. What I'd do next time is place the cents immediately in 2x2s in order to limit their exposure to air, and then look. I did so with a roll of '69s and they've perfectly retained their lustre. (Note - Possibly the exposure to air may have occurred pre-auction, immediately prior to my purchase, searched even though they were sold as unopened rolls).

It will be interesting, what's your experience.