Art Coins Roma Aka Acr Auctions

Have you tried to contact them through Vcoins?

Thanks for the tip - e-mail has been sent. This is a European auction house on the Sixbid portal that has been around for about 4 years with no complaints that I could see and they have a history of running auctions. This was the first auction of theirs that I bought something in so I didn't spend a lot - on a first purchase I like to go small just to see how they perform. Sometimes its good to be cautious.

In my nearly a quarter century of collecting, ACR is the only auction house I have had a problem with. I had the winning bids on a couple of lots in a different ACR Sixbid auction earlier this year. I grew concerned when, days after the auction (which I had very carefully tracked and participated in though the final seconds) I never received winning bid notifications. I wrote them, but got no response. I wrote them a couple more times. About two weeks after the auction, they finally replied with this:

"we regret to inform that we can't deliver it to you since it is hold back by the Police of the Nucleus for the Protection of Cultural Heritage because of an investigation on a theft of an important collection happened years ago in Florence. At the end of the investigation if the lots will be available again we will
get in touch with you. We apologize for the inconvenience."

Never heard from them again. What bothers me about this is that I was left with the distinct feeling that if I had not aggressively pursued them for information, I would never have heard back. I was also left feeling unclear about whether their failure to respect my winning bids was related to that vague reference to a theft, or to a cultural property issue. Italy does have a Memorandum of Understanding with the US, but the lots I won were Parthian - and, so, I assumed I was safe bidding on them.

In any event, TTerrier, I see you are from Canada - and I don't know if there is an equivalent of an MOU between Canada and Italy that may be at fault for the delay you are experiencing. I hope you get your coins soon and, if not, I am really curious what you find out about ACR's lack of follow-through. Please keep us updated.

Thanks for the help everyone - I can now see the website again which is good news. I don't normally get fussed about delays as I am used to them with Canada Customs (up to a month in some cases). What bothers me with this one is I sent the payment immediately by Paypal so I know they have the money, but then there is no communication back. I won some coins in a Gitbud & Nauman auction the previous month and those arrived from Germany at my door in 6 days so I know this can be done. I will keep you posted on how long this process takes.

Caesar77: I should have clarified. I was never invoiced so , no, I didn't lose any money.

Glad to hear it!