| Author |
 Replies: 25 / Views: 2,135 |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
I went to an auction today, the advertisement said a coin collection would be included. When I got there they had a room full of antiques, & one very small table with a few trays of coins to be sold as lots. I almost left, because there were several people looking at the coins, & I was afraid they would sell the coins last. I thought I'd stick around for a little while to see what happened. I'm glad I did. The first lot had a binder with 53 postcards, each with a brief bio of JFK's life, with a different date and/or mintmark Kennedy half. There was also 3 ASE's, $6 face of mixed silver(quarters & halves), & a few damaged US coins. Counting silver value & face value there was about $175 worth in this lot. It sold for a whopping $450,WOW!! The next lot sold for pretty close to fair value. There was $24 face value of mixed silver, mostly mercury & Roosevelt dimes. There was also $40 face of State Quarters & Sacagawea dollars, about 15 Buffalo nickels & a couple rolls of wheaties. The lot sold for $250, which was around melt plus the face value of the State Quarters & sacagaweas. The next three lots I am not sure exactly what was in each lot, because it looked like junk to me. Each tray had $6-8 face of mixed silver that had been buffed to a high gloss. Each tray also had a couple of those "sets", where they take extremely circulated coins, buff the dickens out of them & call them things like the "Western Collection" or the "WWII Collection". The first of these lots sold for $175, the other 2 sold for $85 each. I couldn't believe it. The next lot was a group of foreign coins. This sold for $45, which I think may have been a fair price. There were several silver coins, including some US Phillipines coins & a few large Australian silver coins from the early 1900's, & a couple hundred other mixed coins. If I had known a little more about foreign issues I may have bought these. The last lot was US Mint products. There was a 2000 full proof set, 2 2000 State Quarter proof sets, a 2000P uncirculated set, & a 2001 Capitol Visitor Center set. I was interested in this lot because the Capitol Visitor Center set had a $5 gold coin that the mint literature said weighed 8.359 grams, or almost 1/4 ounce. Based on the rest of the lots I figured this one would go way too high. I was pleasantly surprised when it was just me and one other person bidding, & I ended up with the lot for $116. I think I came out pretty good. I got almost 1/4 ounce of gold for less than half price, with all the 2000 mint products thrown in for nothing. I also checked ebay, & a Capitol Visitor Center set recently sold for over $300. I guess I'll never understand how and why people bid the way they do at auctions. |
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1208 Posts |
Quote:
I guess I'll never understand how and why people bid
the way they do at auctions. It's easy! Ignorance. |
|
Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Quote:The next lot sold for pretty close to fair value. There was $24 face value of mixed silver, mostly mercury & Roosevelt dimes. There was also $40 face of State Quarters & Sacagawea dollars, about 15 Buffalo nickels & a couple rolls of wheaties. The lot sold for $250, which was around melt plus the face value of the State Quarters & sacagaweas. Methinks you're expecting a bit much. We have locals advertising to pay 10x for silver, making the total value at least $283, and you consider $250 "close to fair"? Then consider the auctioneer gets 15-25%, and the seller really got screwed. Quote:
Each tray also had a couple of those "sets", where they take extremely circulated coins, buff the dickens out of them & call them things like the "Western Collection" or the "WWII Collection". The first of these lots sold for $175, the other 2 sold for $85 each. I couldn't believe it. Big-scale markets have discovered that non-serious collectors like shiny coins. This just proved it again. BTW, the "almost" ¼ ounce of gold is closer to .27. You got a great buy in any case. |
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
2335 Posts |
Quote:
Methinks you're expecting a bit much. We have locals advertising to pay 10x for silver, making the total value at least $283, and you consider $250 "close to fair"? Then consider the auctioneer gets 15-25%, and the seller really got screwed. I guess I wasn't looking at this from the sellers point of view, but from what I would be willing to pay. I don't have any idea how much the auctioneers percentage was. Based on Fridays close 10x face is just over melt. Around here dealers pay 90% of melt, which is what I based my calculation on. Quote:
BTW, the "almost" ¼ ounce of gold is closer to .27. You got a great buy in any case. The mint literature states the $5 gold coin weighs 8.359 grams, & is 90% pure. That works out to 7.52 grams of pure, based on a 32 gram troy ounce that's .235 ounces of gold. Guess I should have given more detail. Still a good deal. Edited by trdhrdr007
08/17/2008 8:01 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Australia
1040 Posts |
Quote:
There were several silver coins, including some US Phillipines coins & a few large Australian silver coins from the early 1900's, You wouldn't remember any dates would you? Florins were our largest coins, apart from crowns in 1937 and 1938. Early 1900's florins can be very pricey. For $45, assuming they were fine or better, you would have had a very good deal. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
My memory is not what it used to be but there was definitely a Florin that I think dated from the 30's. There was also 2 other Australian coins that looked to be silver that were just a little smaller than the Florin, one from the 30's & the other from the 40's. All of these looked to be at least VF under US standards.
My lack of knowledge about dark side coins kept me from bidding on this lot, especially after seeing what the first few lots sold for. I wasn't confident in my estimate of value.
|
|
Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
That's an amazing thing about auctions. Stuff starts going cheaply, and it gets worse, often for no better reason than bidders thinking something has collapsed and they just didn't get the word. Until they get home and find they should have bought everything.
Moral: Know your stuff and be confident that you DO know your stuff.
|
|
Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Be carefull of so called estate auctions. Most are not real. What you should look for is an estate sale, not an auction. The way many work is an organization contacts a potential estate closeout and attempts to do the autioning for them. They then bring in their own products as well as the sellers and have the aution. Whatever doesn't sell of the owner, they get to keep or buy at a really cheap price. The audiences are spiked with ringers. Those are people employed by the auction house to jack up prices by bidding if to low. If the ringer wins an item, so what, they just put it up again the next day or at another auction. There is nothing eligal about this and it is done all the time.
Many stores that are going out of buisness work with a similar organization. That organization buys up the entire store or even chain going out of business and then have the going out of buiness sales. If you've ever been to a store frequently and it is closing, you may well see items they never carried before. The organization that is doing the closing brings in their own merchandise also. What doesn't sell this time goes to warehouses waiting for the next closing.
Basically keep away from any such possible auctions.
|
|
Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Quote:
There is nothing eligal about this and it is done all the time. It's called shill bidding and is absolutely illegal in Ahia. Another thing to watch for is that under many state laws, the auctioneer isn't required to be expert in what he's selling, and you have no recourse. It's a great way to unload counterfeit rare date and gold coins, and when they get kicked back as fakes, that's too bad, the auctioneer only told you what it was, you should have known what you were doing. |
|
Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Classic example. Auctioneer holds up an opened 1968 mint set and asks for bids on these "two 1968 proof sets".
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
It's no different than going into a dealers store who likes ripping people off who don't know the Coin World. It's no different than buying coins on ebay and getting ripped off or bidding too high.....at least at auctions, you have the "coin in hand" to decide for yourself what you have and what it's worth to you. If you just show up, armed with knowledge, and have a ceiling that you're willing to pay for any specific item...... you'll be fine. It doesn't matter how "crazy the bidding" gets. Or if there are "plants" in the crowd to jack up the bidding....or whatever..... stick to your guns !.......and you can get or find some very interesting stuff out there at these things....  |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
OK, I have to ask, where the heck is Ahia?
I was under the impression that shill bidding was illegal here in Alabama. However, I have seen auctioneers here take "bids" from people I knew were associated with the auction house. I have even seen them take a bid out of thin air to get the ball rolling.
I agree that most "Estate Auctions" are not actual estates, but are a conglomeration of items from various sources. I really don't care what they call the auction/sale, or where the items came from as long as they aren't stolen. My main concerns are to avoid counterfeits/fakes, and to get things at a good price.
|
|
Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
It's that state with the funny flag above West-by-God Virginia. You know, high in the middle and pointy on both ends?
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
Quote:
OK, I have to ask, where the heck is Ahia?
 I was wondering that too.....but didn't ask !!...  |
|
Moderator
 United States
187862 Posts |
"Ahia" is how many of the locals pronounce Ohio. I know this because I have more than a handful of friends and relatives from or in that state!  |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
....ahhhhhh ! |
| |
Replies: 25 / Views: 2,135 |
Posted 08/17/2008 7:44 pm
