Thoughts And Expierences Buying Coins At Auction Houses

I've bid in a near-local online auction with a 15% internet bidders' premium and have nailed down several good deals. As with any auction, however, it only takes two people to drive prices up. Usually, I research only coins in which I'm interested and enter my pre-bid at exactly the maximum price to which I'll go, and as the auction progresses keep an eye on lots which are going below value and bid on them.

"Absentee" bids are like bidding blind, IMHO. Your $90 bid might have been topped by one for $91, and if you'd been following the auction you might have topped the $91 with $92 and won the lot at below its value.

I have to agree with the type of crowd at a auction. I went to an estate auction that had tons of carnival glass and furniture. The women were controlling the bids on that stuff. When the coins finally came up, not one of them was bidding. It was just myself and 1 other guy bidding. I got alot of stuff from that auction cheap.

Maybe the "Coin and stamp" auction isn't the way to go. Estate auctions may be better?

Always had good luck at auctions. They do tend to over-grade in my opinion, but there are deals to be had.

I acquired most of my collection by buying at both coin and estate auctions. Between mid-2008 to late 2009, I could obtain a broad spectrum of various silver quarters, halves, and dollars as well as mint and proof set at very reasonable pricing. Often, I could buy lots of coins and mint/proof set greatly below the referenced Blue Book pricing. For example: My best buy was twenty-five Barber halves (1897 - 1915) at $3.00 a piece.

I think my "deal" days are over though. Lately, I encounter bidders who create bidding wars that result in final pricing far beyond Red Book prices. Last month, prior to selling coins, an auctioneer mentioned silver was at $29.00 per ounce and projected to climb over $50.00 an ounce by the end of the summer. Of course, this only fed the bidding frenzy. I witnessed three silver 1976 bicentennial coin sets sell for $27.00 a piece. This clearly supports how a new collector or ill-informed bidder can pay way too much for a specific coin or collection.

If two mail bids go in at the same price, the first one takes precedence.

I bid regularly in a mail bid auction series. If I am successful on at least one bid, the item is posted to me, along with a list of prices realised. Also, if I am successful on at least one bid, the catalogue for the next sale is sent to me free of charge when it is released.

If two bids are submitted, say at $250 and $450, the item is sold to the highest bidder at 5% above the price of the second highest bidder, in this case, that would be $250 + 5% = $262.50. A buyer's premium is added to this: 15% + 10% tax = 16.5%. This makes the total cost to the successful bidder $262.50 + 16.5% = $308.81 plus postage and packaging. You can get very fast in working all of this out on a calculator in about 3 seconds flat.

Unsold lots are re offered at a fixed price for sale, that price being the reserve price at the auction.

There is no auction room drama, I can research the value of items I wish to bid on, and can take up to a fortnight to do that before either posting or emailing my bids.

I always pay by money order. That way there is no disclosure of any of my financial details via the keyboard. I don't have to worry about unknown data mining or Trojan horses in my computer that I don't know about. Besides, money orders are cheaper than bank drafts or electronic money transfer for me. I have sent hundreds of dollars overseas in this way.

i have never been to a auction, but after reading your posts, I feel I should attend one, one is coming up in my city this month. I will attend it for sure, and see to it that my bids win for the right type of coins.

I have had lots of success when biiding and buying at local estate auctions. However, I find it is almost impossible to get a reasonable deal with the big professional auction venues. the main thing to remember at auctions is that your only defense is knowledge.