When I first began the process of selling some of my coins I had sent a group to CNG and they insisted on placing some of them into bulk lots. Basically I got about $10 per coin. I never did that again.
To further illustrate my point about CNG photos, here are the contents of another lot from the same auction. Description: "BI Tetradrachms of Alexandria (4) // Various bronze issues (9). Fine to VF." From my experience, "Fine" in CNG terms usually means "corroded almost beyond recognition" - I see VF to EF here. The lot was estimated at $150 and arranged in such a way that the majority of the "good" ones weren't visible in the photo. I only bought it because I spotted the Messalina tet; once again, this is easily worth double what I paid, and probably would have fetched triple if they just laid the coins out like this. For those curious: Top row - Nero / Poppaea Alexandria billon tetradrachm, Year 10 Macrinus AE from Marcianopolis Maximus Caesar AE from Perge (Unlisted? Discussion here: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/id-help-maximus-caesar-provincial-perge-unlisted.345119/) Augustus/Agrippa AE Dupondius, Nemausus Middle - Tranquillina AE from Deultum, Thrace Diadumenian AE from Marcianopolis Augustus AE from Philippi Pseudo-Autonomous AE from Philippi Diadumenian AE from Nikopolis ad Istrum Bottom - Nero / Poppaea Alexandria billon tetradrachm, Year 11 Kingdom of Thrace, Augustus / Rhoemetalkes & Pythodoris Nero / Claudia Octavia Alexandria billon tetradrachm, Year 3 Claudius / Messalina Alexandria billon tetradrachm, Year 3 Would it have been in the consignor's best interest to pay $520 in fees to consign these individually? Probably not. Fortunately for this seller, the Messalina side of the Claudius tet was visible, as well as enough to ID both Poppaea tets and the Nemausus dupondius. Without those visible, this lot could have sold for the $150 estimate, or even lower. The Octavia tet however was not visible, and neither was the Maximus.
Superior did that too. I still have part of a hoard of 3rd century Antioch tetradrachms I bought sight unseen from them from an unphotographed back of the catalogue lot. I paid maybe five bucks each and sold a bunch via Coin World classifieds for $20-25 each, depending. I even sold some to my non-coin collecting work-mates, because who wouldn't want a big, perfectly genuine ancient silver coin in pretty decent shape for $20? Phil Davis
I bought the very first AK lot, all RR silver, for HJB stock. Really nice coins, with provenances going back to Haeberlin. The firm did well; I kept this coin and one other as a sort of finder's fee (That was fair; Harlan knew he would never have noticed this lot on his own.) I would've bought the whole lot myself if I had to, just to get this coin. Phil Davis
Good move. In case someone missed it, look at the details of the reverse top and then look at the coin illustrating Aurelia 20 and Porcia 8 in RSC. That will explain why some coins are boring and some drive the right-thinking to pay too much or buy large lots. I would love to find the Volodya coin worn to fine and value that higher than the RSC version as it fell from the die. I bought two AK lots, each for one included coin, but enjoyed many of the lot fillers, too, so it is hard to tell what was paid for what. I only bid on those two lots but wonder now if that was an error.
I forgot to mention that I bought mine in 1987 for $18. At least you can see the draco ... sort of anyway. I guess I need to redo this image for spelling. Oops!
Buying group lots unseen or by simple web photos is a crap shoot. There just isn't any way to know if you will win or lose. After many years of this I have learned a lot of things, but some advise I will give: If you cannot view the lots in person, bid very low. You may end up paying a lot for junk. If you have the ability to view group lots in person, you have all the advantage that everyone else does not have. You can examine exactly what is in the group. I've bought countless thousands of group lots. Win some, lose many. But to be honest I have never regretted buying any ancient coin. Sure, I may lose money on many, but I still have that awesome experience.
I was offered one this weekend, near mint state, lustrous, a really magnificent coin. I was looking very fast, too many coins and mostly priced double retail. But after he left I realized his was priced about 25% of what it should have been (maybe less considering how high grade it was). I look around, yea, he's gone! Oh well. I know he will be back around. Next time, the coin is mine!