I tend to follow some of the larger auctions in hopes to find French material, and I see that Weldon Burson ("the man" in the West African area) is selling much of his amazing collection through LKA. Unfortunately, LKA doesn't display scans of the backs of foreign notes, and seems to ignore requests for such scans. To me, this has always been a bad sign, and I usually do not bid on items where the seller will not provide a scan of both sides of the note. I've missed out on some great notes as a result. I did get an email back from LKA stating that they do not currently provide back scans of non-US notes, I guess that was a request for me to stop asking for them. Am I off-base here? Is anyone bidding on some of the fantastic material available even without images? Dave
Not at all ! you have every right to view the front and back of every note regardless Of where it,s from! though i have never did business with Lyn Knight i guess this Is a reason not to
They do provide the back of US notes, so you would be fine (I think you only collect US, correct?) Dave
Dave, anyone who knows of LKCA can appreciate your frustration. Frankly while I would love to sell a lot of my extras through them, but that lack of a reverse image thing is quite a bother. That aside, they are usually very dependable with accurately described items. I have always gotten my auction lots quickly from them(even though right now one of mine is about 30km from me loitering in another post office - post office SNAFU.) Actually I have indeed purchased some of the uncirculated African notes in recent auctions myself, but chancing those rare but lightly circs - nae yet.
Hi Dave M! Sorry to hear that they won't accomodate you in a simple request. Frankly I don't understand why they don't, as the reverse of the notes are often quite stunning and would provide much more interest in the notes from potential buyers, perhaps driving up the price. I haven't used Lyn Knight before (I stay away from the big auction houses - fees, pain in the butt policies, etc) but I have purchased several notes from Weldon Burson a few years back. I must say that the notes I bought from him through his site were amazing and better (by far) than described. I can only hope that Mr. Burson's notes would follow his grading and descriptions, even though it's Lyn Knight's auction house. If you decide to try them out, I wish you the best of luck. Mr. Burson's old notes are some of my favorites.
Thanks for the feedback, guys. DaveL: I've bought a few items direct from Weldon Burson, and was always happy with the results. They weren't pricey items though, just from his duplicates list. Somehow I'm more interested in seeing the whole note now that I'm shopping for items potentially XXX more expensive in an auction. SM: Good point about uncirculated versus the rest. Perhaps I should stick my neck out and pick up an UNC item and see how it comes out. I just hate to take the risk, wouldn't want to have to go through the return process, etc. Dave
Dave M - believe you me, the reverse image thing has been discussed to death in various PM forums. For some reason LK doesn't see the need, doesn't want to "waste" bandwidth etc on it. Even image size was a bone to pick up until earlier this year, and if you just view the site without the viewer it still can be. Frankly I bid on the notes from this Memphis sale based on the enhanced images and not the regular images. I have also brought the matter up with Joel Shafer, but nothing happens on the reverse images. At least USA collectors got a treat when reverse images were posted for the Diamond Bar collection. I admit, you get spoiled when you look at those large sized hi res images on HA, it becomes what you expect from all others. It pays with other places to have a friend on the inside that can send hi res images and info on lots - ie Spink. Kathy Lawrence, also a member here, is most helpful with providing info on HA lots. That said, I would have placed bids on some circulated West African notes, but I am buying them more for the reverse than the front - not seeing the reverse and the condition of the wear puts me off and I don't bid accordingly. There are some WA and Mali large denomination notes in circulated that I was interested in in these last several auctions. Unless they are uncirculated, it is a gamble. I trust LK is good with descriptions, but when you collect notes for one aspect of them - that part of the note has to be the best. When that subject is on the reverse, well what can you say?
They didn't have reverse for some of the american notes either, at least not for last session. I think they only provide image of both sides for more expensive items. Diamond Bar collection collection is very high end, wish I can have collection like that.
