Let me start off by saying this is not a rant, but purely an observation. I was at an auction this afternoon. While I had no intentions of buying any coins, I had to sit and wait for them to sell, before the auctioneer moved onto to other things. I have seen coins bring well over value in the past, but this is perhaps the highest I have seen them bring. They sold about 30 cull v-nickels. They were smooth, many lacking dates. They all sold for $3 each on up. In the past, most cull v-nicks bring $1 or less. Most bring 50 cents each if cull. All the mercury dimes brought $4 each. No key dates, just average circulated. $2 each at the time of posting is plenty, maybe $2.25 if your in need. They had 3 walking liberty half dollars. Again, well worn, no keys. They bright $15 on up. They had 2 holed gold dollar coins. Holed gold coins don't usually carry much of a premium. They sold for $160 each. Right now melt is $77. $100 would of been plenty, I think. While no one seemed to be paying attention, I did buy one silver quarter for $1 under melt. ($4). That was all I bought. There seems to be an influx of bidders at auctions overpaying. I think the recent TV shows about the auction lifestyle have put dollar signs into the eyes of people looking to make a quick buck. Feel free to share your "overpaying" stories.
The psychology of bidding at auctions is very interesting to me. When someone decides they really want something, they will more likely overbid especially if there is a bidding war (competition). I also think some people focus more on the incremental increase in cost of the bid as opposed to the overall bid and get caught up in the excitement. Good for you to get that quarter for less than melt. Not surprised the Mercs were going for $4 though. TC
I have noticed extremely high prices for numismatic items at auction houses as well in my area. If consignment rates were a little lower it would be tempting to buy a whole bunch of low value items in bulk at a local coin shop and then see how much they would bring at auction. I would suspect that it would be at least double the purchase price but the 40% consignment rates that many auctioneers charge would cut into the potential profit considerably. There is an auction in my area next weekend that has some coins and I'm going to go to it purely for the entertainment value of watching people pay $50 each for circulated Morgan dollars. Perhaps there might be a few items that slip through the cracks and go under market value but it is unlikely. Once you start getting into higher dollar items it seems that the prices are much more realistic since it seems that the typical auction goer gravitates towards items under $100. Perhaps the most outrageous example I have seen is someone paying $15 for a single 1943 steel cent at auction.
People tend to equate age with value,Something old must be worth alot.Couple that with the auction "fever"some people get and they spend a few dollars more than something is worth.
cant wait for this months i got a littleton coin album mercury dime type $4 a roll of mostly bu 1959 d pennies $1 a .10 percent unc 1964 peso $1 are club is pretty small les then 30 people so the auctions arent that big but its fun
Exactly. It's impossible to save folks like these from themselves, Citizen. Don the cape for some other endeavor.......
What fees does that auction house charge? You could potentially make some money if its reasonably low. Buy some Mercs/V nickels and have them sell em. If they take 25% you would come out well, buy some mercs at $2-$2.25, if they all sell for $4 again you're netting $3 and making a nice return of 30-40% on your investment. Could potentially do even better on the V-nicks if you can get em cheap. '
I was at a gun auction that also had some well circulated average Ike's and people were paying 20 dollars for 5 of them!
Good thoughts, but in my own experience weekly/monthly standing auctions usually make this money for themselves. The dealers aren't dumb, they know their crowd is overpaying. Now, why would he wish to share that largesse with anyone else? I have know auctioneers to have standing orders with local shops for crap coins to sell. They know exactly how much their crowd overpays, but also realize they will only buy so many at those prices. If a guy could get into such an auction with some consignments I bet you could make a little, but that is a big if. The "other side of the coin" though is such auctions are horrible for REAL coins. I have seen, (and bought), expensive coins in such settings for cheap. I bought a dollar tube once of Vnickels for $18, but in there were 15 XF/AU 12d's and one 1886 in G. I basically paid junk price for them. If you know what you are doing its POSSIBLE to make money at these auctions if they are true consignments, but most of the time they are sales by the auctioneer of junk coins. Its so rare to have real coins in them I simply stopped attending them. However, if you are there ANYWAY, always check it out. In these places a $20 coin will go for $45, but a $1000 coin might go for $600.
Ebay is the same. once a bidding war starts then the price will always go for higher. or a coin you feel you must have you'll always pay more for. unless you are 1 of those guys that refuses to pay more for a coin than it's worth. I am guilty of over paying for some world coins that I never see on the market in a long time. I am ok with it. some coins are more scarce than others. I will not pay more for a common coin.
I have had the same experience medoraman. The local weekly coin auction is done by an auctioneer who has a relationship with the local coin shop. All the coins sold at auction come from that shop, and I assume they both split the profits. I tried a couple times to get coins into the auction and was very disappointed by the results. On two occasions he flat out told me he would not accept the consignment. On the other two occasions, he charged a high commission, did none of his normal promotion on my coins, and sold them in a group lot at the end of the auction. It was pretty clear he was encouraging me to stop messing with his business... Likewise the common junk sells for a premium to people who do not know better, or get caught up in the auction, while the very rarely offered gems (don't know how they got in) sell for much less than they are worth. I went to this particular auction for a a couple months before I realized it was a waste of time. During that time I did happen to pick up a 1983 DDR cent in PCGS MS63 for around $50, sold it on ebay for $200 a week later, but it was the only coin like that, everything else was just common date low grade stuff.
I've been to a couple estate auctions last summer where there was plenty of overpaying. I think some common Morgans were going for $40+. I bid on coins but didn't come close to winning. There are quite a few people that go to these auctions, get macho and just want to get the rush of winning. I did get a sledgehammer for $2.
