Do auction houses bid/buy their own coins?

I realized something weird with an Austrian auction house.

This coin here:


... there is buyers fee which is around 20%.

So, that Phocas coin was sold for 780 Euro.

But a bit later the auction house listed it on their own store here for 900 Euro:

https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/nu...rike_and_great_centering/2322555/Default.aspx



And also this Justinian II:

... with buyers fee it would be 4200 Euro.

Again, this was also listed soon in their store for 4500 euro:

https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/nu...tions_of_christ_on_coins/2322554/Default.aspx


Is this a normal practice among the auction houses? To bid or buy their own coins?

 

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Assuming these were consigned coins, they wouldn't have been property of the auction house. Maybe the AH thought they were going cheap enough that they could buy them and sell them higher at fixed prices?

 

They probably didn't meet their reserve price and were thus put on sale directly for the reserve price.

 

Lots of games go on with auctions, which bidders don't know about. It's supposed to be illegal, but that's only if they get caught.

Years ago I watched a lot sell to me for a good price in an on-line auction. I waited for 50 lots to make sure they didn't re-open it. There were even comments on-line about how it had been a good buy.

When I got the bill the price was higher than my bid plus the buyers' fee. When I asked "What gives?' they told me that they had missed a "snail mail bid." I had a discussion with them, and finally got the item for the next cut bid above supposed "snail mail" bid, but I felt used. I didn't bid on that auction house's offerings for several years as a resut.

 

The Auction House was probably shill bidding and ended up with the coin. This especially happens with soft close auctions.

 

John. If they missed the snail mail bid that is THEIR mistake and
you won the auction at the price they accepted.
This kind of shady dealing turns me off from things like this.
Where is the integrity?
Because, they are still letting you "win" the item but at a higher price.
They make enough money without having to nickel and dime a good customer. One who I assume took his business elsewhere after that deal.

All things being equal and assuming this was an honest auction house, then I agree with Croatian Coin Collector.
My first instinct was what gronnh20 said.

 

I remember going to auctions, years ago that used the term "sold to the book". What does that actually mean?

 

In the old days it met that the lot was sold to someone who had bid a reserve ahead of the auction. It also could mean that the consignor had a reserve, and it was not met. Today Heritage indicates when a lot is bought back by the consignor. So far as a dishonest opertion might do, who knows?

Years ago a dealer told me about an small auction he attended where the auctioneer was pointing to the back as he raised the bids. The dealer looked around and saw that there was no one behind him. The dealer decided that he was bidding against "the wall."

Many years ago I attended a Saturday morning session that was conducted by a then major coin company. There were few in attendence. The items were all California fractional gold pieces.

The auction would open up at say $100, and people in front were bidding against each other. Then a guy in back yelled "$5,000!!!!" or sometimes "$6,000!" That ended the bidding because the people in front had only bid $300 or $400. The guy did that time after time. He placed a bid that way over the level that was on the floor at least 30 or 40 times, and it was the same guy.

A few months later this same company was selling a catalog full of California fractoinal gold pieces. In their write-up they stated, "Past auction results for this item were ... $5,000 or $6,000." I think you get the idea.