https://www.sixbid.com/browse.html?auction=3064&search=hadrian i call this extreme https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ar...desc&countitems=427&changeDisplayList=&page=1 Best, Eric
Well, good luck to that dealer, tying up all that money on inventory it will take a long time to sell.
He may have been the consigner for the auction and they didnt hit the reserves. Considering the prices I would not be surprised if none were actually bought by anyone.
ha no, have them already i did bid on one coin i think.... i understand dealers buying lots when there are multiple coins in it. any collector would use auctions i guess, and sometimes vcoins
We don't know his business. Maybe he has had a lot of luck selling this emperor lately. Maybe the dealer was just physically at the auction and thought he might as well take them home instead of buying at another auction and having to pay high shipping, etc. Maybe the auctioneer gave him a break on fees if he bought more in person. Its an interesting post OP, not dismissing that, and thanks for sharing, but I can think of a ton of reasons the dealer might have bought a lot of coins at that auction. Edit: A way better answer is Ken's post 2 above mine. Very logical to think he consigned a bunch to the auction and didn't like the prices he was receiving so simply bought them back.
Umm.. how does that even work? A consigner buying his own inventory? The coins still belong to the consigner until they are sold by the auction house, right? So he wins his own coins at the auction, pays the auction house the hammer price plus buyer's fee ... and then the auction house pays him the hammer price minus the consigner's fee. That's crazy. And he'd be losing a lot of money in the process.
I believe many sellers have special provisions if they buy their own lots back. Basically its like a no sale and they have to pay some sort of nominal fee to the auction house, but of course would vary.
Other possible 'guesses': Many of the coins sold for several times estimate. If he was the consignor, the answer would be shill bidding gone bad or a 'shiek' bidder who did not pay. Those two are nasty ideas so lets look for a slightly better one. Perhaps he had a customer who told him he wanted nice Hadrians so he bought them thinking he had a sure sale. After the fact the customer told him he did not want any of them because he (like you) had the common ones and was not happy the dealer bid over him with the idea of selling them to him. Years ago I had this problem. If you bid over me on a coin you know I want in a sale you know I frequent, don't even think of trying to sell it to me. If you buy a coin I'd like in a place you have no expectation I saw, great. I believe in paying for service. Extortion is not a service.
Maybe he thinks the price will eventually reach what he is asking for. I'm not experienced in selling coins, but in other hobbies some things are almost a guaranteed profit if held on to for a long time. Not calculating inflation of course.
What's shocking to me is the NGC slabbed aureus that went for EUR 6500 (before fees) at auction now being retailed de-slabbed for EUR 8900. Talk about your exorbitant slab-cracking fees! On a serious note, I don't know if the dealer is a well-known or established one, but perhaps the coins were bought by an individual and consigned to this dealer for sale?
What is good vs bad coin turnover time frame for dealers? Assuming the coins are not meant to be temporarily part of the dealer's private collection. Would it be 'good' if this dealer sells all the Hadrian auction purchases within a month? 6 months? A year?
depends on the price, here would be much longer, i guess. lot 57 sold for 2000€ the losing bid was a collector there not many collectors with that kind of deep money pockets who do not see any auctions
It really depends on the dealer. One dealer I know prefers quick turnaround to waiting years for a coin to sell and he usually gives me great deals because he wants to move inventory. In some cases he's sold me coins below cost because he needs a "war chest" for upcoming auctions. I've also met dealers who seem to have no problem listing a coin for double fair retail price and not being willing to budge even when a coin has been in their Vcoins inventory for several years. Maybe they are keeping coins for their personal collection but every single coin in his inventory is similarly priced, so I have to doubt this.
Dealers tend to be human beings and human beings come in all variations. I know more than one whose game plan is to enjoy having the coins for a while and then moving them on so a quick turnaround is not particularly desirable. A lot depends on whether they are trying to feed the kids or if they have a huge fortune and a small hobby. I know both. I do know one that has some coins I would like but he likes them well enough that anything approaching reasonable will come when his grandchildren sell them, we won't. I also know more than one person who finds their time so precious that they can't photograph and list coins on VCoins so their sit is terrible compared to what they lug to shows. One used to pay me to do photo work but they retired and moved to Florida. My collection might be better if I followed. I have always said that I really wish I could see everything that happened to each coin from the day it was made to the day it was dug up to the number of hands it passed through. Some coins sell more times at one show than others did in the last century. I have coins that have been with me 50+ years which is good for me but not so hot for a dealer.
