Ever fed the sharks in a bidding war?

I'm currently doing this. I know I won't win the coin, but rest assured I'm aggravating someone. I believe it to be overgraded, but if I win it I won't be unhappy. I put in a max bid and probably going to bed soon. Am I being mean?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

technically no.... you're just riskin' it in hopes you won't be the one that ends up with the coin and paid too much for it

Seriously, though, knowing what type of coin it is helps us detail our reply a lot. If it's a toned Morgan or Peace, you probably ain't winning it, but on a lot of other stuff you may have a chance. You could be aggravating an actual coin collector, or a status collector - the latter of which I significantly approve of.

 

It's a really nice Morgan. I'm just not that good of a grader. I fear it's over graded by one grade, mostly because of snob status, it's in a ICG holder. I've bought many coins in those slabs, but most of the time when I thought they undergraded. They are a decent TPG, but they seem more inconsistent than the rest. I placed my max bid a full grade below PCGS list price, so I'm not sweating it either way. I just decided to show my hole card early and call. I will not be unhappy either way this goes.

 

Welp, someone just outbid me a second ago. My work is done. I'm out.

 

Being smart is not being mean, good for you.

 

I wouldn't exactly call that "snob status"; that sounds more like personal preferences, which go a long way in coins.

ICG is sometimes inconsistent depending on the era; the most inconsistent I've seen is with the blue labels, but the recent white labels seem to be good.

Also, you're technically buying a coin sight unseen if it's online, even if you have detailed pictures, so bidding one grade below price guides like PCGS is a good strategy no matter the company.

 

I've caused quite a few prices to go up but that's what I was willing to pay for it. Someone else would do the same anyway by trying to snipe it at the end. I don't understand deliberately doing it to try to aggravate some anonymous person though. Or thinking that that's what you're doing, since you'll never know if you aggravated them or not, so where's the satisfaction? I don't get it.

 

Stimulating the economy.
I like it when a high bidder stacked their name up a few times.
I think it's an intimidation tactic, these are the easy ones to help spend their money.

 

Auction ended last night. It was a 1903P Morgan, graded MS66 by ICG. PCGS price guide says $600 in that grade. MS65 drops to $300. My max bid was 280. It hammered at $300. I've gotten better at grading Morgans but still a novice. Looks nice but photos can fool you. I would have been perfectly happy to win it at 280. Pics are here.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/227463716830

 

That looks like one of the coins you'd have to see in person to grade, no matter how good at grading you are.

The pictures definitely don't help, especially the reverse; if it does turn out to be a true 66, the winning bidder got an incredible deal, as Greysheet for a 66 is $455, but I'm a little sketchy about the reverse.

If I were buying it, I'd be at 65 money, partly since I basically have to as a dealer, since I know some people at shows I go to who don't wanna touch ICG stuff. And others will.

 

You're a sick one buddy and I do the same thing! It's not being mean at all, it's all part of the process and others do it as well!

 

To me it's just bidding. I don't bid on coins that I don't really want, but lots of people don't care what it is, they're just looking to "score" (i.e. motivated solely by profit). If your goal in bidding is just to reduce someone else's profit and go "haha", I still don't get it. If you try too hard to stick it to somebody, you'll end up buying it.

 

When stuff is out of my budget I just inadvertently drive up the price too haha.
Bid $200 on a national banknote and someone bid $202.50 so there's that. Also bid $199 on a set of consecutive bills and somebody swooped in and bid 200 XD.

 

There's one thing about Morgan Dollars. Unless some super rare VAM variety, there is not such thing as "I'll never see than one again." All of the Morgan Dollars are common, except some dates are hard to find in Mint State.

I'd never buy an overgraded one or regreat not buying it.

 

I don't bid on coins I don't want, but I sometimes bid low on coins I can only wish for, thinking, "Who knows, maybe it will get overlooked." I have read of that happening, but, of course, it almost never does. On the other hand, for a few minutes I can tell myself, I'm high bid on that $10,000 coin! Somehow, my $100 bid doesn't stand very long! I have occasionally bid realistically on a coin and then had second thoughts. Then I sit there and hope someone else is more foolish than I. So far, most of the time that has happened.

 

I have to admit I have found this fun at times. I remember a couple of times are really expensive coins on heritage I would bid $100 a pop just until I was high knowing I would never win. On ebay it was $1 on some coins - but coins I would not mind having. I can't remember the last time I did this.

 

In this case it was a win/win. Plus, I was helping the seller. I know a lot of you are dealers.

 

Lightning does strike sometimes on common Morgans that just happen to be conditionally rare especially.....it used to happen a lot on mid week working hours but these bidding bot programs have ended much of the fun. I have two coins like this, both raw, PCGS graded them MS66 and MS67 and I was the only bidder at the reserve price.

 

In case anyone didn't understand original post, "feeding the sharks", I'm a fisherman. You chum the water a little to get the bigger fish feeding into a frenzy. Not everyone understands that term, so I thought I'd explain. Blood in the water gets them active, hungry, and very competitive.