Being new to collecting I'm keen to find out the best places to buy coins from. I've looked at online dealers and have been recommended a couple of excellent ones (coincraft, chard) by another helpful user on here. However, I've also been looking at possibly going to coin auctions. I'm not after coins worth thousands, rather I'm into uk sovereigns/half sovereigns. Any tips on what i should be wary of when at a coin auction? and do the coins that are on sale come with some sort of guarantee of their grading and in the case of sovereigns, their authenticity and gold content? Are auctions a good idea for novice collectors? i've also looked up on some coin valuation guides so i dont overpay for a coin i want. One i'm ordering is the spink 2008 guide. I already have the 2008 coin yearbook as published by token publishing which has some pricing info within it's pages. Any help most welcome. Cheers Rich.
Rich: I don't know about UK auctions rules, but I would research the rules before I go. In addition, DON'T get caught up in auction fever. Set a top price and stick to it, too often the excitement will overcome your good senses and you (read: all of us) will pay too much.
Don't put any faith in price guides - they are all over the map. About the only thing you really want to trust are realized auction prices. Now since you are in the UK, you need to look at UK or European auctions. Prices realized for coins sold in Europe can be far different than if the same coin was sold here in the US. And those differences can go up or down. The best realized auction guide I know of for European coins is this one - Coin Archives
Make it your priorty to examine coins before the auctioning time period. Do you agree with their grading? Write down any coin you're interested in plus the lot number and the grade you think it is and put a cap bid amount you want to actually pay for the coin including the auctioneer's fee! Clinker
