Got this message today. In effect, most of he ancients were withdrawn! This was my first time bidding in one of their sales. Needless to say, I am not impressed. Dear Sir, Madam, Due to unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances, the following lots have been withdrawn from our last auction: 4, 5, 7 to 10, 12, 14, 16 to 23, 30 to 61, 66, 69, 225 and 988. You have placed bids on one or multiples of these lots. Due to the vast amount of bids it is likely that your bids on one or more of these lots have been accepted. These lots, however, have not been offered for sale and will unlikely be auctioned in the nearby future. Our sincere apologies for any trouble this may have caused you. Kind regards, Schulman B.V.
https://auctions.schulman.nl/auctions/1-1C8RXB/schulman-auction-357 They aren’t fakes are they? (I don’t know enough to tell) Or maybe they had severe problems with a consignor at the last minute?
If the entire group is questionable authenticity, that suggests gross incompetence. Stolen seems more likely. But really? Occasionally lots are withdrawn but I have never seen the majority of coins in a section pulled and especially not after the auction is closed or nearly so.
I am all for doing the right thing, but this suggests an institutional failure. Suppose they were stolen. Was the consignor known to them or was it their first time dealing with this individual who happened to be consigning a large group of moderate to high value coins. I am not saying that they are responsible but the situation suggests at least a lack of due diligence and/or poor judgement.
Or this. Say you bought a coin on eBay that had no question as to authenticity. The seller does not know what he/she has, so you assume they are selling a relative’s collection. You win, get the coin, and post it here. Then you get a PM from someone claiming it is their coin that was stolen from them and they offer proof. There was no way to know that it was stolen. The transaction itself was ordinary. Perhaps the same thing happened to the auction house, and they saw no red flags in the transaction or the provenance. The theft may not have been properly reported (circulated in numismatic circles, inventory, photos, etc.), so the auction house could not cross-check the coins against any reports. You are so quick to blame the auction house that I think your rationale is clouded by your disappointment of not winning any of the coins you wanted.
Actually, no. The coin I was interested in was a die variety I did not have but it is nothing I can’t live without. As I said, withdrawal of individual lots occurs from time to time for a variety of reasons but I can think of no comparable situation to this one where a major portion of the sale was withdrawn. This scenario is one that should not happen except under extraordinary circumstances. Should an ethical and experienced dealer, e.g., Barry Murphy, Ken Dorney, or Rich Beale, say I am off base, then I will rescind my judgement. I am actually very interested what they might say but I would not be surprised if they chose not to comment on a fellow colleague.
I was following some Chinese coins in a Stacks’ auction, and they were all withdrawn. I felt they were possibly fake, and the auctioneers must have felt that way after the auction was published. It does happen
As far as I know, it is a reputable old firm. I have a catalog of it dating from 1914. It might well be a consignor deciding his deal’s not good enough. I don’t think - having looked at the coins - any of the ones with a picture in the catalog was fake.
I would not blame the auction house. Many circumstances could have caused this, notification to the firm they were stolen, one heir consigning them but another heir not wishing to sell, a banker claiming he has these pledged against a loan, etc etc. Most circumstances I can think this happening the auction firm is a bigger victim than the bidders. My blood pressure stays much lower assuming the best from most people, and much of the time that is what happened anyway.
Perhaps even stolen from the auction house itself. They occasionally have security problems or legal problems they have to deal with.
