The anticipation before an auction is absolutely killer. I've been watching this coin for a month or two. I've fully researched it. I have Mark Feld's thumbs-up. I have a price in mind. I sent a huge consignment to auction to help pay for this coin. Finally, the day is here. I'm watching the evening, getting a feel for how hot the market is. At the last minute, someone places a strong pre-auction bid for the coin I want. But, they don't know I'm lurking, waiting, watching. They don't know that I am going to win. As the lots tick down, I'm getting a feel for the market. Is it strong? Are prices running high? Is there a lot of action? The time gets close.... we're only a few minutes away from my coin. My adrenaline starts to rise. Jennifer the auctioneer is calling out her lots in that sing-song cadence she has. Minute by minute, lot by lot, we get closer and closer. Lot 19, 36 thousand. Lot 20, 8 thousand. Mine is lot 85. Getting so close. Lot 21, 46 thousand. Are you all done? Final warning, It's last call, and sold. And so it goes. Finally, my lot comes up. It starts at $5500. I have a bid at 6. Someone else really wants this coin. You have been outbid, bid again? Yes. 7 thousand. Back to you? Back and forth it goes. Eight Thousand. Cut bid! Maybe they're done? $8500. I'll bid one more time. And they bid again as well. Damn. That was my limit, and I can't chase it to the moon, as much as I want to. I lost. That really, really sucks.... I was more excited about this coin than I've been in a really long time. To see the coin I lost, take a look here: https://coins.ha.com/itm/territoria...ge-lotlinks-12202013&tab=MyTrackedLots-101116
That would have been a nice add, but definitely understand about not paying moon money. Better luck next time!
Ugh. I'm sorry to hear this buddy.... I was really pulling for you. Just remember, the money is in your pocket for another, equally special coin.
Aren't cut bids usually supposed to be final offers? It has always been that way when I ran into one.
No, not necessarily. You only get one cut bid, though, so you have to use it strategically. Preferably you use it when you think the other guy is done and then you don't have to bid a full increment. This guy came back with a bid, and so I had to keep bidding at full increments after that.
Wow! What a coin! I know how you feel. I went to an auction where they were selling a house and all of the furnishings. My second most important collecting hobby is to collect all of Louis L'Amour's Hardback books. It started out at $1 for the entire collection he had in his library (12 books). A woman bid the $1 and I bid $5, then she went to $10 and I went to $20. She did not make another bid, so I won the books. After looking through the collection, I found that I already had 8 of the books, so I went to the lady and asked her if she like Louis L'Amour and she said, no, that the books were for her father who was an invalid, and he liked the books, so I gave her the books that I already had. I was probably taken, but I really didn't lose anything.
If I had $11400 to spend it would be for a nice SLQ. The coin you bid on was nice and too bad you didn't get it. I've lost several coins I really wanted to another bidder at the last minute. After the adrenaline settled down I felt relieved that I didn't get caught up in the moment and stuck to my limit. The positives were the excitement and thrill leading up to the auction.
Last January I attended the Triton XXII auction at the NYINC. I had settled on getting 4 coins and if I still had any money left 2 others. I got none of the original 4 coins. I got 2 others as well as the last 2 I was interested in. In these cases I am always reminded of a saying attributed to Moltke the Elder Chief of the German General Staff He said "no plan survives first contact with the enemy".
Sorry to hear you didn’t win, Jason. Looking at it from the bright side... you now have a decent amount of money available to buy coins
I was watching a half cent on HA for close to a month as well and had the same anticipation. Been trying to add an eye appealing half cent for months now and really loved this one. It was already bid up high before the live auction started so I knew I didn't have much room. Figured I could bid first when live, then use a cut bid if it didn't hold. Did exactly that and the guy instantly bid again and I knew it was over for me. Oh well, even in losing coins like that a lot of the thrill is in the hunt/anticipation. I also used the same amount of funds I earmarked for the half cent on a different coin that I think is great so it was a nice consolation at least.
How well I know that feeling in the last few seconds of an auction. For me it's only been on Ebay. Great feeling when you win and it sucks when you lose. I've won some auctions by less than a dollar and lost by the same.
I know that feeling well. But I rationalize it by knowing that it happened because a better opportunity lies down the road. Every experience I’ve had losing a coin I want ends up with me getting something else which I was far happier with than if I had won the original coin. Several months ago, this coin came up for auction. I put all I had in it and bid €425. The other bidder wanted it more and won it for the next increment of €450. Then this one came up last month. This example was an even earlier example of the type, had a better stike, and had a crusty original patia. Despite being a superior and more-desirable coin, I won it for only €350. I really could not be happier.
I can relate to this. Exactly. In the past if I had been able to buy a certain coin, I most certainly wouldn't have had funds at a later time to buy something else, harder to obtain that comes up even less often. When one door closes, another one opens. By the way @TypeCoin971793 - the second example definitely looks better.
No, I have an Italian piece from 1808 that is PL-ish that they call "polished". I can tell the difference, but since it's foreign, they don't want to put the effort in to look at it closely.
