I recently went to my second coin auction run by this auctioneer, and this time listened to his comments about the coins. Based on what I heard, I believe he is really knowledgeable about coins, and plan to go to others he has. But how do you determine if the caller knows his stuff? If I go to another auction with a different auctioneer, how do I judge him/her? Sure, I have to know the coins, but before I take the time to go, is there a way to check? Luckily the auction I went to is only eight miles away, and I think I got a good deal the first time and will continue to go to them. Do you have a favorite auctioneer?
Read the terms and conditions, policy and general guidelines. That'll give plenty of info. If you also mean the auctioneer himself, he is just the messenger imo
Yes, I meant the auctioneer, but you bring up another part of it, that is, is the auctioneer just carrying the water for a bunch of dealers who want to unload what they can't sell? I believe my auctioneer knows his coins, because of the comments he made, but an uninvolved one would just be there to sell the stuff.
For the overwhelming majority of local auctions yes the auctioneer is a professional at selling, not a professional at what they are selling.
Then I got lucky. This guy does know enough about coins to talk about them. He takes specific notes on each coin and even uses the right terminology.
In the end it doesn't really matter if he does or not. I say that because as a bidder you should be basing your decisions on what you know, regardless of anything the auctioneer has to say - or not say. An auctioneer's job is to sell the goods and get highest price they can. And they are going to do and say anything and everything they can to do just that. It's kind of like it is with coin slabs. If you are buying a coin you should completely ignore the slab and whatever it says, and base your decision on the coin itself - and only the coin itself. Same kinda thing with auctioneers, forget what he has to say and only base your decision on the coin.
I know what you're saying and I agree. But it seems to me if the auctioneer doesn't know what he has in the first place, he might have mostly junk coins. So you won't go to any auctions he has because it won't be worth your time. Whereas one who is knowledgeable will have better stuff. Yes, I know the idea is to sell the coins, but having a reputation of having good merchandise brings more buyers. I did notice several dealers at the auction, and some pretty high prices (couple of thousands in some cases) going for coins.
I get it John, I really do. And while it's true that you never know you're gonna find at any given auction, it's been my experience that the majority of coins at local auctions are, to use your words, mostly junk coins. And most of the people buying them don't have a clue what they're doing. And there's those who are looking for that one great find, because ya never know where you're gonna find it. But could the auctioneer be an indicator of what you might find at that auction ? Yeah, maybe. But it also might be that the only reason he's there is because he's simply good at his job, especially at local auctions. I mean local auctions aren't likely to bring in special people for auctioneers - they can't afford it. They're gonna hire the best guy they know of that's local to the area. Me, I never even used to go to local auctions because like I said, and you said, it's mostly junk coins. So I always went with the laws of probability and looked for coins in places where I was more likely to find them. I mean you can spend your time going to yard sales, and flea markets and local auctions - and you might get lucky. But most of the time you're not gonna, ya just aren't because the odds are long and strongly against you. To me it's kinda like lottery tickets, a lot of folks buy them, but few ever win.
The lottery is a tax on people who slept through math class. When you START from the "returns 50% of the wagered amount in prizes" you really need nothing else to understand your long-term result. Because there should be perfect information (everybody knows what is offered for sale, had the chance to examine it and determine value), Auctions are essentially wealth transfers from the ignorant. If you have 20 or 30 dealers sitting in the room, what are the odds that at least one of them will know PRECISELY what the item up for bids is worth, and will bid to that point less a reasonable profit for himself on the resale? Say you are bidding on $100 melt value of 90%. You need to make 5% so you can bid to $95. If somebody bids $97.50 you let it go because either they're ignorant or their cost of business is less than yours and they can make money at a lower margin. If it goes for $110, somebody was ignorant (or saw value you missed - maybe it wasn't purely 90%, there was a dateless 1916 SLQ in there).
