Auctions houses and Covoronavirus

Agree with you. Save money for hard time to come, buy only essential goods don’t buy coin as it is non essential. Keep safe your family and yourself.

Rather take time if you are staying at home to study the coins you got on your collection.

 

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I have plenty of perspective: I live in New York City, I'm 65 years old with pre-existing health issues that put me in a very vulnerable position, and according to Governor Cuomo's order I'm not supposed to go outside without a mask -- even though it's been impossible to buy one anywhere for weeks! -- and have younger family members do my shopping for me, even though I live alone and my son (thankfully) is in Toronto. There are plenty of places where I can talk about all those issues, and the present crisis in general. This happens to be a coin forum, and Heaven forbid (apparently) that I should distract myself from more important things by raising a question I had about a coin I bought. Furthermore, I'm not concerned that my coins won't ship in a timely manner; I said two weeks ago that I wouldn't be ordering from Europe anymore for the time being. I simply asked a question about the meaning of a tracking notification I received after a coin I had ordered arrived in the USA. David Atherton answered my question, and I thanked him. End of story. At least I thought so.

TLDR: your ire is seriously misplaced, at least where I'm concerned.

 

I agree, everyone should put the blame on the Chinese Communist Regime. They where warned by Doctors in Wuhan, but told to stay quiet or else. They should have right then shut down Wuhan to keep it contained. Of course by the time they reacted it was too late.

 

It seems to be the consensus of opinion that if they had acted a few weeks earlier than they did -- instead of trying to suppress information about what was going on and cover it up -- this whole thing would probably never have gotten out of control and become an international pandemic. Yes, they eventually took the necessary steps, but in a very significant sense you're absolutely correct that it was too late. Let's hope that the fact that we -- and Italy, and other countries -- also waited too long to take this seriously wasn't a completely irreparable failure.

 

Alan or whoever wrote this, left out a good part of the story which is as follows below. If you wonder what the heck Genoa had to do in Crimea, well they bought Kaffa from the Mongols who later attacked them...Useful history lesson for people to reconsider whom to choose as their allies.

In 1343, Jani Beg, the new Kahn of the Golden Horde, attacked Caffa with his Turkish mercenaries. After 3 years of siege, the Turks were completely fed up and suffering from plague, so they decided to use their own infected dead as weapons. They used catapults to launch the dead plague corpses into the city, until the defenders sickened and died. The contemporary historian Gabriele de’ Mussi tells us:
What seemed like mountains of dead were thrown into the city, and the Christians could not hide or flee or escape from them, although they dumped as many of the bodies as they could in the sea. And soon the rotting corpses tainted the air and poisoned the water supply. … Moreover one infected man could carry the poison to others, and infect people and places with the disease by look alone.

 

@DonnaML ,I actually just had a package of coins shipped from Leu in Switzerland which apparently made it into customs in NYC on the same day as your package. I was shocked when it got delivered to me in Brooklyn on Thursday, that’s the fastest I’ve ever had something come out of customs...usually takes at least a week or so. Not sure where in the city you are, but it’ll probably get delivered to you sometime in the next week or so.

 

Thanks. I hope so!

 

Many thanks as it is more fair and it can be a Thread for all of us to keep inform of what happen for each auction house according to coronavirus. Of course auctions houses can also post information here.

 

Everyone else get the email from CNG this morning saying prices are abnormally high since so many are at home? Makes sense. I just keep coins I haven't put in boxes and labeled yet at home to play with at times like these.

 

Your coin is probably delayed somewhere in customs.

There is a form that you can fill out on the USPS website, but I cannot locate it. They might have taken it down due to the pandemic.

Here's the USPS Customer Service telephone number: 1 (800) 275-8777

 

Thanks. I'm going to give it another week, and then figure out how to make an inquiry.

 

The order to to shut down all pubs and restaurants was finally issued yesterday. However, I read that crowds are still allowed to gather and attend sporting and other events in Australia. Not good.
Yes, China did suppress news about the initial outbreak of the pandemic, but as you remarked, other countries, including the US and many in Europe, are equally to blame for being slow off the mark.
The economic toll, both in livelihoods and economic security have taken and will continue to take hard hits. The mitigation the damage is going to take many trillions of dollars, just for the US.

 

I can dig it

 

Yeah. What @DonnaML. Said

 

I found an email to inquire with Customs about delayed packages. They responded promptly to my inquiry, denying any involvement or knowledge:

"Thank you for taking the time to contact U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Compliments and Complaints Branch regarding your package RK066488133FR.

Unfortunately, this matter is outside our jurisdiction. In review, there is no indication that your package is in CBP custody. Based on the tracking number you provided, information regarding your package on the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) official Web site, www.USPS.com, states that your package was last located at the International Sorting Center (ISC) in New York NY (USPS) on March 13, 2020. This indicates that USPS has your package, not CBP. Please understand that the ISC is not a CBP facility.

USPS.com® - USPS Tracking® Results
March 13, 2020, 2:39 am
Processed Through Facility
ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS)
Your item has been processed through our facility in ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS) at 2:39 am on March 13, 2020.

If we, CBP had possession of a package, USPS would annotate a status on their tracking Web site as “Inbound into Customs or Held by Customs.” This is not the case.

Please understand, we are not a postal service and therefore, we are not responsible for the tracking, mailing, and delivery of packages. USPS assumes this responsibility.

We encourage you to visit your nearest USPS Office to speak with the Postmaster. Please contact USPS directly at (800) 275-8777 or https://www.usps.com/help/missing-mail.htm. "


So I'll try to file a missing mail report with the USPS now, and see what happens.

 

I went ahead and filled out and submitted the USPS online form for missing mail. It permits one to upload a photo of the missing item, so I did that as well. I'll see if I ever hear anything, but I'm not optimistic given that Customs claims to have had nothing to do with this. So it just vanished, I suppose? The seller in Paris (CGB Numismatique) is closed right now, but if the coin doesn't turn up in the next couple of weeks I'll ask them if the shipment was insured. (I bought the coin via MA-Shops, and unlike V-Coins there's no specification of what kind of shipping you're paying for.) If the shipment wasn't insured, I don't know if Paypal's buyer protection program covers this kind of situation.

 

It is very literally a waste of your time. You fill out a lengthy questionnaire and wait. And then you wait, wait, wait. Three or four months later you get an automated email saying that despite an exhaustive search they couldn't find your package. As a little extra salt in the wound the email finishes by reminding you to put a return address on all packages. Oh, and they won't even do that much for international mail. They just blame it on the other country regardless of what the problem is.

Rasiel

 

It would be difficult to blame France in my case, given that the package is recorded as having arrived in New York City!

 

Yeah, I agree. Not that it helps you any since the USPS has invested a lot of effort in providing as frustrating an experience as scientifically possible. Sort of like Comcast or Verizon, only worse. :- (