Howdy Guys, It has been so long since I have been in the "buying" mode that I'm needing alittle help - Tonight I'm going to be attending a coin auction that is alittle drive away - I went yesterday and viewed the lots, so I have alittle idea on the grades and such even though I couldn't get them all in hand to view. I'm working on getting the going prices on a few of these lots so I have an idea on what would be a good bid. I have been out of the buying mode for so long that I NEED HELP! Here is a listing that I'm needing help with - I'm searching these out as well, and we will see what happends 1874 CC Trade Dollar VG/F 1901 $5 Gold Liberty UNC 1911 $5 Gold Indian F/VF 1927 $2.50 Gold Indian F/VF 1920 SLQ (PCI AU50) XF 1830 Half Dollar VF 1829 Half Dollar VF 1878 CC Trade Dollar F 1881 $10 Gold Liberty UNC 1878 S Trade Dollar VF 1878 CC Morgan Dollar F 1882 CC Morgan Dollar BU 1884 CC Morgan (GSA in PCGS Slab) PCGS MS64 1928 Peace Dollar 2005 Legacy Collection Like I said - yesterday I couldn't look at all of the coins I wanted to, so tonight I might see that some would grade better, or lower. Any idea on pricing would be great - for the most part I will be going and listing and if I hear something that jumps out as going low I'll bid Thanks guys - Speedy
Well I watched them sell 3 fake trade dollars for $200-$300 each. I did tell them that I felt the coins were fake, and pointed out why - they were cast, and showed a grainy, weak, detail, as well as the rim didn't meet the "what-ya-ma-call-them" things....the detail that goes along the rim on the inside...heck I'm drawing a blank. Anyway - they wouldn't have fooled any of you guys, but I had 2 other collectors look at them, and they all thought I was nuts. Speedy
Yeah, I was going to ask if the TD's were certified-- any time I see raw CC trade dollars for sale my antennae start to twitch!
Well the one was real and it was pretty nice, but also above my $$. They had a 1928 Peace dollar and on the auction night they found an S on the back It sold for $80 and it would have graded maybe VG. Speedy
Sounds like there were some people there that just bid to bid. You did good going with your feelings and staying clear of the TD's. I bet 9 out of 10 that are raw I see are counterfeits. I have to wonder if there are more bad ones then good ones. : ) I seen something similar down in Daytona at a small auction one night. I couldn't believe the "self professed professional coin collectors" paying 15-20 bucks for 1980's proof sets. Glad you came out safe and sound (financially) my friend.
I recently attended a few coin auctions at three different small time places. And all 3 were vastly different. The first one was ten percent fee with five percent state tax. People were bidding nine or ten dollars each for worn out common Franklins and 20 to 25 bucks for common junk, polished Morgans. I passed on everything except when some one ounce silver bullion came up. There was one lot of .999 bullion world coins all in the Littleton soft plastic presentation packaging. I think that the crowd didn't know what they were. There was one or two bids then I jumped in. I won the whole lot for $16.16 each total price. Included were Maple Leaf, Kukaburra, Libertad, nice proof like Brittania, and Zambia 1000 kwatcha. I dumped a few to the guy sitting next to me for my cost. A few weeks later the same place had another auction on a Thursday night. Only ten people showed up. It was a fiasco except for a young kid who kept outbidding on common stuff. He bid a rather drab looking set of Ikes in Dansco up to $350! They sell for $200 or $250 for a nice set. I got a set of Liberty nickels in a Whitman classic album [minus the 3 keys] for $118.00. After no bids on a dozen things they shut down the auction, HA what a fiasco. The second auction was just like the first with young and old alike bidding stupid money for heavily cleaned and polished common Morgans. Only these were in the Coin World self slabs. I passed on everything. The last one I went to was auctioned on consignment by a local dealer/auctioneer I have dealt with. This was a good auction with a lot of nice stuff and small crowd of intelligent collectors/dealers. I picked up a decent 1928 Peace dollar for $374 and a 1904 half cent, plain 4 stemless for $71.50. The Peace dollar was the last one I needed to complete my set. The half cent went into my 7070 type set. So the point is, not all auctions are alike and not all bidding groups are alike. Attend the preview and do your homework. And look out for the add on fees. I factor in the fees first thing and write down a number to stop at. Most of the time the crowd keeps bidding well after a sensible person would quit. And sometimes the crowd has not done any homework so they don't bid.
There wasn't any sales tax, and they didn't have a bidders fee, so if you paid by cash, you paid what you bid. That was nice, because most of the time around here there is at least a 5%-10% BP. Speedy
^^^^^^^ Yup there was a lot of nice stuff. Sorry no photos, I tried but always have trouble with posting to CT. There was a 1921 Peace dollar. 1932-D Washington, 1912-S Liberty nickel, Tons of stuff. A 1935 Canadian silver dollar I still need for my Canada silver dollar type set. 1909-S lincoln, 1782 Spanish real, paper money, too much more... I had to drool over the Gold. 1915 Indian two and a half, slabbed AU-50, ; 1909-D $5 Indian AU-58 slab; 1881 $5 raw, 1895 $5 raw, 1853 $1, 1856 $1, and la piece de resistance- a NGC slabbed MS61 $10 Indian head. I considered trying to at least win one of them but the 1928 Peace dollar came up on the block first before any gold. I just needed that one [1928]coin to complete the whole set of Peace dollars. There was an absentee bid of $330 already placed previously. "Do I hear 340, 340, 340?" So I say 340. "Now 350, 350, 350? Last chance, 350?" Nobody bid. "Sold, $340" Add 10 percent to that.
Denticles I believe is the term. The price depends on how bad you want the coin vs. the other guy. Printed price guides may go out the window one way or the other. I've heard dealers are all over most auctions involving coins, normally eliminating the 'steal'.
I keep far away from autions of any kind. A long time ago I thought auctions were the best way in the world to get good deals. I actually did get a few but not many. Then one day I met someone I used to know and one of his jobs was in the aution buisness. He explained to me that many aution houses hire people like him to bid on items that are not moving well. This sometimes inspires people to continue bidding and even if he accidently wins the bid, that item just goes back up for aution at another place and/or time. So I started watching the people at autions and noticed what well could be what is known as ringers that continuosly bid on everything. So now I avoid them all.
