Did anyone win a coin or three from Frank's auction that closed last night? I bid on 4 and was successful on one bid, a sestertius of Gallienus with a FIDES MILITVM reverse. I'll post the coin once it has arrived and I have had a chance to photograph it.
Looks like once again the bids were very strong. I bid on six and won two, a Maximinus I sestercius and a large Byzantine bronze. Will post photos when they arrive. In his last sale, I was the underbidder on a lot that the winner returned. Frank offered it to me for my bid, reduced to one increase over the bid that was below mine (very happy to get it at that price). I wonder if that might happen again with this auction.
Quote from Frank Robinson himself : " Bidding has been extremely strong. The market is going nuts. I noted that in January’s Triton sale, total prices realized EXCEEDED 2-1/2 TIMES estimates. And their estimates ain’t cheap. In one recent online auction I bid on a slew of lots, strongly I thought, hoping to get some stuff, and wound up with ZILCH. The prices realized blew my head off. I could believe people are paying so much."
I didn't even attempt to bid on anything this time around. I've lost pretty much every single one since the beginning of covid. Prices have quickly jumped out of my price range. I hope he does one of his sales and I can maybe pick up one or 2 from there.
I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I bid on (and won) only one coin, and it was a milled British coin, not an ancient or medieval coin. Some nostalgia, perhaps, for my former pastime, but I feel a little bit as if I've been unfaithful to my new hobby to revisit my old one!
I bid for the first time in a Frank Robinson auction. I bid slightly more than twice the estimate, and the hammer price was three times what I bid. Of course I know estimates are artificially low. Not long after I bid, Frank was kind enough to send me a personal email stating what the current highest bid was, and what I would have to bid in order to have the highest bid. I appreciated the personal contact. I know Frank might be unique in this kind of interaction. If I were to participate in one of his auctions again, is it protocol to first send him a note asking what the highest bid is, or should I just enter my bid and hope that I bid high enough to be the highest bidder?
I bid on 3 and won just 1. I only got that one after raising my max when I got outbid on it as well; of the 3 it was the coin I wanted the most.
I also had a dialog with Frank over the four coins. I actually put my initial bids in in January and checked back last week. Three were at nosebleed levels, so I didn't pursue them. The other coin (that I won) I had to raise to 3x the asking price as there was another intent bidder or two that I had to outbid, Frank notified me each time I had to raise my bid. So that's nice.
Someone said in another thread the other day that they heard that this might be Frank's final sale before he retires. I don't see anything on his website saying that, or anything like it, so I have no idea what the source was. I am skeptical.
I put in 3 bids and going in to yesterday was winning on my mark...but got snipped at the last second. Eh, live by the sword die by the sword.
He did state that in one of his emails for this auction. I was looking through my deleted items but it must have been before the last email from him still in there about lots going cheap as I cannot find it. But I can confirm he did state that he has been having such a hard time coming up with items that this could be his last sale. I hope not and hopefully the strong sales he got keep him in the game.
Thanks for pinpointing it to one of his emails. I was able to find it in his Jan. 19 email: "This sale includes the last installment of ancient coins selected from my personal collection. Also further groups from my early Spanish, and English collections. Cataloguing these coins gives me a wistful feeling because there’s no replacing them now, I can’t buy good coins at reasonable prices like I used to. Of course there are no shows for now. I work like mad bidding in auctions, and even when I stretch, get very little. I’ve been doing my own auctions for 35 years and always had material on hand for two or three sales ahead. No longer — so it may be awhile before I can do another auction like this. If ever. So if any of you have stuff you’d like to turn into cash, please keep me in mind. I pay fair prices, with no hassle." I do enjoy his auctions, and very much like Frank himself, so I hope he's able to find enough material to continue.
I appreciated his outbid notification to me yesterday on two coins which said, "You don’t want to let some S.O.B. outbid you!" Alas, I had to step aside on those. Speaking "extremely strong" bidding, does anyone have a clue why this Lot 220 in the auction, a Herennius tetradrachm in "quite good metal" brought $360 on a max bid of $805? These are quite far from my area of interest, but the bid on this one jumped out at me from his list of prices realized.