Hi folks, normally on most platforms, we do not know against who were are facing when bidding a coveted ancient coin. However, sometimes, the bidder does not hide its identity at all! And I am referring to full-fledged auction houses with "unlimited" resources. I do not know if they reveal their identity to be intimidating or what, but here are facts I have observed about them: It is going to be costly bid. They almost always do absentee bid (for obvious reasons), so once defeated, there won't be any comeback. They probably will be you final opponent as most give up early. Their absentee highest bid is the worth they have given to the coin based on their database and experience. When the coin resurfaces, especially for a rare coin, it is generally not worth it; the good deal is lost. They grabbed the opportunity. How to be sure it is an auction house? Sometimes, their chosen handle clearly defines it. Other times, the sheer amount of bids on different coin groups (Greek, Roman, Moderns, etc.) with several expensive ones they deemed resellable. A collector tends to focus on one group since it is a personal thing, not all kind of random coins with weak connections to each others. Pars Coins World (PCW) is one auction house I went against and it was somewhat expensive. I won out of sheer luck by entering just one increment that made them outbidded. It was unexpected. PCW hosts very high grade and rare coins, some of them sold several thousands USD. Recently, the same thing occurred again against another strong auction house; I won by one goddamn increment at the last second. This one was super costly, but it is highly worth it given the rarity, quality and demand. If resold, it is certain profit will be made...if ever it goes back to the market (hehe). Now, question time: Did you ever go against a strong auction house (if determined to be one) or flinched knowing it is a waste of time?
For the benefit of my understanding - why would an auction house compete in an auction hosted by another auction house? Surely if the auction house wins, paying buyers fees and all, they cannot be assured of any decent profit margin when they put the coin up for re-auction.
Pars Coins as far as I know is not an auction house, it is a high-end coin shop in California. They have an Ebay shop, too, but only with Buy It Now coins, top quality only. And naturally, if you want to offer exquisite coins, you have to pay high prices for them. By the way, there's also always the possibility that they were bidding for one of their customers, who didn't want to be in the auction in person.
Exactly. Most major auction houses and coin shops maintain customer want lists, so often a company is bidding on a coin they know they will immediately sell. If you have a customer with deep pockets whom you know has been looking for a specific coin for a long time, you'll spend whatever you need to acquire the coin because you know that you'll make a profit on it and reinforce your relationship with the customer.
Quite. In my line of business the profit is a standard 10% if one is bidding for a customer. And naturally, if one just reinforces one's relationship with a customer, that can be a solid profit as well.
An auction is always unpredictable. The strongest and most pretentious bidder can have a reason not to bid as high as you expect: he can have a traffic or internet disturbance, a hiccup or a coughing fit. He can have his eyes on another coin for which he is planning to spend a lot of money. My advice is, don't look at the others but do according to your own plans. A smart strategy directed against other bidders rarely works out well, and it may explode in your face: you end up with the wrong coin for too much money.
