Buying Coins at Auctions

Nice Coin, Congrats!
Steve

 

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It is not wide for me. And reads just fine.

The local auctions I went to all had common low grade stuff that went at high prices. I pretty much skip them. My local dealer also told me sometimes they attend local ones when they know what is being sold. Not really sure where he gets his information.

 

Really?
That's weird.
Cause it's super wide for me and I have to move the bar left and right just to read it.
I think it's because of that picture of the Dime stretching out the page.

 

Wish I knew why. All I know is running on 15 inch flat monitor set at 1024x768 running IE 7. Nothing fancy maybe 4 years old. This board also works on the monitor at work which is 17 inch flat monitor, say setting of 1024x768(I think) and on IE 6.0.

Will send you same PM to look at pictures for other place. See how that one works.

 

Just did a search on live auctions and found this thread. I will be attending my first live auction this week, and have been looking over the items that will be auctioned and thinking about what I will bid on, and at what price. I am looking forward to it and hope I can get a good deal.

 

too wide for sure so I just do
a few words than hit enter
Now it's not so wide.
Just a pain in the neck to post it.

 

Back to coin auctions. I went to one a few weeks
ago, not too far from where I live. Appeared to be mostly dealers.
So I was checking some of the better lots, and boy
did I get the old hairy eyeball. Most of the items were
lower grade, a lot of cleaned, whizzed you name it
it was done to a lot of these coins. I didn't bother to stay.

 

I've been to a couple of auctions and got some pretty good deals (well, when compared to coin shop prices). Picked up some 2 and 3 cent pieces at $7.50 a piece, as well as some flying eagles. Got early date indian head pennies for $3. Also got a bust dime (forget the year off hand) for $12.50. A barber quarter that appears to be almost MS for $10. There are some others but I can't remember them all off hand. The first time I went to an auction, only 6 people were there, so the auctioneer pulls up a table to let us all sit down and just started bringing out batches of coins. It was quite an enjoyable experience.

 

Cool. I'm looking forward to this. I emailed the auctioneer for a little information and he told me that there's a ten percent buyers premium at this auction. That's okay with me, it just means that I will adjust my bids down by ten percent. This will be interesting.

 

I go to an auction that is held in the basement of a church, about every 3 months.
It has around 300-360 lots.
The people bidding are generally a bunch of old farmers.
I get a lot of good deals, but havn't bought lately.
I should start brokering, but meh.

 

I have all I can handle with ebay and Teletrade. Just haven't had time for the real ones except at a couple of paper money auctions at shows.

 

My son took me to our county auction house last week. Of course there were some coins as they seem to have some every week on Saturday from estates.

The prices go way beyond what I am willing to pay. I honestly don't know what drives them so high at live auctions, but they get up there quickly. Add the 15% buyers premium that is charged and the prices are insane ! IMHO

 

This is very common. I know of many auction houses who go to coin dealers every week or month and buy common coins to sell at their auctions. Its amazing how much non collectors will pay for junk silver dollars, small gold coins, etc. Back when common silver dollars could be bought all day long for $6 I would see the same auction house selling them consistently for $15-$20. I even saw that auctioneer buying them at my favorite dealer every week before his auction.

I know, weird.

 

The auction that I will be attending tomorrow has mostly sports memorabilia, and not as many coins. My hope is that the auction will be full of sports memorabilia collectors, leaving the coin bidding to me!

 

I attended my first auction yesterday and went to a second today. The first auction was pretty cool, there weren't a lot of people bidding and the coins went pretty cheap. I met a couple of guys down there, both very pleasant and made for good conversation. I won't go into detail on everything I purchased, but some of my better buys included: 1989 Prestige set for $16, 1999 proof set for $6, 2001 Silver proof set for $28, 2006 Silver Proof set for $21, and a 2009 Silver Proof Set for $34.

One of my favorite purchases is an 1866 Shield Nickel. I paid $22 for it, but it's become one of my favorite coins and sparked my interest in learning more about these coins. I've attached a picture.


The second auction was a bust. Nothing but common date Morgans, none of which would go AU with bidding starting at $20. I left as soon as I saw the bidding begin. At this second auction, I met an old timer who told me about a local coin club that he recommended and I think that I will make it to their next meeting, so it wasn't a total waste.

I must say that I enjoyed these auctions and I think that I will try to attend more of them in the future.

 

Great finds.
I never find good stuff like that at them, they usually seem to go way high at the ones I go to.