This weekend I plan to go to a local coin auction where there will be about 300 lots. Last summer I went to an auction and was blown away by how the older generation dealers were significantly overbidding on coins. But I thought what the heck, I need to have some fun so I will go to the auction. I am wondering what your experiences have been going to auctions and looking for coins. Do people usually overbid or is it a diiferent from auction to auction?
I've only been to a few locally, and yes, it seems like prices are higher than they even go on ebay. Weird.
They can be fun, but you have to know what your bidding on. Be sure to go to the preview, you may find find a lot of cleaned, wizzed and all kinds of things going on with them.
Bids can be all over the map ! Some will pay stupid money, others won't have any idea what they're even bidding on. And not only are problem coins an issue, so are fakes and altered coins. And when I say altered I mean altered mint marks, altered dates, altered blah, blah, blah. The bottom line is the same as it is every time you go to buy coins anywhere from anybody. Either know, for sure, what the hell you are doing or have implicit trust in the person you are buying them from - or don't buy them !
Half the folks that go to local auctions don't know the value of what they are bidding on. Don't be one of those people. If there are lots of junk silver, be ready. Know the price and get off it if you can't steal it. Keep the buyers fee in mind. Watch for large lots of UNC common coins being sold as junk silver. Watch the room and who is actually bidding. You may be bidding against a ghost or a house bidder. Anything goes at local auctions.
In my state there is a 6% sales tax added to the total cost which is a hurdle an in person local auction has to overcome. There is one good local auction that has a good variety but the premium plus 6% forces me online. Sent from my STH100-1 using Tapatalk
Well, I went to the auction today and it was entertaining and interesting. The auctions included over graded raw coins and in my opinion second hand like stuff. Many silver dollars were cleaned or whizzed. Some results from the auction: Silver 1oz rounds went from $26 to $45 2009 4 coin presidential dollar set ANACS PF70 went for $17 Two good condition Barbers 50 cent for $26 3 unc 1951 Franklins went for $51 1996 proof eagle went for $58 common Silver eagles for $32 and $40 1882s Morgan dollar NGC M63 for $58 1926s Peace dollar maybe in ms63 for $140 2014 Baseball HOF ANACS ms70 for $85 2014 Baseball HOF ANACS p70 for $125 1830 bust half vf30 for $130 Many common circulated or AU Morgans were auctioned off for 50 percent above gray sheet bid. It makes me wonder if a) bidders are happy and just want to win without considering value or b) the coin collecting hobby is far from extinct. Also, I was shocked how much folks bid on silver rounds knowing that the value is the silver content. I guess there is genuine passion for Pandas, Koalas, Star Trek and Disney. I think I am better off going to the local dealer or a show.
Hit or miss, mostly miss, did have a decent hit last year though, grabbed a Dansco lincoln album about 90 %, missing the obvious, but it did have several semi key dates. Bought for 15 dollars including fees, added a VG 1914 D to it. Sold it a week later for a little over 600.00.
Maybe I need to go elsewhere to find a decent auction. The merchandise was lower end and the bidders were naive on the value of this stuff. A 2006 Silver eagle going for $42 indicates the bidding out of control. Then again, maybe coin collecting is on the rise...
To be honest with you, in my opinion 90% and maybe more of the local auctions aren't worth the time it takes to read the ad about them - let alone go to them.
I agree - I cannot believe there is such a big crowd bidding on this stuff. Maybe it is the sense of triumph. I wonder if they ever visit a coin shop or a show.
When I was in college, a friend told me about a rural auction barn in the area that had coins. When I went, the prices were ridiculously high. I went to a show and bought some common barbers, 2c, 3c seated coins and silver dollars and started consigning them to the auction barn over a few sales. Eventually others figured it out and drive down prices by flooding the market. Even with the commission, I still made good beer money
Then remember this as well. The people at those local auctions who grossly overpay, they are the same kind of people who buy coins on ebay. Some of them ARE the same people !
Sounds like an Entertainment Auction. I like to call these "auction theater". Usually the crowd consists largely of the same people offering the same items in the sale. They are generally all in cahoots and don't mind bidding up each other's items because they will see each other again next week/month to play the same game and hope a newcomer doesn't see the sham. Often times, I've seen outright blatant shill bidding in these. IMO, keep an eye out for whole estate liquidation auctions. Occasionally, I will run into one of these where the bids are obviously being pushed up, but most of the time both the seller and auctioneer are motivated sellers.
I do not think these coins were from the participants in the auction. They had a company auction this stuff, and these guys charge a significant fee for their services. These responses are actually pretty comical.
My experience with live auctions were similar to what Ebay is like in general. Once in a while a good or great deal could be had but often the place was just filled with idiots driving up the price of items way past the point where purchasing made any sense. I think the psychological factor of being the 'loser or winner' involved in auctions is something many people cannot handle and they end up bidding for pride or bragging rights versus logical valuation of items. I'm told by people I know older than me that things used to be somewhat better and reasonable. Of course that was before reality TV shows centering around auctions, etc drove the unwashed and uninformed masses into the fold begging auctioneers to take their money. Everybody is hoping to land the big score and strike it rich, ironically the only ones getting rich are the auctioneers.
Yes, I started buying coins on ebay when it first started in 1998. And for a few years it was a good place to do that and I recommended it to many. But in the early 2000's it began to change, and not for the better. And it wasn't before too long that I was telling people they would be better served, get better prices, by looking in other places to buy. In today's world, you have to very, very sharp regarding coin values so you know when to stop, or not even try, if bidding on ebay. Because the bidiots will drive the prices completely beyond belief.
