Dropping auction prices?

There are deals to be had for sure, @Finn235 's coin as an example. I simply don't have the expertise or desire to do the necessary due diligence to ensure to some reasonable extent that I'm not getting ripped off. I think that most ancients collectors are in this boat. And, I'm guessing that most people that would claim to have the necessary expertise are probably not as skilled as they think.

I mean, in the end, how much information can really be gleaned from a photo taken by a person whose sole intent is to fool you? I'm not expressing any opinions about your activities in particular, just offering up my explanation as to why Ebay might not be the best place for selling your raw ancients.

I do bid on NGC slabbed coins on Ebay. I take the extra step to confirm that the coin is legit through the NGC website, but that's about all the effort that I'm willing to put in on that front. That's just me.

 

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I agree with Mat there are ways to navigate Ebay. I disagree most semi-knowledgable ancient collectors agree they wouldn't touch Ebay with a 10 foot pole. Good gosh, look at other coins the seller listed, where he/she is at, history, etc and fairly quickly you can get a list of pretty good sellers there. Couple this with coin knowledge and most of your purchases would be fine.

My problem is this is my HOBBY. There are so many good auction firms out there, and I have to wade through so much dreck on Ebay, (fakes, garbage, insanely overpriced coins, etc), that I do not ever see much I would even wish to bid on, let alone win. I do have a friend who is one of the world experts on coins of Alexander and he gets unique coins on Ebay of him all of the time. However, he has very narrow search criteria and its one of his main things to do. I am not that limited, but wider searches simply bring back loads of garbage, and as a hobby its not very enjoyable to wade through.

There is a real danger at looking at Ebay. The danger is if you look at enough fakes, pretty soon your eye cannot pick them out as well. I haven't looked at Ebay in over a year, but looked at tons of good auctions. I bet I would simply see the fakes pretty clearly right now, since my eye is used to good coins. However, with enough looking at Ebay and not at good auctions, eventually I feel this would go away and you would get used to looking at fakes.

 

I believe this for sure. Not just seeing obvious fakes but all the deceptive fakes (and tooled coins). Plus the less-deceptive fakes slightly outside one's area of expertise (which makes them harder to recognize). I definitely feel one's "eye" develops differently when only looking at coins in higher-end auctions or only on eBay.

Then again, if you only look at NAC or Triton catalogs, you will not develop an eye for what genuine but lower grade coins look like.

That's one reason why I like to scan everything on VCoins and MA-Shops even though I rarely buy them (not that I think there are 0% fakes, but fewer than eBay), to get a visual appreciation of a broad range of types in many different conditions and price ranges.

 

Same can be done on Biddr.com with their auctions, with the advantage of constantly changing coins to look at. Many auction firms specialize in lower end coins, so if you want to train your eye for less expensive items there are auctions for that as well.

 

I agree, though over time I've become more skeptical of the high-volume budget auctions on biddr. I've bought tons of Greek AR fractionals there, but have started to feel generally concerned about those. For most of the RPC and RIC I feel better, though i can easily pick out lots of tooled Greek/RPC AE in many auctions, so I wonder about the ones I don't recognize. There are also several that cut- and- paste their descriptions so completely and with so little editing that they leave in the provenances from the originals. (ACSearch listings now include those false provenances and erroneous descriptions for this reason. Occasionally I'll make note in the comments, but there are just too many.)

I could be wrong, but I have the impression most of the dealers on VCoins & MA-Shops are giving a closer look/spending more time with the coins. Unfortunately I feel some sellers on biddr are barely a step above typical ebay.

 

Concur about biddr. One outfit, Zeus Numismatics had some good coins, but others... ? My last order was never sent to me, so I got a refund via PayPal.

 

Just Zeus? Leu, NN, and others have good coins. Heck, I dropped a few k last weekend with NN, I hope the coins are "good".

 

I think maybe I wasn't clear. The issue was biddr and the potential level of low quality coins for some of those outfits that use it. Zeus is one, if it is still around. Anyway, I used them twice. First time was OK. Second time, they stiffed me. Not a good sign.

 

Out of curiosity why don't the members with ancients to sell don't usually advertise the coins here on CT? Most of the members are known, you know where to find them if they cheat you, and I think the majority ( with a few years onboard ) would give a better deal as there is no real House cut, usually just postage and insurance.
Just curious as usual. Jim

 

What were the other 4 coins you consigned at the auction?
Imho, anything below xf or worst case ch vf, sells ad discount due to a very low desirability…
Also, Balbus is a fairly common RR denarius…
In terms of Auction prices, unfortunately anything i watch, still commands astronomical prices

 

For what its worth, US consumer confidence (as measured by the Conference Board and University of Michigan surveys) has fallen to long-term lows. Sub-components measuring "willingness to make large purchases" are down at rock-bottom levels. The same is true for consumer conficence in Europe. So it would not be too surprising for auction prices to stagnate or decline. Put differently, with the consumer price index rising at an annual rate of more than 8% (food +12%, fuels +16%) that leaves less money to spend on coins.

 

One thing I learned from Auction sites is that a lot of them add lighting effects on a lot of toned/darker coins. This may fool people as I've been fooled too many times, I won't name the auction sites because I think this is a general thing most auction sites do.

 

On the other hand, I've often won coins that look good in the images and turn out better in hand.

 

Good question, and one that I've wondered about myself. If you can get 85% of auction sale price through CT then you'd actually be making money.

Why do we insist that Auction houses and middle-men get rich while simply selling other people's stuff?

I don't own a vehicle, and I'm willing to go on a Ramen Noodle + boiled potato diet. That means that I get all the coins!!

Now if I could just quit this damn chewing tobacco habit. The thought of spending $12/day on something so stupid makes me want to puke

 

Here ya go. The third one is a Paduan reproduction.

 

I checked the prices, Fonteius $ 650
With fees in my mind - somebody definitely overpaid by quite a bit here, given quality of surfaces and state of preservation. So i think you got very lucky to get $500 for it

as far as Augustus, vf usually sells for $270-300- so right where it should be

semis $70-90 coin

so in general u did pretty well given condition and grade of the coins

 

Thanks for spending the time to look into this. I appreciate your insight.

 

@chaparralian Just finished watching Heritage - prices were extremely strong for quality material (Greeks & Roman)

i honestly can’t see prices flattening… its a hockey stick…

 

I actually won 5 coins in tonight's Heritage Auction. Either the prices are flattening out, or I screwed up some calculations

 

i was talking about coins in $750 - $4,500 range

common stuff is flat though, assuming you got common stuff ( sub $300-500 coin)