Dropping auction prices?

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by chaparralian, Aug 8, 2022.

  1. savitale

    savitale Well-Known Member

    I have not observed anything like you describe, where coins are selling for 1/3 of what they did a couple years ago. I suspect that was just bad luck, coupled with some less-than-stellar photography.

    I was just outbid by about 10% on a coin that I put a fairly strong bid on. So I would say the market has perhaps stabilized at this new level, at least for the coins I am looking at. Though with people traveling again, going out to eat, and enjoying normal summer activities for the first time in a few years we could be in a summer lull.
     
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  3. Blake Davis

    Blake Davis Well-Known Member

    Just saw this - it seems to be the rule that any coin you sell will go for less than you bought it for while any coin you buy will break price records. It’s a crap shoot indeed - I bought a beautiful Faustina sestertius that I discovered really had no place in my collection, sent it to Leu on consignment wasn’t happy with the photo even though they are usually master photographers - but that’s life I guess win some lose some.

    But then again I am not an investor but a hobbyist -
     
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  4. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    I am buying Ancients Futures Contracts right now. And positioning in a lot of Short Sale Contracts.
     
  5. Blake Davis

    Blake Davis Well-Known Member

    I have mentioned this before but I was lucky enough to have collected ancient coins during the glory days of the very late 90's and up to about 2008 when the market was flooded with thousands and thousands of ancient coins from Eastern Europe. I remember going to the New York show and seeing bags and bags of coins with dirt all over them, pick out bins in every price range, and an unbelievable assortment of coins in high grades at what today would be insane prices as well as lots and lots and lots of other coins.

    I recall an ebay seller called "Ancient Auction House" who was selling dozens of coins a week - the coins would be deemed incredible (mostly denarii) at what would be considered today insane prices. And another dealer - Paganecoins - doing the same for coins of all grades. And thousands and thousands of "uncleaned coins" - I recall an article indicating that about a ton and half of them came through Germany in one shipment. Unfortunately I had three young children, a wife who was home taking care of them who was dealing with lupus so the only way for me to afford coins was to sell on ebay in order to buy coins.

    Ebay at that time was solely an auction venue - At one point I was putting up to 25 lots a week of low to mid grade coins with a few higher grade coins -it was a lot of work but it was exciting too because there was an enormous amount of enthusiasm for the hobby - that was when we also had the much missed Celator. Many of the people who collected then I have not heard from in years - I do think that there are far fewer people collecting ancient coins in the United States today, which is unfortunate.

    Also you could warn potential buyers about fakes on ebay which you cannot do today - back then you could also complain to ebay about a seller selling fakes which you cannot do today. But almost all of the fakes are so obvious - plus the same advice then as now - buy from people you trust.

    As for prices - there is no doubt that in the early 2000's the enormous number of coins making it to market had a depressing effect on prices - and the market for ancients is now far more international as a result of the internet being not new as it was then. But ancients as an investment is not something I would recommend for anyone, but that is my personal opinion. As for prices going up - I cannot recall any large dealer ever having an auction where they were not boasting afterward about how the price of the sold coins far exceeded the estimates - and there were the same groans about it all being too much, and how insane the prices were etc.

    But again - there were FAR more high grade coins available - I would look at sestertii on coinarchives and see almost no mid to lower grade coins. I focus on sestertii - dealers today sell sestertii in far lower grades than formerly - there either are more dealers - which I doubt - or there were far more high grade coins available - which is a certainty I think.

    So the market for ancient coins is constantly changing - so be it - as long as it is still fun and since I have a little more time now that the children have grown up it is more fun than ever - I will keep on doing it. I have found a real pleasure in lots of Greek bronzes and spending hours attributing them, and learning about the cities that struck the coins. Plus I have two articles planned for this site....
     
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  6. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    Same, collected in that time frame. Hence why I always tell everyone to be flexible and buy what you can buy at the time. I have started collecting an area when hoards are found, stopping when price go back up. In ten years people will think today is glory days.
     
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  7. SEGESTIUS

    SEGESTIUS Member

    [QUOTE=" And another dealer - Paganecoins - doing the same for coins of all grades. [/QUOTE]

    This brought back some memories for me.... I remember buying VF Roman Republic denarii from PaganeCoins. His auctions for lots of three VF RR denarii usually ended at about $50. Miss those days.
     
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  8. Blake Davis

    Blake Davis Well-Known Member

    This brought back some memories for me.... I remember buying VF Roman Republic denarii from PaganeCoins. His auctions for lots of three VF RR denarii usually ended at about $50. Miss those days.[/QUOTE]
    He is still around enjoying life as a grandfather and one of the brightest and best humans I have ever known.
     
  9. Xodus

    Xodus Well-Known Member

    I sell on eBay, but the fees are ripping me a new one. Plus, like what's been said before, great coins don't get a lot of traction.

    I haven't really gotten accustomed to all the auction houses, or consignment places. Could I get a few suggestions on places that would work better than feeBay? Thanks!
     
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  10. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    If you wanted to run your own auction, you could contact Vauctions. There used to be at least one member here who ran auctions
     
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  11. BenSi

    BenSi Well-Known Member

    I have been working more and more since the end of the pandemic, less time to look for new coins and less time to spend on the hobby in general.
    I have made a few purchases this year and I have got some really nice deals. I bought a 15 coin lot from a non ancient auction house for under $500.00 it contained purchases made from CNG and Leu still in the flips, the previous owner had paid over 3k for the purchases, I got it for 400 plus buyers fees.

    This was one of my favorites from the group transaction.
    534.jpg

    Other than that, I noticed a coin yesterday that sold in 2020 for 6k, It was a coin from the Bendall collection and its final bid yesterday was only 3k. Another coin from the same ruler but partial gold that had been sold in 2019 for 12k sold for 18k.

    So an auction is not the true value of the coin, it is the true cost of a coin that day, that moment. I think we are seeing fewer buyers but more particular about the coin and the desire to add it to the collectors' collecting goals.
     
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  12. rasiel

    rasiel New Member

    Not even that. It's a snapshot of the "marketplace" created by the small group of participants on that day. Same auction minutes later with another groupd of bidders guaranteed to be different!
     
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  13. Curtis

    Curtis Well-Known Member

    Interesting comments, Blake! As others said, it sure brings back a flood of memories --
    I was in college/grad school at that moment, so even though our situations were different then, we had another thing in common: needing to jump into the eBay fray to support the hobby.

    I had started earlier -- collecting Greek silver coins with my parents in the 1980s (we had/have a family collection) -- but I became acquainted with Roman coins by that huge flood of coins you describe. I bought & sold them pretty regularly for 10-15 years, give or take.

    Hard to imagine I'm only half a collector generation away from being an "old timer"! I know it's approaching because I'm now endlessly fascinated by people's recollections & nostalgia about anything happening in the ancient world in past decades!
     
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