My first experience with Heritage auctions concludes tonight. Overall it has been a satisfactory experience. Sold my full set of flying eagle/ indian head cents. Pre-auction estimate was 50,000, hope we can scratch and claw up to 42,000 tonight. All in all, I have enjoyed working with them and would probably do it again if need be. The coins were raw before starting the whole process last October and now it all ends tonight. Not sure how to feel, a little sad at the $ some brought, pretty happy with others. Quite a roller coaster ride watching the grading results roll in as well as the bids. Overall, I think I will probably look back on this with satisfaction.
They have been in the family for about 45 years- feeling a little sad to see them go. My mother is 88 and wanted to experience some of the joy of selling them.
I might add that one of the downsides of watching these heritage auctions so closely is that I keep finding things to bid on myself. Gotta stop clicking that button...
We are right around 40,000 with the 1877 yet to be sold. It got bumped to the long beach auction due to some grading questions I had. It came back QC with unc details. Hard for my eye to justify the grade plus it was in a capital plastic holder undisturbed for 45 years. Decided to sell it in that grade rather than resubmit. Hopefully will get close to the target total. The 1856 flying eagle in pr63 cac brought only 12,000- was hoping for a bigger score on that one too. Overall though, hard not to be happy about everything.
I've noticed some of the more "rare" proofs have been selling rather cheap lately. I'm sure it was a beautiful coin. Questionable color is always frustrating, but if someone thinks they can crack it out and get it in a holder I've seen some sell for not bad prices. Good luck and let us know the final result!
Your avatar looks like a proof so I presume you know this already. Most earlier (1916 and before) US proofs either aren't or don't seem to be widely collected. They are too many of them and any kind of set (date or denomination) is too expensive for the vast majority of collectors. The 1856 FE cent I would describe as having a "reputational" scarcity. It isn't remotely actually scarce but has been viewed (and priced) like many late 19th century and 20th century "key" dates. I have also noticed that some pre-1858 proofs which actually are scarce sell for relatively "low" prices except in higher grades or as CAM or DCAM. A few examples include the 1857 quarter and one of the 1830's 1/2c.
