Heritage vs. Great Collections vs. Stacks vs.....

I believe that's just their model-show the coin and grade with minimal description (or in most cases none). Like @Burton Strauss III mentions, they employ less staff and make up for that with lower fees (lower buyer's premium and lower shipping than most other auction houses).

 

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With Heritage being the Gold Standard IMO...you'd think someone selling a nice coin would at least have a few paragraphs about the particulars of the coin.

Even if they had to do it themselves.

 

It looks like Heritage hires people who write those paragraphs while GC chooses not to (and pass along the savings).

My guess is that an expensive coin won’t really need a description to sell. I can see some fancy language helping encourage the average bidder to throw up to a few hundred more on something like a nicely toned Morgan with a great description of the color. But will those write ups matter on a $100k coin? I’m leaning towards no-that buyer knows what they are chasing and a description won’t make or break their bidding. Plus, if it’s a famous or rare coin, there will be plenty of things written about it in other sources (previous auctions, books, magazines, coin websites) that the potential buyer will almost certainly see while researching the coin.

 

The thing is, all you need are 3 books like on Saints -- Akers, Bowers, & Burdette -- and then you have good information that you can use for the key coin types.

And they can be re-used, too. Just make minor changes to account for grade, population census, coin particulars, etc.

For Heritage, they spend big $$$ on their auction catalogs which often have verbatim the same language as the online sales write-ups.

 

Just a shout out for David Lawrence weekly auctions with a 0% buyers fee. I've gotten several good deals from them. I'll also participate in Heritage, Great Collections and Regency. As stated before, always take the premium into account when placing your maximum bids at GC, Heritage, etc.

 

Not familiar with Regency......link ?

 

I've sold with GC twice now and it's always a breeze. They take everything, they list quickly, and everything I have sent has sold. Heritage rejected my consignment because it was a few hundred short of their $5k limit, which was disappointing. Steve Album Rare Coins has taken over six months for everything to be listed and sold. Still awaiting payment. They're great to buy world coins from, but next time I'll just list on Instagram. I know enough people in my niche that it would save a lot of time and I'd make more money.

 

You should view doing your own die variety attributions as an advantage. All of the guys who aren't doing them are out of the game, which leaves you ahead.

Second, don't trust the die variety attributions like they are carved in stone. I've seen some really gross errors on the slab labels over the years, even on "Red Book" varieties.

 

I’m guessing he meant Legend (they call their auctions “regency auctions”)

 

Just to chime in again regarding GC, I've now contacted them twice about selling a certain group of graded coins in my collection and never heard back.

 

Just call them. You've got the wrong email or check your spam folder if they aren't replying.

 

https://www.legendauctions.com/regency-auctions/

 

Hello there, I am a first time consignor of an old coin collection passed down from a family member many years ago. It includes ancient coins from the Persian Empire (several caliphates, Elymais, Sasanian, Khwarezmian, Gurkan, Ghaznavid, Qajar, gold dinars, etc), but also pieces from the Byzantine Empire, various Sultans, etc. I have spoken with CNG and Stacks Bowers, both who are interested in consigning. As someone very new to this, the online auctions and houses are endless for reselling. What advice do experienced consignors have on the best place to sell?

 

As you will find in this thread Great collections and Heritage are the two largest. I have done more than a dozen auctions with Great Collections and they were top notch each time. heritage I can not help you with. James

 

I think you need a more nuanced answer.

Look through auction archives and see who customarily sells this type of material. That's probably your best site.

For example, I don't see GC has any "Khwarezmian" listed. While I love GC, it may not be the best choice since the quality of the cataloging will be critical.

A search at AC https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=Khwarezmian suggests Agora and CNG have handled material in the last 3 years.

Be aware that's not a complete list of auction houses.

A friend disposed of part of his nonUS collection through Steven Album (https://db.stevealbum.com/php/home.php) who have an upcoming "Ancient, Islamic & India" auction with several Ghaznavid pieces.



Remember that EVERYTHING is negotiable and the more desirable the material the more favorable the terms you can obtain.

 

Recently GC had a large cent variety listed with only a verbal identification (1839 Head of 1840) in a PCGS slab.
So I spend the time to identify it by Newcomb number.
The PCGS description was totally wrong!
I notified GC about the error and after a week or so GC agreed with my assessment.
They cancelled the listing and have shipped the slab back to PCGS for re-slabbing for the correct identification (it's an N-8).
I assume PCGS will make the correction for free.

 

@kanga

I suspect that it was not a free "correction". GC probably ate the modest cost to maximize the value of the auction.

From https://www.pcgs.com/guarantee

What the PCGS Guarantee Does Not Cover
The following is further explanation of what the PCGS Guarantee does not cover.

Clerical or "mechanical" errors. PCGS occasionally makes clerical errors in inputting data which is shown on the insert in the PCGS holder; consequently, the PCGS Guarantee does not cover obvious clerical errors, what we call "mechanical errors." The key concept is how obvious the error is to the naked eye. If you can easily tell just by looking at the coin that the description on the holder is wrong, then the coin/holder combination is not covered by the PCGS Guarantee. Examples would include the following:

• A variety attribution that is obviously incorrect. For example, if you had a normal date 1942 Mercury dime, but the PCGS holder showed the coin as a much rarer 1942/1 overdate, this coin would not be covered by the PCGS Guarantee as the date is obviously normal. Another example would be if you had a 1945 Mercury dime with an obviously normal size mint mark, but the PCGS holder showed the coin as a "Micro S." This coin would not be covered by the PCGS Guarantee since the mint mark is obviously normal size.

 

I prefer GC and don’t bother with the other 2.