Thought I’d post this because most U.S. collectors aren’t familiar with Noonan’s in the UK. I have no financial connection with them and have yet to buy a coin from them. This hoard contains no coins on my list. But it’s unusual for them to offer so many U.S. coins. The coins are fairly common dates, but many are high grade. If you bid, it will be in pounds and a buyer’s premium will be added. It's the June 20 auction. Link is https://www.noonans.co.uk/auctions/calendar/784/catalogue/ . And yup, it’s world coins. From the UK perspective, U.S. coins are world coins. Cal
Depends on how many coins are in each lot. Most of them are five coin lots opening at 125 to 150 pounds. Impossible to guess grades from the photos. I checked them out to see what their English sovereigns were but they were mostly doing foreign coins (to the UK). Didn't spend much time but I didn't see any.
https://www.noonans.co.uk/auctions/calendar/784/catalogue/?specialcollectionpart_id=1574 takes you directly to the Four Oaks Hoard collection. The images are quite good actually, if you're on a desktop and use the full screen button. For example: Many of them are NGC graded and you can also click through to NGC images. It's funny how they describe graded MS66 coins as "virtually mint state." 24% buyers premium is kind of extreme.
I have some experience in buying coins from outside the U.S. For the silver coins in this auction, there should be no tax (VAT, sales, customs) for coins shipped to the U.S. To figure the maximum bid in pounds, first decide the absolute most you’ll pay in dollars exclusive of shipping. Then divide by the exchange rate (currently 1.28 dollars/pound). and divide that by 1.24 (24% buyer’s premium). So, if the most you’re willing to spend in dollars is 1000, then your maximum bid should be 1000/1.28/1.24 = 630 pounds. Cal
You will also pay a fee to the transfer agent to make a payment in pounds. For example, to do a transfer from your bank (ACH), Transfer Wise (https://www.wise.com) charges
The lots with single coins images are pretty good. The lots of 5 are not so good, unless I missed something. I'm on a laptop.
If you live in a state that charges sales tax on coins, you can more than make-up for a higher than usual buyer’s premium with tax savings when buying overseas. For example, my state charges 8% sales tax. So, if I buy in an auction outside the U.S with a buyer’s premium of 20%, that is effectively reduced to 12%. There may some circumstances where this may not work. Examples are eBay and maybe foreign auction companies with a brick-and-mortar presence in the U.S. I’ve made many coin purchases from outside the U.S and, except for eBay, never had VAT or sales tax added to the invoice. Payment fees can vary quite a bit depending on seller. Some will take Visa or PayPal with little or no extra charge. Some will take an international money order or cashier’s check; the cost of these will depend on your arrangement with your bank. Virtually all will take a wire transfer; the cost of this will depend on your arrangement with your bank. One thing I’ve discovered with wire transfers to UK, EU and Japan is there is a somewhat hidden landing fee that doesn’t popup until near the end of setting-up the transfer. Usually, it’s around $10 but in the foreign denomination. Then I have to go back and recalculate the whole thing. Always consider money transfer costs when buying from outside the U.S. Cal
Legally you owe use tax if sales tax has not been collected and remitted by the seller. I get that people rarely remit use tax, but I wouldn't advise performing tax fraud as part of your comparison.
Cal - the reason I like TransferWise is that all fees are disclosed up front, which is what I showed. $8 for a $1,000 transfer. Plus they give decent exchange rates.
I use Wise all the time. They're really great. If you set it up right, when you do a Wire transfer to the UK, it's done as a local transfer and costs almost nothing (just the wire transfer fee, not the conversion fee or anything).
