Watching Heritage Auction(s) over the past couple of weeks, it should be a lesson to anyone on “what not to do” when time to sell your collection comes. While a few coins brought strong money for what they were so many others went for strong discounts. The problem, too many coins in the same auctions. I did not count how many Kennedy half dollars were up for auction but it appeared to being two complete collections plus were on the auction block at the same time competing with each other for buyers limited dollars. I was able to pick up three new upgrades for our set with winning bids for about half of what my bids were (all three being top pops with one being a 3/0 and another being a 5/0). The fact that some of the live auctions went after 2:30 am on the east coast on a work day didn’t help much either. I was amazed at how many modern Kennedy PCGS PR 70DCAM sold for under $40 and some of the varieties went for about one third of what they should have brought. It was diffidently a “buyers’ market”, again so many coins with a limited field of collectors making their buying power stretch could not have been good for the sellers.
How often do you read the "local news" in your paper? Do you ever notice that the rookies always write a 6-paragraph item that consists of 6 sentences, and in every sentence they include the phrase, "the report said". Wake up fools! Reports don't talk. Hey, Heritage! Take the rookie off the auction desk. Chris
Good advice. I won't sell my collection like that when it comes time. I've seen the same thing on eBay when a seller offers similar coins on the same day within a short period of time. I've picked up a few coins that were undervalued that way.
I think the greater lesson is to know the size of the market for the coins you collect, and how that affects their liquidity.
Okay! Let's try it this way..... If you owned a mining operation, would you have a new-hire operate a 50-ton loader who only has experience driving a go-cart? If Heritage is making such a stupid mistake listing identical items at the same time, I'm guessing that it is a rookie mistake. Chris
If both owners want their coins sold at a certain time, is it heritages fault? I honestly do not know how it works. If I wanted to sell some of my gold, are they supposed to check and make sure there are no similar coins listed at the same time, or do they just sell them when I tell them to?
It may not be their fault, but Heritage would certainly be remiss if they did not recommend other options. We're talking about Kennedy half dollars, not gold or some other "non-Modern" set. Chris
As far as auctions go, I think Heritage's goal is to move consignor's coins to auction as fast as possible. If multiples of the same coin appear simultaneously and may sell for less as a consequence, then that's the way it goes. But trying to hold coins back has disadvantages: a. some consignors may not be happy with the delay even though it might be in their best interest, b. more coins of the same kind may be consigned during the wait, which ultimately makes things worse, c. the auction company sitting on coins in their possession costs money in overhead and the time-delay in getting commissions, d. having consignors delay in submitting may mean that they will change their mind. From a consignor's perspective, there might be a few things that can be done. For truly valuable coins ($1000 and up), you might be able to discuss the best auction for the coins and be able to avoid have your coin appear in an auction where the same coins have already been consigned. Another ploy is to not to consign an entire collection at once, but to consign in segments. This will reduce the possibility of the entire collection or a large portion of it "colliding" with a group of identical coins in the same auction. It's analogous to dollar-cost-averaging in buying, but instead is on the selling side. Cal
I was on the receiving end of this kind of thing. And believe me, I'm grateful! I think Kennedy 50c pieces have come into abundance since there were so many released into circulation during the gold/silver boom a few years back - simply for bullion. I got really lucky and picked up an entire set of Kennedy 50c pieces for opening minimum bid at auction last month. An entire set of 160 coins - HUGE beautiful collection - every mint/date/proof from 1964-2012 in a Dansco album. I haven't really graded everything in detail yet - but the majority of them are MS65 and up, and NOTHING below an MS63 in the entire set. It is obvious that the previous collector had a fetish for the Kennedy 50c, and everyone thought - junk silver and clad coins. The set is easily worth double what I paid, much more if broken up and graded. Possibly much more. I'm going to start digging into varieties soon and see what pops up.
Personally, I don't understand why anyone would consign a set of Kennedy half dollars to Heritage in the first place. Like you said, they are too easy to come by. Chris
At one time or another - all currency was "modern and plentiful" for the time. Not sure if it will be my lifetime or the next (or the next after that!) - but they will grow in popularity. My set was picked up at a private local auction - not HA, but still. They are plentiful, but a lot are now being circulated as bullion, so the higher grades will start to get rare. Get them now while they're cheap.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a complete set of Kennedys contain far more clad coins than silver coins? There were quite a few years where silver proofs weren't struck. Chris
I don't know, it was sheer luck that I got the set. I don't even know for sure which are silver and aren't. I've never studied the Kennedy Half Dollar, but I'm about to start.
This may or may not be surprising, but there are more years with silver Kennedy proofs than without. Only 1971-74, 1977-91 don't have silver proofs (19 years). The rest (33 years, 30 if you don't count SMS coins) have silver proofs. Not exactly addressing your point, but it is interesting. The Kennedy design has also now equaled the longevity of the Seated Liberty design for the halves.
I guess the next goal is to see if I can add pages to the album and collect 2013-201? Then I will have every one of them.... EVERY ONE!!! MUAHAAHAHAH!!!!
Yeah, I considered that, John, but don't the "silver years" (excluding 64-70) also include clad issues? Chris
I have the entire Kennedy collection of coins in relatively high grade (almost times 2). It is certainly a lot of coins for a reasonable price. I like the collection.
