I Just Got Clio'd... and it was Actually a bit of a Relief

I agree... and I PROMISE, I will not spend it my Friend!

 

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I got clio’d twice in the last CNG sale on two medieval coins. Didn’t bid today so I was safe from him this go round.

Lots of people know who he is but since he prefers to remain mostly anonymous in his online bidding I don’t think it’s right for him to be outed. If you go to a triton sale, the ANA, or any of a dozen other shows you’ll see him walking around. He’s sold a few coins over the years but compared to what he’s bought he hasn’t sold anything at all.

I was in the process of photographing 4000 coins for him from just one collection he bought before I moved to FL so that project remains unfinished. I was about half finished. With a full time job now I don’t have the hours to finish it.

 

I didn't get clio'd because the coin I went after was well beneath his regular standards but met mine very well. Specialising and not casting such a wide net has its advantages.

 

Sorry for the late response DRay I was traveling so couldn't finish my reply.

Clio (his bidder handle) is a collector with great taste and seemingly unlimited resources that frequents CNG and and a few other auctions. He/she always bids in the last few seconds so sometimes you think you have a coin with a comfortably high bid and all the sudden you get... CLIO'D! Outbid at the last second no matter how high your bid was. It hurts...

 

Thanks, @Curtisimo ! That can definitely be frustrating! The only auction I've had experience with is JA's great weekly auctions. Everyone who participates in JA's auctions seem to be courteous and respectful of one another.

 

Hi @Deacon Ray , who is JA?

Thanks

Peter

 

This forum often feels like a support group for those who've been Clio'ed . Sorry about the one that got away, Curtis, but like you say, if Clio had his eye on it, you weren't going to win it anyway, and yes, there'll always be another one.

I won ten coins at yesterday's CNG auction, but the win was one of the group lots from the Claudius Gothicus specialist's collection where the coins didn't merit individual lotting. I've no reason to think that Clio wouldn't bid on group lots if he wanted something in it, but from what I've been able to observe, these are usually beneath him. All the better for those of us who enjoy them!

 

I can only hope that knowing you lost to CLIO and not to someone else of a relatively "lesser collecting stature" took at least some of the sting of disappointment out of it.

 

The silver lining in this cloud.

 

@greekandromancoins , I clicked 'Like' not because I liked your being outbid but because I appreciate your sharing that information

 

I'm not sure that is courteous or respectful since auctions are set up to determine the proper price for a coin. When a group decided that they will not bid on a coin that already has a bid (thinking they should respect the prior bid from a friend). That is why few of the coins in JA's experience real bidding wars. I suspect the sales might attract more 'better' coins if we did not do this. I suspect Clio needs to bid at the last minute to avoid punitive raises from people who know he bids high and would like to cost him money. I do not begrudge him his winnings but I would like to know what it was he found appealing about some of the coins.

The one I lost this time was lightly rough and smallish flan so I thought it might slip through. I was wrong. I wanted it for the owl.

409, Lot: 231. Estimate $100.
Sold for $180. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MYSIA, Pergamon. Early-mid 2nd century BC. Æ (19.5mm, 8.16 g, 1h). Laureate head of Asklepios right / Serpent coiled around, and rising from, omphalos; to inner left, owl standing half-right, head facing. SNG Ashmolean 873–4; SNG BN 1813–4. VF, dark green-brown surfaces.

I have owned for some years the same coin but with the owl added via countermark. I do not know the meaning of the owl. I wonder if Clio does and if he, too, has the countermarked one. Yes, I would love for him to become a CT poster and explain the thoughts behind these purchases. They do not appear random by any means.

Florida is the great destroyer of photo jobs. A VCoins dealer and friend of mine retired to Florida and ended my side job of shooting coins for online use. I haven't had a full time job for 14 years now so I have time but I want nothing to do with mailing coins back and forth so now I have more time to nap. All is well.

 

This "Clio" personage, whom I had never even heard of prior to this ongoing discussion regarding the innumerable successive lost bidding "wars", sounds like quite the character, perhaps approaching what is often termed "legendary" proportions. Does anyone have any clue, not as to who he is since that's clearly a long-held secret he is of course perfectly entitled to keep, but as to what his unique (if indeed there even is one to speak of) "driving purpose" aka motivation, other than the all-too-obvious one of accumulating a veritable storehouse of coinage, might just possibly be?

 

I just want to say that I've never not bid on a coin in a JA auction because someone else did. I've run up a couple coins before and would do it again (but I'm not really buying right now).

 

His identity is not really a secret, but in my past dealings with him he is a bit quiet and I think he would rather be left alone. However, what's his motivation? Who knows. I dont think any collector really knows precisely what motivates them deep down. Most of us enjoy ancient coins as a connection to the past and to history, but what really makes us want to collect and or accumulate them I have no idea.

I have a tendency not to over-analyze. I just appreciate that we have the opportunity to do what we do!

 

Good answer. I am of a curious nature, and your explanation satisfied me fully in that regard. Thank you.

 

Yes - and refraining from bidding just hurts JA, which seems worse to me since he's the one providing the valuable service!

 

My electrum stater from Kyzikos Someone has been in the fermented grape juice

 

NICE!!!!

 

It's unlikely that I will ever be one-uped by this legendary bidder. I really don't think he has his eye on any of the modest coins that I love so much

 

Uhgg sorry you got outbid but this is one of my dream coins!

Thanks,
Jacob