Large Cents - Bidding on Heritage

Well I've been playing with Large Cent bids on Heritage. I shouldn't win any bids, but I spread out my bids on the off chance a coin or two falls through the cracks. Every once in a great while, they do. I now have almost $20,000 worth of bids which have been topped. I would have had to take out a second and third mortgage if I won them all, but I would gladly have done so. I can play like I'm a player in the super-rare market for a few days. But reality is setting in as expected.

After bidding closes, the live bidders do their thing and any high bids I have left will likely be topped then. But just maybe, one of those R6s or R7s will fall my way.

 

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I do the same thing marshall - I put a bunch of marginal bids in on some coins. Just not only large cents. There are a coupld of those large cents I am keeping an eye on - I did just bid on one of them. Right now I am high on two coins - not large cents. I don't think I won one of these just yet - but I always hope.

 

It never hurts to try and occasionally, you will get lucky. And if you lose, you are not out of pocket. It is too easy to get caught up in a bidding frenzy. It takes discipline to set a max amount and never exceed it. I'm slowly learning to do this. It ends up with you having a better collection, albeit one with lesser quantities.

 

Got to admit I don't always put in my max willing bid. There are a few times on a key date coin I might keep creeping the bid up - so long as I think it stays a deal. There was an 1896-S barber quarter I jumped in price three times. I was only high on the first bid - the last two I was out bit on, but would have been happy to win it. The last bid no long makes it worth it to me.

 

I always determine what my max bid is, then wait until there are 3 or 4 seconds left to enter it. I win some and I lose some. Sometimes, though, I get great deals that way.

 

I sometimes do that on eBay, but the Heritage auction has a live bid follow up after the electronic bidding, so sniping is ineffective.

 

You can still bid live against the floor. If you can deal with the monotony, this can be exciting and possibly give you a one-up over other at home bidders.

 

The other advantage of being there is that you get to preview the coins. Sometimes a flaw is not obvious from the website, but is quite visible when looked at under a loupe. Sometimes, the website image just doesn't do justice to any luster (if present).

At an auction last week, this saved me from buying a coin that had almost imperceptible scratches in the the field just front of the bust (what it did is caused me to lower my max bid amount with the result that an on-line bidder won that particular auction). Had I not been able to see (in person) the fine hairline scratches, I would now own a coin that I would not have been happy with.

The other advantage (especially if you go to a lot of auctions) is that you can see who you are bidding against. Sometimes you know the other bidder has deep pockets—this can stop you from getting into a bidding war where the only person who wins is the seller (and of course the auction house).

 

The problem with being there is expense. You can't afford to spend $2000 to save $100 if you're not well financed or in the business.

 

Yes - sometimes watching the live bidding can be interesting. I know that one auction with my coins in it this year - it seemed like every lot in the main auction went to a floor bidder. Then the second day or other auctions were more reasonable. I just remember(and I think I posted it somewhere) that those first premium or platinum auction lots went for prices I would not believe - a lot were coins I was unfamiliar with but big prices. I remember watching a couple of mine go up - it was nice.

 

Wow - if things keep going the way they are I am going to lose the 1 large cent I am bidding on. Darn. I hope all the floor bidders get tired and leave before my lot.

 

As expected, all my bids went down hard. I got to withing 50% of a winning bid on one coin, though. Most were around 5% to 20% of final auction price. I guess I'll just have to keep cherrypicking off eBay.

 

I know how you feel, Marshall.

I had a lot of hope I might be a winner at the recent Goldberg sale, and with Heritage. Alas, that was not to be.
I had my eyes on an S-103 at the Goldberg sale, a nice G5, really a VG 7. Missed that one by just a small amount, but still missed, and had to 'content' myself with an London Elephant token in G4 (I think it is really better than that, and has very nice surfaces). At the Heritage sale, I was aiming again for a S-103, and some of the 1794's with head of 93.....I guess I did not bid high enough....

 

I watched until it was up into the 1798 or so date range. I mean the floor bids on those R5 to R7 coins were out of sight - to me. Some of those NC went really high also. But I have so say when I got up this morning I was a proud winner of one of the 1804 large cents. Assuming no mistakes and the coin arrives that should give me a date set with just needing a 1793 chain and liberty cap to complete the album.

 

Congrats Mark.

 

Of course the same from me, Mark.

And PLEASE SHOW US your new treasure. Which die state is it?

 

I am at work now and will post the link when I get home - but it was the AG-3 1804. Personally I like it better than the other 1804's they had. Yeah - not as much detail, but to me a better coin for the album. Now I will have to decide to crack it out or not - right now leaning towards not, but who knows.

 

http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1174&lotNo=3295&lotIdNo=11277 - could wait so looked it up real quick. The s266-a.

 

Looks good. Nice coin, just wear, no damage, and it's real.

I didn't bid in the Heritage sale but I did win one from the Goldberg Pre-Long Beach sale. I paid high for it but I really wanted this coin




It isn't a spectacular coin, it isn't even a particularly rare coin (although I think it is a very tough R-4), and it isn't even a particularly nice coin, but it is noteworthy.

Dan Holmes built a fine collection and it was historical as being the most complete set of large cents ever assembled. Dan was the 12th person to ever assemble a complete set of the Sheldon numbered varieties, and all but one of the NC varieties. With every collection there has to be a last coin that completes the collection. This was that coin for the Dan Holmes collection, the coin that finished the greatest early date set ever. Being low grade, in Dan's sale it was estimated at $50. I bid $300 and lost as the underbidder. I thought I'd never see it again but it showed up in the Goldberg sale estimate at $80. This time I got it for $384. (Obviously I'm not the only one who appreciates the story.)


I just discovered that it looks like I may have won a second lot. (I thought I had lost it) Not a early cent this time but a Conder token.




This is the first Genuine Trade Token I've been able to add to my set for some time. D&H lists it as Rare, and Dr Srriro so far does not have one and so does not list any as having been offered in the past 25 years. (Until he acquires a token he doesn't publish his records of how many have appeared for sale.)

 

Congrats conder! Nice additions.