Old guy, new ancient collector.....please help!

Ive been collecting denarii for, oh, about, 6 months. A while back I was perusing this forum and saw that there was a gent who periodically did online auctions of coins, he was a retired judge, and his auctions tended to be fairly reasonable....I know, I know, matter of opinion!

I cannot find the gentleman's' name now, even looking through old posts. How do you folks know when he has an auction? Is there a email list you get added to? Do you have a auctions section where this gets posted? I would surely like to at least get involved in his next auction, but do not know how to do so!

Please forgive me for not noticing something which could be fairly obvious to all of you internet and coins forum savvy folks!

 

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Frank Robinson - fsrcoin.com - great prices, coins properly graded
I have been using Frank for years

 

"The ignorant asks once, the stupid never asks"

 

Great question . I got interested in Ancients from stories from this forum . I only have one now that I won on an Auction site I visit . I would like to collect a few more but I'm not familiar with what to look for .

 

frank robinson fsrco

frank Robinson fsrcoins.com has a current reduced price sale. Bid once he'll send auctions to you. see the literature section in page five. Lots of illustrated auction catalogs. good luck

 

Frank has an auction ongoing now that closes on July 16th. You can email him your bids. He always responds quickly. Shoot him an email to get on his mailing list.

 

Thank you all for your kind help!
I went to the site, saw a couple of things I like....will likely try my first ever online auction. So, I see the starting bid.....hate to overbid, but, Ill bid up a bit more than starting and see what happens.....I guess it would be folly to mention here what I am interested in though!

 

Frankly speaking, and his Robin' son. (Shut up, Bert, if you've got nothing to say, don't say it !!!).

 

I've noticed his handle in some online auctions. He has a good eye for quality.

 

Did anyone mention that Frank is a heck of a nice guy and very tolerant of beginners mistakes and ANY of their queries. In your foray into this field of collecting you could do much worse than start with him.

 

I see good and bad here but no one cares for my opinion. Here is a fact: You will win more coins and be happier with what you win in Frank's sales with honesty than trying to play the system. Frank works differently than some auctioneers. He will tell you when you bid whether your bid is leading or not. I suggest honestly appraising the coin in your opinion and bidding that full amount. Lets say you like Lot #1 and think it is worth $100. If you bid $100 and I bid $50, Frank will tell me that I need to bid $105 to take the lead. I'll say it was not worth that much and walk away. If no one else bids, you will get the coin for $51. If you bid $1 over the previous bidder you are almost begging someone to bid $1 over you and start a back and forth game that will end with someone paying more than they planned. Bid your max and walk away. If you go back later and bid again either you were not honest the first time or are now likely to pay more than the coin is worth. Somewhere in every sale Frank notes the coin sold in his sale ten years ago for three times what he is starting at now. That does not mean the value went down; it means someone paid too much before.

If you are a beginner and see a starting bid of $100 on a coin worth $1000 you are likely to discover many of us are bidding on that coin so you will not win it anyway. On the other hand, many nice coins go for lower prices because most of his customers are interested in high grade coins of the popular varieties rather than the common stuff in presentable grade. If all you want is a decent coin of a Roman emperor, try Trajan, Vespasian or Commodus rather than joining the hunt for the rare guys you have never heard of (Otho, Didius Julianus etc.).

I won eight coins in the last FSR sale and have my eye set on a couple in this sale. I may or may not win one of more this time. My database tells me I currently own 361 coins purchased from Frank in the last 32 years since I discovered him. I have been selling off some of my children lately (some through John Anthony's sales here on CT) so I am sure my purchases would number over 400. From one old guy to another: Give him a try but try buying a few coins you like for what you are willing to pay rather than flooding him with series of $1 higher bids that you will never win.

'Folly' is putting it nicely. I'd go so far as to say 'stupid'. It is almost as bad as some of us here who try to attract new people to our hobby and suggest they patronize our favorite dealers.

 

Yes-- it almost seems like a game for Frank to report the most overpriced example he can find, rather than useful comparisons.

@KeviniswhoIam, to get an idea of what a given coin might be worth now, go to CNG's sales archives and/or Sixbid's archives and do your own search, sorting the results to show the most recent sales first. ACsearch.info is better but you have to pay for a subscription to see the prices realized. You can also look for comparisons in currently for sale fixed price venues like Vcoins to get an idea of what such a coin would cost if you want the convenience of buying it at your leisure rather than at auction.

Tons of CoinTalkers buy from FSR. One thing seems pretty consistent: the coins always look much better in hand than they do in his horrible scans (photos?).

 

I rarely disagree with TIF as much as we do on this point. I read Frank's quotes of ridiculous realizations as 'Look at the stupid people' rather than as guides for bidding. His sales used to attract more people who knew they could not compete with the Hunt Brothers level collectors but were seeking nice coins at a fair price. Today we see more people with more money than sense bidding FDC prices for MS 3/5 3/5 coins. Yes, recent sales will tell you what someone paid (except when the reports were faulty - Do they delete sales that were never paid or returned as fake?) The value of a coin is not what was paid by fools and money launderers but what it is reasonable to expect that same coin to bring in a subsequent sale. Frank is saying that there are sales that should not be considered when deciding what to bid. I don't care how rich you are, there is someone richer. Just hope that one does not decide to collect what you collect. I have known half a dozen people wealthy enough they did not have to ask the price of the coins they bought.

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5650131
What does the paid version say about this lot? Why is it listed without explanation? Maybe that is what you get for the subscription fee.

https://www.sixbid-coin-archive.com/#/en/single/l18622021?text=pescennius
Only 800 euro?

 

Yes, because you know Frank and his sense of humor. New collectors like @KeviniswhoIam might mistake these outlier "comps" as a guide to what the offered coin is worth.

I think Frank is marvelous and hilarious. His old-style auctions are welcome and fill a need. I just don't want newbies to misunderstand his blurbs.

 

Starting price of 300 USD and no hammer price.

 

Doug, I think that is far from true. I read your posts even when I do not have time to read all that is written on a subject. Sounds like you need a piece of chocolate cake (or whatever treat you like best).

@KeviniswhoIam You can find lots of suggestions on where to buy by searching here. A topic in mid June on this was -
What are your very favorite Ancient Coin auction houses?

 

I must say, Frank does have an active sense of humor. I emailed my bids to him on my iPhone, and he caught a couple awkward autocorrect issues......ugh. Well, fingers crossed!