I have noticed this seller over the last half year with about 4 of these huge 'estates' that sell for 50 to 60k. At first glance, they seem like real treasures, with tens of thousands of coins, including great cert coins, and all sorts of art, gems, etc. But... I can find 4 auctions that seem to be about the same stuff... the same big pile of lose gemstones, the same huge pile of old silver, the same misc art items (Picaso prints, other famous names). Is it just me, or does it stretch the imagination that there could be several similar collections? Is the term 'estate' here just a gimmick for a really interesting collection of stuff to be put together and auctioned off above the retail? Take a look, I'd be curious if anyone has an opinion (heck, just go to ebay lots and sort by highest price and this one will come up first). Is it even remotely possible this is real and someone is going to come out ahead?
basically, yeah. An estate can be anything from a small group to an entire garage sale in one. Is it a gimmick - absolutely. There's a lot of interesting stuff. The question is, does any one person want all of it. If everything there was valued appropriately, I could see someone who runs a shop buying this sort of lot, because you could sell off significant sections, and maybe turn a profit - IF everything was not completely blown full of hype. I think that's the idea behind there huge estates... throw in everything you can possibly over-state, and all together, it creates this massive excitement. There were four of five things in that one that I drooled over, myself... take a look at the loose gemstones? What's anyone going to do with a bunch of loose stones like that, if you don't have a desire to keep them? I wouldn't even know how to begin to move that sort of inventory... nobody will buy them from you except resale on ebay, where you take your chances in getting a few cents on the dollar. Those paintings might be beautiful, but if you have ever gone to an estate auction - it is absolutely embarrassing how cheap that sort of stuff goes for.
I just always assumed that these "estate" sales were a way to unload a large quantity of low quality stuff all at once. A decent coin dealer or life-long collector of gems, art, and coins certainly wouldn't dump the stuff on Ebay -- in my opinion. I can visualize 3rdgarage going around buying anything that nobody wants for a very low price and then packaging it attractively. But I'm always skeptical about these things.
I have to wonder what the actual retail value on this stuff is??? I agree that it is likely bought in big quantities and then mixed in to make these huge estate sales, but I wonder what their profit is?
