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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;medoraman, post: 1252673, member: 26302&quot;]So who loses in such a scenario? The buyers. They overpay for coins, and when it comes time to sell will realize they have been lied to. </p><p><br /></p><p>I understand competition for consignments, but I also deal with a good many firms who accurately grade. I am aware of some other ancient firms who overgrade their coins, and overlook some flaws, but I will never buy from them again. It is the firms who accurately grade are the ones that win my return business. Yes, an auction firm needs consignments, but they also need large customer bases to sell to. It is not as one sided as you seem to believe. High realized prices generate strong seller submission more, in my view, than lying about a sellers coin will.</p><p><br /></p><p>How I bid, is I first take the auction house into consideration. If it is in my eyes a great house, conservative grading, I may bid 20% above what I believe the market is for a coin I want. If its an ok house, I may bid up to market but never above since there is a chance for a negative surprise. If it is a poor house, and routinely overgrade, I will bid at most the market for one full grade lower, and frequently less than that if I even bother. I feel many do the same, since auction strategy is discussed and compared at my ancient coin club frequently. </p><p><br /></p><p>My original post was simply how its sad even for firms who swear by TPG still contradict it when it suits them, and only when it suits them. I never bought much from Ponterio, but if they did what you described I would be today much more likely to start. As it is, since Ponterio is now part of Bowers, I may look at Bowers auctions myself and see if he brought that quality to their auctions.</p><p><br /></p><p>Chris</p><p><br /></p><p>P.S. Btw its dangerous to assume the nature of the merger between Ponterio and Bowers. Do we know economically that came out? How much was Ponterio reimbursed? Maybe he realized a very high price for his respected firm? I am just saying that since someone was purchased they were doing poorly, it may well have been they were purchased because they were doing very well. I simply do not know that answer, and its dangerous to speculate unless you know the details.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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