Auctions are one of the most important avenues for buying coins. However, the whole auction scene can be intimidating if you are new to the idea. I highly encourage everyone to read the excellent article that Jeff Garrett recently wrote, explaining how to bid in auctions and auction etiquette: https://coinweek.com/coins/coin-col...rett-bidding-at-auction-in-person-and-online/ Thoughts?
Great article, PF...thanks for posting. (1) I know I was intimidated going into the Heritage room at FUN. I had no idea how it worked. In fact, I never saw the 1927-D because I thought you had to be a HA VIP or serious bidder for the coin. Nobody volunteered "Are you here to see the 1927-D?" or "Is there a coin you'd like to see ?" Plus, in all honesty, I was more interested in getting away with one of the Platinum Night books for my collection. I didn't know if they wanted you to take one or not. (2) I did register for the auctions (even though I didn't bid) by giving them my online HA information and they gave me that white paper thingy. But I was just a WEE BIT SHORT of having the funds to bid on the 1927-D. (3) VERY INTERESTING that the author says that 75% of auctions in the past were dealers (jibes with Doug's repeated claims that 75-80% of business at shows is dealer-to-dealer) but now 75% are directly to people like us, collectors. (4) Dealers can bid for you, look at lots, etc ? Really ? Were people doing this at FUN ? What about conflicts of interest ? Are dealers doing this as a side business, or do you have to know the dealer personally ? Outside of the dealers/folks I've met here and my LCS, I don't know if I'd trust anybody else. (5) I find the online auctions very good, esp. HA. But some of them can last 4-6 hours (or more); would be great if they had something on the site that gave an estimated time until items that you have bid on or are on your Wishlist come up for auction. As it is, I guestimate..... about 15-20 seconds for each item to go so if something I want is about 350 items in the queu, I know it's gonna be about 75-90 minutes until I get close. (6) Speaking of online auctions and time.....why are GC's auctions that are active sometimes 25-30 days before they expire ? That seems long. HA won't start the bidding usually until about 2-3 weeks until the coin show and/or online auction commences.
Oh yes, I have dealers look at lots for me all the time. There are a couple of dealers I know and trust, and their in-hand evaluation of a coin can be a valuable resource when all I have to go on are a couple of photos online. Some dealers do this for free as a service for their clients, some dealers will charge a small percentage of the final lot price. I personally don't ever have a dealer bid for me, but that was much more common before the major auction houses developed great online platforms. I think it is less common nowadays. Basically, the dealer would be your in-person representative at an auction you couldn't attend. They'd buy the coin, charge a small fee, and then sell you the coin. It seems that lots generally go between 100 - 150 lots per hour. It's a bit faster if there is no live-bidding in the room. The length of the auction varies depending on the auction house. A longer auction gives more people the chance to see the lot, save it to their wishlist, think about it, and then bid. This is an advantage especially for an online-only house like GC, and gives them more time to advertise.
Let me relate on odd/strange/ item (it doesn't rise to the level of an "event") that occurred at one the live HA auctions at FUN. So there I was sitting in the second row, left-most seat but one on the right-hand side. As most of you who have attended know, this seat gives you an unobstructed view of the auctioneer as well as the big-picture screen that is telling you what is going on between all the action (floor bids, internet bids, various proxy bids, phone bids, etc.). Seated just in front in front of me in the left-most seat of the right hand section is a HA employee/functionary with a laptop who is performing some function unknown to me. All good so far. Then, what appears to be a HA employee (but maybe not, I have no way of knowing), comes up the center aisle and stands (yes, stands!) to the right of the laptop guy (which is directly between me and the screen) and proceeds to have a conversation with him. After about 30 seconds of this, I authoritatively voiced the obvious-that he was obstructing the view of the screen and possibly the view of the auctioneer of me. He quickly ducked down and got out of the way. Not enough to me to make an issue of it at the time but I clearly saw the auctioneer take note of it. I just am astounded that in an auction where millions of dollars are exchanging hands in an hour or two, that someone would be so self-unaware or so arrogant to think that whatever he was up to was more important than the bidding. OK, I got that off my chest-it's been bugging me for a while and now I've had my cathartic rant, I'm over it.
I am not 100% sure, but I think I recall that exact incident -- because I remember being obstructed looking at the screen from the back left side of the room !! I didn't know if it was an HA person, a friend, or whomever. I just remember knowing I couldn't see the internet bids scrolling on that screen in the upper right of the room. I think it was Thursday or Friday night, might have been when the 1927-D was getting ready to be auctioned.
It was in the Thursday afternoon session. I seem to recall it was the session after we CT'ers got together.
