Anyone here remember the early days of Teletrade auctions
MrBluster
Posts: 348 ✭✭✭
Phone bidding after you put your PIN # in.. I don’t remember if you spoke to someone or used the touch tone phone to place bids. For a time Teletrade would send you a VHS tape of the coins to be auctioned. I wish I would have saved the tapes
I got some very nice coins through their auction.
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Nope. But I remember the last few years of online TT auctions. They were more my speed than HA.
I used them both to buy and sell. Always good results.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
Yup!
Tom
Their decals placed on slabs were distinctive. I'll spot one on a coin being offered on eBay.
peacockcoins
Their inventory numbers destroyed countless NGC holos.
"It's like God, Family, Country, except Sticker, Plastic, Coin."
Got some wonderful coins thru them, sold quite a few as well.
This inspired me to look for an invoice with a date. December 16, 1991. Things were much less expensive then. How about that, it was a good investment after all.
And Goo-Gone or WD40 wouldn't even save them!
peacockcoins
It was touch tone phone bidding in the beginning.
I also threw away countless VHS Tapes.
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i know people that made small fortunes buying/selling with them over the years. they had a pretty amazing customer/consignor base
i've enjoyed the threads over the years from people talking about the early days and some of their treasures and experiences.
They were a wonderful place to buy and sell. I had it all taken from me and I had a good start to being a dealer. Kinda lost interest for 10 or more years. Bought some cool coins that I thought was high at the time, but would've been a super investment now.
I remember paper bid sheets from Heritage.
Wasn't it awesome when they finally got fully integrated with the web and you could get a better idea of what you were bidding on?
I do. Fondly. I remember trying to snipe multiple coins, with my newsprint catalog spread out, on a touchtone phone, using their prescribed bid increments, all before 9:00 CDT struck. Online bidding certainly made things easier. The later years, well that's not what the OP asked ...
Remember?
If we were all the same, the world would be an incredibly boring place.
Tommy
I never purchased from TT, though I do have one or two coins with their sticker still on that I got on the secondary market. Watched some of a show once or twice... not something that interested me. Cheers, RickO
I bought many through TT. Several I still have. It was a gamble, as the description were not always the best.
Found my first receipt.
Quite the bargain compared to what they sell for today!
Heck yeah.
Liked those days but tough. Certainly smash mouth ball (buy low / sell high or fold). The sheet was going nowhere (south side of steady) so no help there. I started going to world coins and NBN bc that stuff not on sheet.
Once got familiar how TTR worked just worked my angle.
When starting taking tables at shows in 1990 much of my inventory from Teletrade. Really enjoyed the process. Much of it material could not afford before the 89 crash but could after. Had fun and got good retail on most of it. Then you might be bidding against the owner so you need not bid anymore in auc if could not buy right. Mainly bid on stuff “brilliant wellstruck nice luster no major marks.” This was what my retail customers liked. Toned (tarnished) items avoided, could have PVC or spots.
Plus bidding in final seconds critical so beat the other bidder get my price so make money on it. Usually many ran out of money near auc end so might get some pick offs.
One angle I worked-When they had the fun show in Jan I would bid in TTR and pickoff some nice stuff bc a lot of my competition not active on it bc tied up w fun. Some super deals for me.
Never sold much on TTR was doing coin and some gun shows. But my TTR stuff sold good. The gun people liked my TTR $20 Libs (old west).
5% buyers’ fee and $4 shipping. If anyone came out with those rates today for a coin auction company, I believe they would still make a fortune.
Wondercoin
I have one of their Sample Slabs that they handed out it had a Kennedy half in it 1971-D graded by I can't Grade (ICG)
Not always the best? How about often non-existent?
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
I purchased 100s of coins from TT. They were constantly sending me the auction lists in the mail. Wish I has kept a few of those mailers. I got a lot of great deals over the years. Once they had more of an online presence, with photos, I didn't do quite as well, as I faced stronger bidding competition.
Dave
Remember the TT box? Always a good mail day ...
If we were all the same, the world would be an incredibly boring place.
Tommy