Bass Observations and Bidding

Proofmorgan

For this session, I was after the 1807 $5 in 65 CAC. One of my major goals was to go to Central States just to lot view it. It was a truly special coin.

Observations:

-Love the charisma and entertainment from a Mike Sadler performance.

-The 1807 went for about 20% more than I wanted to pay. It was a pipe dream coin, to be honest.

-Non CAC coins were very weak in my opinion. Over grading killed then. Several examples went for fractions of guide prices. Notably a lot with a guide price of $235k selling for $115k.

-CAC coins were strong. Selling for an average of PCGS guide plus 20%. With some outliers on the higher end. Note that current PCGS guide prices at the upper levels are aggressive. Almost in all cases much higher than CAC guide prices.

-I thought the 1812 Double Struck $5 in 66 went cheap. I believe it’s top pop but it doesn’t populate in the census due to the error status. It wasn’t aesthetically pleasing or accurately graded in my opinion. I contemplated bidding as it went quietly with no live action at just over $100k. Ultimately, I couldn’t spend that money on a coin I wasn’t wowed by.

I’ll follow Bass IV but not much there for me. For now, patience…

skier07

Wow! That’s a beautiful 1807 $5. Coins like that are very difficult to price and price guides are nothing more than estimates. If you’re competing with well heeled collectors who are determined to win there’s no telling what the final price may have been. I’m for the most part very good not increasing my maximum bid in the heat of battle.

Agree with you that non CAC gold coins especially NGC ones are not doing great. Most people who are bidding do not live view coins and rely on pictures. For the most part I won’t bid on a non CAC coin. There are obviously exceptions but I’m going to assume that most mid four figure and higher coins without stickers have been to CAC. I might be missing out on some nice coins but it’s my money and I’m going to do it my way.

willy

Now that the auction is over I will say that I viewed many of the early Gold Bass coins. Very few had a CAC sticker and most were very bright with light scratches from what I believe is cleaning.

I had no interest in purchasing them after looking at them in person. The online pictures were better than the actual coins in mine opinion. I am not very good at technical grading, but know the look of the coins was just not right for original old Gold. Take my comments with a grain of salt as I am not an expert.

ricko

Beautiful coins indeed, but in a price range beyond my interest. Cheers, RickO

PeakRarities

I was not enamored with the most recent batch of Bass coins. My observations were the same as yours @Proofmorgan, and I’m not surprised that the non cac coins sold at a fraction of guide. IIRC when I viewed all the Bass lots at CSNS, it seemed like 1 coin per box of 10 had a sticker, I’d have to check my catalog to see what the actual ratio was.

Inspired70

That 1807 was special. I chased also, but fell short sadly.