Has anyone bought coins from Auktionen Frühwald before?

dxd1995

I won a lot at a recent auction held by AUKTIONSHAUS DR. FRÜHWALD (I think they also go by Auktionen Frühwald). I think they are based in Vienna, Austria.

Before I wired my payment, they were pretty fast at replying to my emails.

Once I've sent over my payment, I waited for a couple days before I sent an followup email asking them whether they got my transaction and kindly asked for a tracking number once they ship my lot.

This was several day ago. I haven't received any response from them since.

I start to be a bit worried. Has anyone bought things from them before? Are they legit and trustworthy?

Thank you in advance.

pruebas

Typical. They are legit, but not very communicative.

Too late now, but make sure they insure your shipment. A shipment of mine from them was pilfered at the US port of entry and they would not even reply to my correspondence. I ended up receiving a $21 payout from USPS (the maximum for an inbound Registered parcel) and that's it.

I make it a point not to bid with them unless the lots is unavailable elsewhere and I absolutely need it.

pruebas

To give this thread an upbeat note, I did buy this Austrian medal (of Maximilian of Mexico) from a Fruhwald auction with its original box. It is currently a top pop at SP65. It too wasn't packaged all that well, the box getting somewhat crushed.

I made sure he would cover insurance on it before I paid.

dxd1995

Hi pruebas, sorry for the late reply. Thank you for sharing your experience. They indeed were a bit slow on communication. The shipping seems to be handled by numis24 staffs even though I bid from another website. Because of the recent policy changes, no shipping company wants to ship it to the US. They finally found a company who charged $140 (shipping + tariff). They said they can pay half of it. It was so ridiculously high I ended up shipping it to a third country where I have family. Will probably update again once the package arrives.

BTW I absolutely love the silver medal you posted. The details on the reverse are Jacques Wiener level!

pruebas

@dxd1995 that medal is nickel-plated bronze. It’s the scarcer variety of the type, the other being solid bronze.

Shipping to the US is an adventure these days. I asked a few auction houses if they could deliver at the NY show, and two did. Another tried to, but forgot, then shipped it free via DHL without problem.

You could potentially have them deliver at ANA in August to you or a trusted dealer.

Once I won a high-value collection that was estimated to cost over $1500 to ship. I just used airline miles and took a nice vacation to Munich to pick up the lots in person and carry them home myself. You would need to pay the VAT (only 7% in Germany at the time), but if you get the paperwork stamped by Customs upon your final departure from Europe, the auction house will refund it.