Help needed for upcoming estate auction.

NoviceKris

I am planning on going to an estate auction on the sixth. the dead guy was a huge raw collector. Lots of morgans, liberties, peace, some ikes, literally tons of kennedys, lots of franklins, hundreds of quarters, cents, you get the idea. I made a list of the things I am interested in with a price range I feel comfortable with. Short of dragging along every reference book I have, do you have any stragetic tips you can give me on going to an auction like this? I have a long list that was published on what is going up for auction. It would take me from now till the auction to research every single listing, and then since they are all raw, I would have to become an instant grading expert on every single type. That aint gonna happen. This may be a vague question but I sure would appreciate the voice of experience with things I need to be aware of/should watch for. Thanks.

Kris

merz2

Kris
I can tell you from past experience,be careful.Some dealers put coins in auctions like that to fool you into thinking they are estate coins.The auctioneers are in on it.It isn't always true,but does happen.The next thing is cleaned coins.After that would be grade.After looking at the coins you're interested in,try to zero in on the nicest ones.Go back and look at those.I hope this helps.

NoviceKris

Thanks Don.

As the possible dealer shennigins I am lucky enough to know the family of the deceased and have reasonable assurance all the coins there are his. The coins from his collection are selling with his stamps the day after the house and contents are sold. The guy was a rabid pack rat and collected tons of different things. this auction for the coins, stamps, postcards will likely take all day. I will take your recommendations to mind, thanks a lot. Kris

copperhead

I agree with Merz. Cleaned coins are very frequently sold at auction. Also you may want to pick out one series (say Morgan$) and concentrate on them in particular. If you do not have grading experience it can be very dangerous. The worst thing you can do is buy any coin or coins without knowing EXACTLY what you are buying. BE CAREFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!
AL

kieferscoins

If they have lot viewing make sure you do it and look at the coins that you are interested in before hand. The descriptions could be off or the auction compnay may not be that good at grading, and overgrade.

Cameron Kiefer

darktone

Hi Kris, I am always carful with estate sales because around my area many of the auctions services will sell thier own coins(damaged,culls,or some other problem) along with someone elses estate to make it look like these coins are from an old time collection. I know this to be true from a friends wife that did book-keeping for one of them. She also warned me to be wary of certain bidders that were there just to get the price up. I know this is not true of all auctions services but I am always leery when I don't know them. I have learned not to bid any higher than bullion value on coins that I have not looked at good. I have seen many very good deals early in estate auctions so be ready to bid right away. One time I got several hundred dollars worth of silver coins under face value( not bullion value. but face value!). One of the auctioneers finally figured it out but it was too late because they were already in my hand. Good luck and let us know what you get. mike

BigE

Kris, maybe you could attend the sale with an experienced collector or dealer. Seeing if you could view the material beforehand is also a good idea. Wish I could go----------BigE

Gilbert

Amy advice?

Don't refer to the deceased as "the dead guy".

solid

I have been to many estate auctions and have had both good and bad experiences.

I have had the best luck, value wise, in basically ignoring the best stuff. If this is a large
sale with lots of coins, you can be sure there will be plenty of collectors there. They will
all check the nicest, most obvious stuff (like complete sets of Morgans, etc) and those lots
will probably sell close to (or over) its value. On the other hand, if there is a ton of stuff,
much of it will be ignored and most people won't bid on the things they haven't checked.
This is where the best opportunities can sometimes be had.

Good experience - looking through the many row boxes of 2x2 cents, nickels, dimes and quarters
and seeing that there was one in the back that was full of silver dollars. When these boxes
came up for bidding, they did it in the "high bid takes choice" format. Knowing that there was
one box of silver dollars, I was the high bidder and bought them for about a dollar apiece!
(I took one box). I was also high bidder the second round and took 5 or 6 boxes of silver
at a little over face value.

Bad experience - carefully checking a complete set of Barber halves for grade and problems,
noting the value and my max bid, being the high bidder (and at many of these estate auctions
they will hand your lot to you right after you win it), getting home only to find that between
the viewing and the start of the auction, someone had stolen the key date coin, which was
about 1/6 of the total value. Lesson learned: check your winning lot when they hand it to
you (or before you pay and leave).

Good experience - At one auction, towards the end of the sale, they had about 20 beer flats
full of wheat cent rolls. Nobody had looked at these as they were behind the viewing tables.
I bought one box at what I was guessing was near face value, thinking how could I go wrong.
Get it home and found many early unc rolls (30's and 40's) amongst the circulated rolls.

Bad experience - Not having bought all of those beer flats of wheat cents!

Tips:

1) Get there as early as you can so that you have plenty of time to carefully check the lots
you are interested in.

2) Take a highlighter or marker and use it put put a little dot or mark on some of the lots (like
when you see on good box amongst a lot of junk). This can help to quickly identify the lot
during the fast paced auction.

3) Manage to be close to the front during the auction so you can be sure of what you are
bidding on.

4) Never bid on things you haven't carefully checked. Too many times this will result in
disappointment and negate your good purchases.

5) Stay away from general auctions that have some coins. The non-collectors will too many
times get caught up in the auctioneers hype and pay way to much for stuff.

That's it for now. You have to learn the rest from experience! Good luck!

Ken

itsnotjustme

I have similar experience to others. Auction can be fast paced, so you need to be prepared for the lots you want to bid on.

I've seen the take you pick one or all of something if you are high bidder--did that on two 1882-CC Morgans--one clearly mint state, the other XF. I paid $75 for the MS example, someone else paid $70 for the XF.

I've gotten silver at below face. People who didn't view thought it was one roll... it was 3 1/2 rolls. Sure I'll pay $30 for that!

I've seen silver go for 8 times face... $10 bags of circ Roosies sold for $80 each... same guy took all 8 bags. Ouch!

I've seen $5 American Eagles go for $70 each. Ouch.

I got 5x79-S T2 proof sets for $30 total!!

NoviceKris

You have all been great, thanks a lot.. I will keep all these things in mind.

I am lucky as there will be a long time to view the coins before the auction. There should be a good crowd. I have done a lot of business with the auctioneer before.. He is in realty and auctions and not a coin guy, which is good and bad. The collection list is fun to read. The guy loved raw coins and really loved some.. like he has almost 300 raw 64 kennedys, 300 plus quarters from 1932-64. I am hoping they will do a lot of stuff dutch style, high bid gets all they want at that price. Actually, he has little of what I collect other than his halves. He liked much older coins than I do, so this will be a very educational event. I will let you know what happens. Thanks again.

Kris