Heritage Auction archive remains unreliable

DesertLizard

I have had nothing but problems locating coins that I know have sold via Heritage in the last 3 years, not run of the mill pieces, but coins seen at auction maybe 1x/yrs. A few I know were sold because I was there and have the catalog but they appear no where in the archive.

Well, the mystery is solved, sort of. According my dealer pal, Heritage has made a few adjustments to enhance the functionality of the site/search, particularly to make them faster. This has come at the cost of accuracy!! This is exactly what he was told by the Heritage rep. If so, I hope Heritage is working on fixing this because it is annoying and the site is not faster in my opinion.

So, bid accordingly! Heritage archive is not complete and hence inaccurate especially on thinly traded coins.

marcmoish

I've never had a problem finding archives of coins sold and stayed sold . Don't forget if coins are sent back, which they do from time to time, my understanding is they remove them from archives. You just can't beat their archives!

Marc

DesertLizard

Yes, the achives are handy but faulty.

The "missing" coins were not returned as they are in my safety deposit box!!

Try the following search:

1873-cc au50 pcgs in SEATED DOLLARS category or ALL and nothing is found.

Now try it with just the year and mint in the same categories and there they are, the missing Seated $s.

Here is another missing coin: 1891-S MS65 25c. You can search for it any way you wish but it can only be found by going to the exact auction in 2002, otherwise the archive leads you to believe none were sold since 1999.

The section which is the worse are the Quarter/Double Eagles in MS65, so many are missing the archive is almost useless.

marcmoish

Desert, try putting a dash between the date & the mintmark, as in 1873-CC, I just did & got back mucho 1873-CC's sold including your I believe

marc

ANACONDA

The Heritage archive is one of the best things to come along since sliced bread.

It may be the best way to determine what coins are really worth. Photos AND prices realized. It's also user friendly and......

IT'S FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



anaconda

KlectorKid

Another one of the best things to happen is those butter sticks... but thats not the point. Even if they are not the most reliable thing on Earth its butter.. er I mean better than nothing.

truthteller

Heritage archives are not like a 'google' search engine. If you enter too much information, the software will not interpret it and return a 'not found'. You must be generic with the input information or use the information bars for defining which auction and denomination. I use it all the time, be patient, the information is there and invaluable.

TRUTH

MichaelWeems

I can confirm that the IT department has been working on improving the speed of the auction archives searches, as well as the whole site. However, we are not making these changes at the expense of accuracy. Our goal is both improved speed and accuracy. If anyone experiences problems with the archives, please report them to webmaster@HeritageCoin.com. Your feedback is invaluable in improving our systems.

Thank you,
Michael Weems
MichaelW@HeritageCoin.com
214-252-4355

DesertLizard

Michael,

Why are searches using date, grade and service returning "no results"? This is an all auctions archive search for all denominations. Try it.

If I drop the PCGS criteria then I get results but with NGC, ANACS, etc.

This was not the case about early November, late October.

BTW, some threads take on a life of their own. I am not "anti-Heritage" but the search engine is obviously no longer working the way it was. If interested, PM me and I can give you other examples of "missing" coins which can only be found by identifying the exact auction date.

MichaelWeems

DesertLizard,

I did a search on "1938 MS66 PCGS" and returned two lots in PCGS only. I then did the search without the PCGS and got more lots. However, I am unfortunately not a numismatist nor in tech support. I have sent a link to this thread to Stewart Huckaby in our customer service department. He works closely with IT in defining and fixing problems like the ones mentioned here. He should PM you soon.

Thank you,
Michael Weems
MichaelW@HeritageCoin.com
214-252-4355

Singapore

I agree with with Mr./Mrs. Anaconda that the Heritage site is a great resource - probably the best out there - and you can't beat the price. I use it all the time.

But I'm more impressed that Mr. Weems and Heritage thought enough to respond here - thats got to indicate something positive.

I think these fellows at Heritage are ahead of the curve.

DesertLizard

Agreed, Heritage has the best archive by far. I would like to see it stay that way. The issue is the reliability of specific searches.

Heritage has PMed me and explained they are aware of the issue and "working on it".

I have found them to be very responsive, IF you call things to their attention. They are one of the "good guys". They have the occaisional mistakes but given the volume I can't blame them as long asthey fix things.

marcmoish

desert did you try what I mentioned or are you like smokin'