I have never gone, but know they have had sales there in the past. It seems I heard that everything is protected and a lot gets bought back. Who knows though. The only way to know for sure is to check it out yourself. If you go , let us know what happened.
Protection = There is a bid on the "book" that puts a floor under the auction. I much prefer minimum bids. That's honest, and I really don't have a problem with that.
It can get worse. Most shills and smart and don't draw attention to themselves. Others are painfully obvious. One even taunted those who "lost" the coin to him. Now that is dumb!
One dealer told me he was on the back wall. While his was bidding the auctioneer took bids for a bidder was behind him. I guess the phantom bidder's initials were "WALL."
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
I went to one of their auctions about a year ago and I bought two cheaper coins one a PCGS certified large cent ms63 RB for $200 and a bust dime that was cleaned for $30. I was happy with the coins. They had several raw proof two cent pieces that were bringing over $2,000 each and most were going to the same buyer. They opened up an hour before auction time for viewing and I thought this was a rather short time for fifty or so buyers(and spouses and children) to view the coins- one case was so crowed I never even got a chance to look in it. They seem to have these auctions weekly. I wonder where they get this many coins for auction every week? mike
I hate to start false rumors and name a dealer, but I did here it was a very large Wisconsin dealer dumping all his junk and old merch. I would not want to bet the ranch on this, but I would bet that there is some truth to that. I would bet it is just a setup to get rid of junk, and there is the occasional good pieces run through the sales to keep it interesting. These are the ones that will be protected and even run above their actual value, in hopes of getting some consignments from unkowing people that are impressed with high prices. A buddy of mine always said: If you're gonna buy an item back, buy it back for a lot of money. The next time you sell one, the crowd will remember the high price it bought last time, and may get sucked into the bidding.
Only a 5% buyers fee, not bad. The two coin auctions I have been to have a 10% buyers fee added on to the bid. I live in the Twin Cities, and I have to say the coin shows and auctions are pretty sparse for this size of market.
Wisconsin, I can only think of one Wiscosin dealer that would be considered large and they used to advertise in the coin papers but I don't see their ads any more. If you don't want to name them here send me a PM. mike
Comments
I have never gone, but know they have had sales there in the past. It seems I heard that everything is protected and a lot gets bought back. Who knows though. The only way to know for sure is to check it out yourself. If you go , let us know what happened.
Jay
What do you mean that everything is protected? Is this the same as having a reserve price on an item?
Frank
It can get worse. Most shills and smart and don't draw attention to themselves. Others are painfully obvious. One even taunted those who "lost" the coin to him. Now that is dumb!
One dealer told me he was on the back wall. While his was bidding the auctioneer took bids for a bidder was behind him. I guess the phantom bidder's initials were "WALL."
Jay