Heritage's ANA Auction vs. B&M

RYK

This may only be from my perspective, as a collector of branch mint nineteenth century gold coins, so let me know if I am off base. Yesterday, I received my catalog for the upcoming Heritage ANA auction to be held in Charlotte later this month. I was impressed with how little good material there was for auction. In comparison, the upcoming Bowers and Merena auction that goes with the Baltimore show really has a large selection of great coins, many are raw and have been off the market for some time. Many important dates and types are represented.

When I hear Laura and other dealers state that there is not enough new (they like to say "fresh") coins in the marketplace, I am not sure what to think. When I received the B&M catalog, I was very excited about what was coming to market. When I received the Heritage catalog, I was depressed. Is this a function of Heritage running so many auctions now the the impact of any individual auction is diminshed. Or perhaps Bowers and Merena has access to the better material?

nwcs

I have only my opinion to go by, but I wonder if Heritage is more open to allowing just about anyone to consign coins and so it waters down the field a lot. This would, in theory, send the better coins to another auction place so that they are not crowded by lower priced average coins.

Just a thought, anyway.

keithdagen

One of the main things, I think, in the two auctions, is turnaround time between Long Beach and the Charlotte ANA.

Heritage posted the Charlotte ANA on their website before the LB Bullet Sale was over. Bowers did not have a Long Beach sale, so you really need to take both Heritage sales together to get the full feel. Heritage had some very nice coins that were at Long Beach, and because they had such a huge auction last week, may not have had as much material to fill the second show.