Bowers Baltimore sale- not much online pre-bidding

steviewonder

What is the significance, if any, of the small amount of online pre-bidding for Bowers Baltimore auction? There appears to be many lots where little or no bidding has taken place.

agentjim007

with no e-bay live most lots will go back to current owners or the floor.

RYK

I actually bid on several lots. There are many lots in the area in which I collect (New Orleans and Carson City gold) that are raw. It is dangerous enough to bid on slabbbed lots, even with their pictures, sight unseen. But bidding on raw lots sight unseen over the internet...well, it's a real gamble. I think that the auctioneers probably did the sellers a disservice by not getting more of the gold coins into PCGS/NGC/ANACS slabs prior to the auction as I think that others, like myself, either stayed away or low-lled bids, because of the fear of ending up with a coin that is cleaned/AT'd, etc.

Let me be clear...there are several coins in the auction that are very high on my want list, some of which do not turn up on the market very often, that I have had to walk away from because I am afraid to buy raw coins sight unseen. I could have been a strong (ie. winning) bidder, but instead, I am essentially on the sidelines. This is a case in which a relationship with a dealer is very useful. I am having a dealer with whom I work inspect several lots for me.

Robert

DesertLizard

I think you will see plenty of floor action. BM internet pix suck to be blunt. Images are way too small. So bidding is light.

As for the raw gold...I have seen a few of the raw lots and many are impaired [cleaning, weird toning, scratches, etc.] but it is not visible on line.

Separately, anyone know when Superior will have their lots up for view?

Elcontador

From what I've seen, the serious bids come on the floor. Occasionally, I'll see a high bid from someone who "has to have the coin" via E-Mail, but that is rare.

The last time I saw this was re the nicest Coronet Large Cent I've ever seen. It was in a PCGS RB 6 holder & was sold by Heritage at its Long Beach Signature Sale. Even with that high internet bid, it went for even more once it hit the floor bidding.

RYK

Lizard,

I agree. The pix made even the impaired coins look okay. I am always hesitant to bid sight-unseen on the raw gold.

Robert

agentjim007

Speaking of large cents I liked the group of 1818 listed as MS60. Ended up being high bidder on the first @ $285. The rest closed alot less. I bet I don't come close when they hit the floor.

gemtone65

Unlike Heritage or Superior, the quality of the pictures is so poor for B&M that bidding on a piece is like choosing a pig in a poke. It's a total crapshoot. Plus, B&M tends to exaggerate the attractiveness of their offerings. This being the case, few knowledgeable bidders should submit mail bids on the auction lots based solely on the pictures and the written descriptions.

Fountainhead

Why not so many internet bids? Several theories:

1) B&M doesn't post pictures of multi-coin lots, and there sure are a lot of them at this auction, a great deal of them raw. Bidding on raw lots sight unseen is a real crapshoot. (FWIW, I looked at some of the St. Gaudens raw lots; IMHO they are accurately graded. But I'm not good at telling the difference between a "clean" coin and a "cleaned" coin.)

2) The first day of lot viewing was Tuesday, which was the last day to bid online as well. I can't attend all the auction sessions, so I had to arrive early, squint at coins for six hours, then run home and get my bids in before the deadline.

3) A lot of people received their catalogs late. CU doesn't seem to realize that since September 11th, mail deliveries in the Baltimore-Washington area take longer -- one of our postal facilities is still shut due to those anthrax letters.

4) The B&M internet server wasn't really working well last night, especially in the last two hours of bidding.

5) Many of us collectors around the nation's capital are too preoccupied with perpetually "imminent" military actions to think about anything else.

Make no mistake about it -- this will be a floor bidders' auction.

BTW, B&M gave up on the eBay angle when too many customers complained their eBay bids didn't get processed before the auction closed.