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CU VALUES GROSSLY OVERSTATED / BEWARE COIN MARKET HYPE ?

deltadondeltadon Posts: 83
in Buy, Sell, & Trade - U.S. Coins
Due to the widely hyped "white hot" market in the coin press, I recently consigned eight PCGS Certified 20th Century type coins to the Bowers & Merena Baltimore ANA Auction in July. This group of eight coins had a total current Collectors' Universe (CU) value of $14,165. Five of the coins graded PCGS MS-66 with the remainder PCGS MS-65. This lot of eight coins realized only $10,621 WITH Buyer's Premium or 25.0% below CU Value. Only one coin sold at a price which was less than 20% (18.1%) below the CU Value (1916 WL Half PCGS MS-66). The worst price vs. CU Value was for a 1917-Ty. 1 SLQ PCGS MS-65FH which realized a price of only $920 or 37% below CU Value of $1,450. I might understand a few coins coming in below "market" but not the entire group and at a significant discount to market! I even purchased one of the coins myself, a 1900 Barber Quarter in PCGS MS-65 (white) because the highest bid at the time was $575 or $875 below CU Value - this for a coin which has a population of 18 with only 7 higher! Absolutely none of these coins had any problems whatsoever and all silver coins were bright white or with very light toning.

My warning to everyone is to be careful of the hype and put reserves on your coins if you consign them to auction. Otherwise you could be very disappointed - like myself. I would be interested to learn if other collectors have similar experiences with auctioning their coins or where have you been successful in getting good value for your coins - EBay?
Buyer and seller of registry and investment quality coins of the United States.

Comments

  • darktonedarktone Posts: 8,437 ✭✭✭
    The cu price guide is a retail price guide. Also you picked an auction date that had every major auction service having a large sale- I am sure this hurt prices. You know 25% below retail sounds about right? mike image
  • RampageRampage Posts: 9,453 ✭✭✭✭✭
    There were a number of coins that I sold on eBay when I was selling often that I did not do as well on. Not a big deal as they were not really high dollar coins, but even still, the time of year plays a factor on it as well as what was previously mentioned about other auction houses.
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Speaking of overstated, did you post this on every forum here?

    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
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