Went to my 1st auction with coins and saw how BLAST HOT the market is for even dull/common coins

Bochiman

So, I kind of worked from the auction floor today (cellphone, laptop, conference calls made it possible).
I wanted to maybe get some good deals and I figured it wouldn't be that crowded and there may be a good deal or so.
Went armed with greysheets and even a redbook. Went after the gold coins were sold but early enough to view the lots on the tables.

I saw common date morgans (circ even) with NO toning, just gun metal grey, go for $30+ each. I saw Ikes (circ or unc, didn't matter...or even unseen in rolls) mixed of all circulated dates, go for $3+ each (3 lots of 80 each went for ~$375 each lot).

I saw an unc roll of 1950-D jeffersons that you couldn't view go for ~$450.

$7-$10 proof sets went for ~$20+ each.

a Massachusetts 1788 1 cent piece was announced as counterfeit then sold as such anyway....I had trouble seeing the coin (it was darkened and a lot of wear) and it still went for ~$250-$300.

I thought of Frank and Lucy when I saw a completed book of Frankies.....some looked nice, but nothing outstanding to my eye....went for around $400-$500 I think.

bags of worn silver coins (pre-1964) went for 5-6 times spot.

Large cents in F-VF went for ~$100 (I wanted one, but was only going to pay ~$30 incl buyer's premium based on how it looked).

Overall, I should have actually gone into work, or stayed home
I did buy 9 mint sets though... (1) 1973, (3) 1976, (5) 1975. Nothing overly special that I can think about but some cool toning on a few halves and Ikes. I overpaid by a few dollars, but I wanted them and no shipping or other ebay hassles

This was an auction from safe deposit box items that were unclaimed after 5-8 years. I didn't see anything slabbed and most things were just bagged in ziplocs.

I think I recognized a few of the high bidders as some of the people I have seen at local coins shows.....they either WAY overbid or saw something I didn't, or got caught up in the "most win" scenario.

I am not a great cherrypicker (unlike a lot of you on the board), but if they actually did cherrypick well, with those prices I saw, I am very surprised....especially with the prices for the morgans and peace dollars....seriously, common date, circ'ed, were pulling in $20-$30 each.

islemangu

Interesting...I went to small local pawn shop auction that auctioned off a bunch of junk. When the coins turn came everybody participated or keenly watched the action bidding up common impaired raw coins way up over ebay levels for sure.

jdimmick

Same thing while back,

Stopped by an estate auction selling everything, when they got to the coins, I figured I grab something worth while. Everything went super high. Common date gold coins were selling 1x times thier value, and common date morgans to 25.00.

Even a circulalted set of jeffersons went for like 100.00

I figured most of these people really didnt know value of coins to well, or they have been watching HSN too long.

mercurynut

Thanks for the updates.

mrfred

Is it just me, but wow, these prices are CRAZY

Dog97

This old man I know that runs a coin shop out of a flea market says the same thing. He can slip a common circ Morgan into an estate sale and get $25 but if he puts them in a tray in his case he can't even sell them for $10. But if he takes something good nobody wants it.
He had 1 guy that kept buying his $10 junkers from his shop and he finally asked him what he was doing with them. He figured the guy was making belts or something with them but the guy was selling them at little auctions & getting $20 for them.
Go figure.

solid

I have found that most estate auctions and the unclaimed safe-deposit boxes are rarely worth going to for coins. There are usually too many non-coin people that seem willing to pay way too much for common stuff. The auctioneers, of course, just egg them on.

Ken

NoGvmnt

"I have found that most estate auctions and the unclaimed safe-deposit boxes are rarely worth going to for coins. There are usually too many non-coin people that seem willing to pay way too much for common stuff. The auctioneers, of course, just egg them on."

Same here, I went to one of the Illinois "Cashdash" safe-deposit box auctions and the bidding was absolutely unreal. 5000-coin circulated wheat cent bags were going for 22-cents/coin! A raw common 2 1/2 dollar gold piece that redbooked at $245.00 went for $2,500.00! This went on for the entire auction.

I was with a couple other members of a club and we were all standing there with our jaws on the floor.

I really wanted to consign my coins to the states next Auction and would have gladly paid a 50% consigners fee.

Jim

Bochiman

Yeah....I was sitting there wondering how I could get these guys to sell some of my common things as a "safe deposit box" auction.
I was well-prepared for "newbies" bidding things up, and I even laughed as some did then tried to sell them in the parking lot later once they had to pay and pay the extra 9% BP.
But, they wanted what they paid (good luck).
The only one I could somewhat understand was a guy who looked like he didn't own a PC (or know how to use one) and bought some morgans/peace dollars...one of them, he said, had a year that was sentimental to him so he accepted that one and the price he paid (1924 peace dollar...don't know his price on that). He paid ~$700 he said for about 8 or 9 morgans/peace dollars. When he showed them to me, they were all common (no CC, mainly Phillies) and I didn't see anything that stuck out as a VAM or high grade (AU to MS63-MS64 at the top). No toning other than gunmetal grey.
He realized, on his own before starting a conversation with me, that he overpaid. He accepted that.
I wish I would meet people that will overpay and accept it...I would sell some to them

The thing that got me was that I recognized some "quasi-dealers"....people I name that as I see them at shows selling to dealers but it isn't that they collect things, it is that they go out and buy and turnaround and try to sell. So, I hope they get burned bad for driving up prices like that. Some may get something good, but there was WAY too much junk.

I don't even know why some of that was in a safe deposit box to start with...seriously. Common wheaties (not even tons of them), common kennedys (even non silver). No cool toners. There were even bags of cents (memorials and some wheaties) just scattered about....WHY put that in a safe deposit box.

Oh yeah...saw a "kid's safe" w/ ~$45 in change go for ~$400 before BP. Granted, from the side, it looked like some AU-Unc pieces for the halves, but, I would lay odds they were kennedys and not frankies or walking liberty's.

Sheeesh......I still wonder how to get in on this auction stuff like that (being the seller of high dollar low end stuff).

Ah well, it wasted a perfectly good day of work (sshhhhh...don't tell my boss....I really did take conference calls and work some of the time )and was interesting to see....and, I did get some good laughs.

291fifth

I don't trust that type of auction. I often wonder just who is really doing the bidding.

Bochiman

Ya know, I wondered too at a few points of it....
No one in the audience was bidding, and they had internet bidding going on.
The internet bidding increased increased and then increased with nothing from the floor.

Later, I saw it was ebay...not sure of their handle on ebay (James G Murphy auction company in Kenmore, Wa)....but it did make me wonder as a few times they would "win" but then back off and say the floor bidder won....hmmmm

I really didn't trust it.

Also, in their listing, they had some items marked as PROOF SETS.....see them in person and they were really mint sets..simple error? I don't know.

AJ2525

So maybe it's not just me.

A couple of weeks ago there was a local auction with a partial set of Buffalo nickels; 34 coins including a 1913S type 1, a 26S and a 31S, no other better dates in the set. A few of the later dates might go VF to XF, the 31S barely had a full date, i.e. nothing special.

I dropped out of the bidding at $60 and walked out when bidding hit $195. I can't figure it out. I tend to get caught up in "auction mania" so I have to leave before I bid stupid.

There's an auction advestised this weekend with over 1000 coins. The highlights list a silver dollar, 1881-S in MS63. Anyone want to bet what this coins goes for?

I'll admit to going for the UNC Ikes and Kennedys.