Are there more, less or the same # of major auction houses today as there were in 1980? 1960? 1940

ColonialCoinUnion

I was thinking about this when I first heard that David Lawrence was going into the auction biz.

While the coin market is obviously en fuego, seems like there can't be enough coins and enough buyers to support all the auction houses in business today. But maybe its always been about like this . . .

Shamika

Well, lets see...

There's Heritage, B&M, Superior, Stacks, ANR, David Lawrence, Teletrade... Who else am I forgetting?

JadeRareCoin

In the 60's & 70's there were several smaller auction companies in addition to the few big auction companies. I think that there are more major auction companies today than in the past. That's not really as significant as the frequency of major auctions being held today. It seems like there's a constant flow of jumbo auction catalogs into my office lately.

What we really want to compare is the number of auction lots per year for all of the decades that you mentioned. That would be a very interesting graph, albeit very difficult to compile.

Furthermore, I think that the major auctions that are being held lately are mostly supported by dealers. These coins keep getting recycled over and over again. The Georgius Triumpho that you discussed in your thread a few days ago is a good example; both Triumphos were bought by one dealer at Stacks and then consigned, presumably, by the same dealer to a Bowers & Merena auction just weeks later.

291fifth

Jaderarecoin is right. The really significant factor is the great increase in the number of lots being offered each year.