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ANR pre-ANA sale observations

Simply put, the people at ANR allowed several consignors to place unrealistically high reserves. This was the case on the toned Morgan dollars as well as the pattern pieces. Time after time a coin went to the book with no bidding on the floor. The prices realized after the sale confirmed that the pieces were bought back by the consignors. I was tracking about 25 coins, and I'd say 15-20 were repurchased by the owners. This is extremely disappointing, but fortunately not surprising. It was easy to tell from the high internet bids and absence of any bidders that such a result was likely. What were these people thinking? While it's true that a handful of the coins yielded very strong prices even with high opening bids, the results would have been the same on these pieces if the bidding had been opened at $0.99. And, this way, the other pieces would have sold as well.

That said, it seemed to me that the white Morgans and less attractive patterns were sold to eager bidders, some of whom were even at the sale. Attendance was pretty good for a sale several days in advance of the ANA, although the majority of bidders appeared to be dealers.

There was a bidder who won a spectacularly toned PCGS67 1882-s. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this winning bidder is a forum member. So, congratulations to whoever you are, and where ever you are. (If it weren't for the mark on the reverse, you might have had some real competition! Just kidding, as the biddng was really intense as is.)

An extremely vibrant 1885-o sold on th floor to a well known toned coin dealer who is not a forum member. (Again, if that piece hadn't been weakly struck, I would have given the bidding a shot.)

Finally, there was a condition census, PCGS67, 1899-o with wonderful pastel obverse toning and subdued Eliasberg like pale pink toning on the reverse. I first saw this piece at the Superior sale in January, where it had been consigned by one of the of the most prominent toned dollar dealers. I really liked it, but I had used up my budget on other pieces by the time this one came up for bidding in the January sale. As I recall, it sold for around $2500 in that sale. This time around, it bought almost $4000. I guess you put it in the wrong sale, AK.



Comments

  • ziggy29ziggy29 Posts: 18,668 ✭✭✭
    I think there's been some "auction fatigue" out there in recent months. Plus it seems that many consignors seem to think every auction will set record prices over the one preceding it.

    It might not be evidence of a market top, but I think it shows resistance to higher prices for the run-of-the-mill stuff at a minimum.
  • I think basically you're describing what I've been seeing at major shows since FUN in this market - Wonderfully toned coins, high grade coins, and key dates being thrown to the market to see who the highest bidder is - the owners are perfectly comfortable keeping the coins, however if someone offers stupid money then what the hell right?

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