Is there any science behind the order in which the coin series are listed in auction catalogs?

Longacre

Does anyone know whether there is any method behind which series starts an auction and which follows? I've seen a lot of catalogs that start with cents or colonials, and also some that start with other series. Is there any rule (I don't think there is), or any rationale behind starting off with one series and then having certain others follow in a particular order?

Pistareen

Redbook order is the ideal -- colonials through double eagles, then commems, then other stuff.

Occasionally, though, this doesn't make sense, for one of a variety of reasons:

If there are 200 lots of patterns, maybe you don't want them selling at 11 PM since there are many phone bidders or active live bidders to be fighting over them. So maybe they go first. Other things tend to sell to smaller crowds and see less floor/phone activity, i.e. a whole pile of 1924 $20s are going to sell for the same price no matter when they are sold or to whom.

Sometimes a large collection of gold comes in early and is done being catalogued early, while a large collection of colonials are consigned/catalogued later and are not done yet when you're trying to get a catalogue to the printer. You're more apt to keep a schedule by letting the graphics people and the printer have the finished things first -- and sometimes that means dollars are first, or gold is first, or patterns are first.

The best way to say it is that it changes every sale, but there is generally some reason for the order as published. It is not random.

When I laid out the order of the Eliasberg sale, we were very conscious of time zones of those people likely to participate online and on the phone. It makes no sense to sell English coins when it's 3 AM in England. This disparity is lessened in all US sales, but if two good clients for CC gold are both on the East Coast and the sale is in California, maybe CC gold shouldn't sell at 1 AM Eastern time.

Abe Kosoff thought it was good luck to start a sale with an 1856 Flying Eagle.

RYK

This disparity is lessened in all US sales, but if two good clients for CC gold are both on the East Coast and the sale is in California, maybe CC gold shouldn't sell at 1 AM Eastern time.

It would never occur to me that this level of consideration was feasible.

Abe Kosoff thought it was good luck to start a sale with an 1856 Flying Eagle.

It will be good luck for me if the RYK collection sale starts with one, too.