Has Heritage started to give "estimates" of individual coins and collections in its upcomi

Longacre

I have not noticed this before, so maybe it is nothing new. However, I received the weekly email from Heritage, and I noticed that they gave some "estimates" for an individual coin and a proof gold collection. I know that in the past they made reference to the "$50 Million FUN Sale" or the "$40 Million XYZ Sale", but never narrowed things down further. Again, maybe I just didn't notice before, but here are two excerpts from the Heritage email, with the dollar references.

Do you think this is a good thing, or just a way to put a particular collection or coin into perspective? Is it even needed, because the auction process brings out the true market value of a coin/collection, and it is unnecessary for Heritage to estimate the value of items? Do the consignors require this? What do you think?

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America's most beautiful coin, an Ultra High Relief double eagle, graded Proof 68 (PCGS), and valued at more than two million dollars, will be offered in our January 3-6, 2007 official auction of the Florida United Numismatists convention. The auction will be held at the Orange County Convention facility in Orlando. Overall, our auctions at F.U.N. will total more than $50 million of rare coins and currencies. Many lot descriptions and full-color, enlargeable images can now be viewed online at HA.com as the catalog is prepared; the auction will be officially posted and open for bidding in mid-December.

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The Dr. Robert Loewinger Collection of Proof Gold rarities, 146 coins valued around $4 million, will be auctioned in our January 3-6, 2007 official auction of the Florida United Numismatists convention. The auction will be held at the Orange County Convention facility in Orlando and online at HA.com/Coins.

RichieURich

There is an article in the December 5 Numismatic News on Heritage's Jan. 3 - 6 FUN sale. It says Heritage will offer more than $500 million of coin and paper money rarities. I think this has got to be a typo. $500 million - - wasn't last year's FUN sale about $100 million? Will we need forklifts to carry the catalogs?

swhuck

In general, we do not give estimates for individual US coins; indeed, with the sheer mass of data out there, both provided on our website and through outside sources like the greysheet, we really don't need to. We will certainly throw out an estimate now and again for publicity purposes, generally for a collection or an auction, but sometimes for an individual coin such as the Ultra High Relief (which I might add is an absolutely beautiful coin). Because catalogs and price guides are not as pervasive in other fields as in US coins, we will often post estimates for individual lots in world coins, currency, and many of our other types of collectibles.

Oh, and as for the question about needing forklifts to carry the catalogs, I would suggest looking in the yellow pages under "Equipment Rental." Cataloging is not done yet as I know all too well firsthand, so I don't know precisely how big the package will be, but the sale is enormous. There will be two Platinum Night sessions (one for gold and one for everything else), and I suspect the majority of the remainder of the sale will be imaged in the printed catalogs.