For the dealers--how much do you use auction catalogs to focus your anticipated lot viewing before a

Longacre

In another thread, a big dealer was mentioning that he has not received his ANA catalogs yet. This got me thinking. To what extent does a dealer rely or use the auction catalogs to focus his anticipated lot viewing? We all know that auction catalog pictures are notorious for being somewhat suspect.

For a dealer in colonials, for instance, would he tend to look at ALL of the colonials during lot viewing, regardless of what he saw in the catalog, say a week in advance? Or does he use the catalog to identify coins that he might have seen before, and then confirm things during lot viewing? Or are some coins immediately dismissed when seen in the catalog, and not looked at during lot viewing?

ColonialCoinUnion

<< <i>For a dealer in colonials, for instance, would he tend to look at ALL of the colonials during lot viewing, regardless of what he saw in the catalog, say a week in advance? Or does he use the catalog to identify coins that he might have seen before, and then confirm things during lot viewing? Or are some coins immediately dismissed when seen in the catalog, and not looked at during lot viewing? >>



There are never that many colonials in a session, so I'd look at all of them.

Seeing the catalog in advance might alert me to something good coming up, but there's no point in eliminating things in advance or making a short list of high priority items since I can do that at lot viewing.

ohioguy

Usually the photographs do not do justice especially to wonderfully toned coins so it is best to look at every series you are interested in. Many times they do not even plate the best coins.

TahoeDale

I have been an aggressive buyer at shows, at times. The catalog is where I put all my notes on the coins I may bid on.

But, if it arrives within a week or 2, that's enough time to do all the research, call my buddies, and do some early pricing( and look at my bank balance).

And I find a ton of information in my old catalogs. If it is noted that the coin has an Eliasberg pedigree, I can review that information for pricing and details listed. Same for Pittman, Price, Pryor, Queller, Byers, Cardinal.

My one wish is that the Eliasberg sale was online, for image viewing.