Why do auction descriptions tell more about a coins history but so little about the actual coin bein

seateddime

Am I alone is wanting to know more about what the catalogers see and think of the coin being offered than pop reports and other information we can easily look up?

Opinions?

ambro51

Many auction descriptions are quite involved....but some are not.

Its all about "what" they are selling.

Frankcoins

Coins are all about history. If you don't want the history, buy copper, silver and gold rounds.

291fifth

Hype.

Sonorandesertrat

The auction house wants the lots to sell. Many of the lots aren't particularly nice for their grades, so it's in their (and the owner's) interest to steer the bidder's attention elsewhere.

RWB

They want you to buy the fantasy, and sometimes the history.

tradedollarnut

Because all that history verbage is cut and paste [ie: free], the verbage about the actual coin most likely has to be original [ie: time and money].

MidLifeCrisis

<< <i>Because all that history verbage is cut and paste [ie: free], the verbage about the actual coin most likely has to be original [ie: time and money]. >>


Verbage...jargon /ver'b*j/ A deliberate misspelling and mispronunciation of verbiage that assimilates it to the word "garbage".


Most coins are not rare and, frankly, not all that special. But most coins are tangible pieces of history. It's the story that makes the coin more interesting and sets it apart from all the other coins. And a history that provides details about a particular coin's provenance is a nice way to trace a coin in previous auction catalogs and, if it was plated, see how the coin has appeared and been described over the years.

Barry

Would you believe what they said about a coin's condition?
Remember, their goal is to get as high a price as possible for it.

JohnMaben

Here are some very succinct answers:

1) As already mentioned in the thread it's easier for the cataloger because the history is readily available 99.9% of the time.
2) The history often lures buyers that need to feel, for lack of a better word, the romance that comes from getting to know a new potential acquisition.
3) If you are an auction company, you are hired by the seller to make your best effort to get top dollar. A thorough and honest description will often require mentioning attributes that might scare off some potential buyers.
4) Even a solid effort by an experienced numismatist to describe a coin in great detail, will not have the same interpretation to others in many cases.
5) A very detailed description could give an absentee bidder grounds on which to argue that the coin was not properly described, in their opinion.
7) Very few experienced collectors and virtually no dealers completely trust descriptions. I personally don't trust images either. I trust what I hold and see with my own eyes.

None of this is meant to discredit auction companies. I think most do a fine job.

John

MrEureka

If I ran an auction company, I would put a lot of effort in providing good images and very little effort into describing things that are obvious in the images.

stman

If it's stories about the coin you want, there are plenty of dealers that will take care of this for you. It's what they do.