Ever win a bid by surprise? Ever do it twice in one auction?

BryceM

I'm not sure what to make of this. I put bids on a few coins in the current Heritage auction. I usually put in a 1 or 2 dollar bid early on to put coins that I'm interested in on my radar screen.

I bumped up a couple of the bids a week ago to what I thought were still ridiculously low levels. That made me the high bidder on both coins. I sort of forgot about the auction until today. It turns out I won both of these bids. Each one was for several hundred less than my max bid and each was WAY below what I thought they would sell for. These two coins went for around 40% of PCGS Price Guide numbers. My experience with these two series is that coins usually retail around 70-80% of PCGS Price Guide numbers.

Either I got a good deal (unusual for me), these particular coins went unnoticed by the masses, the market is very soft right now, or I've overpaid for every other coin in the series. Hope it's not the last one! One is in a "plus" holder and the other has a green jelly bean. Weird? Each is supposedly in the $2k value range.

Am I missing something here?

JupitarCoins

What are the coins?

Pokermandude

It's probably a combination of the reasons you listed. Sometimes, for whatever reason, auctions will get overlooked or bid up to the moon. All part of the auction experience!

Timbuk3

Congratulations !!!
What were they ?

rhedden

If it's large cents or early type, I'm shocked. If it's modern proofs, not so much.

BillJones

Years ago when I was building a collection of New England Civil War tokens I put a cover bid on a Sam's Inn piece. A "cover bid" is decent, but not great bid that you don't expect to win. Low and behold I got it! To me it was a great bargain. Years later when I moved to Florida and broke up part of the collection I more than doubled my money at auction.

Unknown

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BryceM

Well, I live in a place where I'd collect very little without the Internet. Reasonable B&M coin stores are more than three hours away and I only make it to one or two shows a year. Being able to inspect coins in person prior to a bid just isn't realistic. I usually only bid strong money on coins with something to set them apart - sticker, plus grade, or really unique toning or excellent strike. Luster is +/- difficult to judge in photos and it's pretty easy to miss certain luster breaks and hits depending on lighting.

I guess we'll see how much I really like these when they arrive. So far my system seems to be working well enough.

One of the coins was a 1928-S Peace Dollar in MS-64+. The strike is a bit soft but that's almost a given with that particular coin. Peace and Morgan prices do seem to be a bit flat in the last few months from what I'm seeing. Still, I was astonished to pick up this one with the bid I made.

johnny9434

thats cool whats ya win?

TheCoinGeezer

From time to time I'll put in a minimal bid on items on eBay, just to keep them on my radar.
Once in a blue moon and for reasons unknown to me, those bids win.