Goldberg Auction Experience and Half Taler

Zohar

I had a second in a row bad experience with this auction house today. While I very much like the fact they offer coins at broad selection and price ranges, I find the electronic platform lagging most auction houses. Specifically if you navigate the website prior to auction it is difficult to understand what is going on, when the auction starts (EST or PDT) and/or how to find your bids etc. Navigation is slow etc. It's a guessing game how to bid live (at least for me).

What really hurt me today was the fact that I logged in during my lunch break noon expecting the 9AM PDT auction to start. It did not. I waited for 15 minutes and logged out figuring I did not get the schedule right. I logged back in 30 minutes later and saw the auction in motion. No notice/pop up window or other was communicated that there is a delay as other auction houses do. I ended up missing all the Austrian pieces I was interested in. I sent an e-mail to Ira Goldberg who was courteous and indicated he will take my suggestions and relay them to the development teams for future auctions. Lots of marketing through catalogs yet poor execution which definitely deprived the seller from higher bids on the items sold. I am very dissapointed.

I did win this very nice Hungarian Half Taler NGC MS-62. Indicator of strong detail is Madonna and Child on obverse right and shield on left which come with wear. My attempt to go for the Transylvanian Talers was quickly outbid for good reason - these were very nice pieces.

WWW

Sorry to read about your troubles with their website. It is widely acknowledged to be one of the worst.

JCMhouston

Nice coin, and yes I also agree their web system needs a lot fo work.

laxmaster1

I tried logging in several times (after a confusing 20 minutes of figuring out how the hell to access the auction from the multiple platforms offered), but each time I navigated away from the auction page or brought up another browser, i was kicked out and had to reenter my info to get back in. Security feature I guess, but extremely annoying and eventually i just gave up. And ditto Zohars points, nothing is easy to find on this website...

1960NYGiants

I have been unable to bid in their auctions for the last 18-24 months because their site won't run on my computer anymore. It was one of the reasons why I went from DSL to Cable service. Even their link with ICollector.com is clunky at best. My email to them went unanswered. Oh well, there are other sites.

960Coins

I've always had good experiences with Goldberg personally - sometimes it's a good idea with them to place your max bid before the live bidding starts. But yeah, the late starts can cause problems, especially if the coins you're interested in are near the beginning.

MacCrimmon

IMHO, for 5%, it's a must to engage the services of an auction agent when you can't review the coins ahead of time, and/or bid in-person.

I'll never forget a newbie coming on to this forum who was all excited that he had won that 1842 sovereign in the first Terner Sale.....for only $1,300. He was bidding via the 1st-gen eBay-Live; the version with the 10 second delay even IF you had cable. Problem was, I was the underbidder on the floor at $2,900 to Mr. Millenium who probably bid in excess of $1M in just that sale alone. Now, Mr. M may well have bid over $5k for that coin that day, but it sure didn't sell for $1,300.

That '42 sov. also eluded me the second time at the Millenium sale at nearly triple..................sometimes a poor church mouse just can't catch a break!!!

SaorAlba

I attempted to bid in the live auction yesterday and my bids didn't stick. Their software bites.

mnemtsas2

I sat through the auction from the start at about 9.15AM PDT through to nearly 5 in the afternoon. All from Australia which meant being up from 1.30AM. I purchased several lots using their software without a hitch. To be honest, other than the 15 minute delay on startup I found the whole process painless and very easy.

DeiGratia

I've never had the pleasure of bidding on a Goldberg Auction so I can't contribute.

BUT That coin is a true Beauty!!!
I love it.
Awesome Pick Up Z.

marcmoish

Nice piece indeed Z - glad you got it

No comment on your experience - seems like many agree its rotten.

I concur.