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Theoretical auction
stevepk
Posts: 238 ✭✭✭
Wouldn't it be nice if there was a theoretical auction where a collector could list a single coin or an entire collection to determine actual market value as opposed to a price guide or auction achieve? Imagine an auction listing that reveals what your coin or collection would actually sell for without being under any obligation to sell your coins.
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I believe it'd be much too difficult to regulate around these manipulations.
<< <i>I don't think people would waste their time bidding on coins they won't have a chance to actually own. >>
I would. $10,000,000 each!
You would collect auction data from all possible resources and maintain a database. A collector would create an account and record his/her collection by Grade and TPG. Program would then match the collection by item to the most recent sale of items with same grade and TPG. Of course each coin can sell in a range so this would just be an approximation.
as the others have said.
Steve
Dang, why did they take away internet poker???? It was soooo awesome.
<< <i>Kinda of like playing poker with play chips and no real money on the line. It is not even close to the real thing.
Dang, why did they take away internet poker???? It was soooo awesome. >>
Not quite. At least with something like poker played without money/prizes, there is still a competitive element, and you can still win or lose, so you try to play well. In this theoretical auction, no one has any incentive to try (after all, they can't buy the coin, and they face no costs), so there's no value to the result.
If you sell your entire collection to a dealer, you'll be offered an amount that would very likely be different a week earlier or a week later. Other dealers would make a different offer. The same coins rarely bring the same result at auction, even when offered only a few weeks apart. Rising & falling bullion prices, the capital available to potential buyers, the overall economy, competing offerings, and the collecting mood in general swing around enough to make it a constantly moving target. Even if the pseudo-auction did happen, you'd have no guarantee that similar values would be realized at a real auction.
<< <i>I don't think people would waste their time bidding on coins they won't have a chance to actually own. >>
Precisely. I spend a fair amount of time researching my bids before I place them. If I knew that it was waste of my time with no reward, I would not bother.
If for example, I list my coin that I think is worth $3,000, and it gets bid up to $4,800...and I'm pleasantly surprised. I could then have the software send a message to the top several bidders proposing a sale at $4,500?.
Are you more likely to use a website like this? Could call the website CoinMarketFinder.com or something similar. I think I'm more interested if that feature is available.
Years ago there was a bid wall auction in Boston where the owner let the bidders get away with bidding for material and not paying for it. If they happened to find a sale for they had won, they would pay for it and make a profit. If they didn't they reneged on their bids.
This really got on my nerves because I purchased everything that I won at auction in short order. I got tired of bidding my money against someone else's hot air (their mouth). The only reason why I stayed around was that some very nice items were offered in that auction. For example I won the Chain Cent in VF, the 1796 quarter in VF and a 1796 13 star half dime (a very scarce variety) all from that auction.
Why didn't the "hot air" people "buy" those coins? The reason was that early coins were viewed as "dead stock" in those days, the early to mid 1980s, which did not have much a future in the coin market. Sure they were worth several thousand dollars now, but they didn't seem to have a bright future for market increases, at least in the short run. Of course what was then 4-figure coins are now 5-figure coins, so I came out okay in the end.
As an auction is essentially a liquidation and results can swing wildly on a particular issue. No one is going to waste time bidding on such an auction and the results would be irrelevant as they would not have to shell out real money for it. A blue sheet will tell you the liquidation value of your coins.
Coin Club Benefit auctions ..... View the Lots
For Poker, check out MSN's Game Zone. It's 8 players tournament style all in Hold'em with rating points. After you get past the low rated fools, there are some good players there.
The more qualities observed in a coin, the more desirable that coin becomes!
My Jefferson Nickel Collection