Leading Auction Houses & Selling Coins

Tyrock

I've seen so many changes over the years that it's difficult to stay current with numismatic happenings. Not new to collecting, but I have a two part question :
1. What are the good auction houses for the average collector?
2. What is the minimal value of a coin for placement in one of their sales?
I'm guessing that if the coin isn't worth close to $1,000.00 most of the leadings firms wouldn't be interested in listing them in their sale. Heritage seems to me to be an auction house for the average to above average collectors. Stacks Bowers seems to be on the high end. Any thoughts?

19Lyds

Great Collections!

Broadstruck

Since there's more internet bidding these days my main concerns would be...

A auction house that has a web site that's easy to navigate so collectors can find you listings & regularly doesn't crash or freeze during live bidding.

A auction house that provides images close to what the coins look like in hand and can write a proper description.

lava

Heritage takes top honors in my book.

DennisH

Heritage for 'big' coins.
Great Collections for everything else.

JGnumismatics

<< <i>Heritage for 'big' coins.
Great Collections for everything else. >>




What he said

Flatwoods

I tried browsing Great Collections again yesterday.
I know lots of people here like them but I just don't enjoy the site.

Ablinky

I would agree with the above, Great Collections has done an excellent job filling in for Teletrade on the "lower end." But for everything else, Heritage is far and away the best.

wondercoin

Tyrock. Stacks/Bowers is, as you say, a wonderful auction house for high end coins. As is Heritage. But, one should consider working directly with a dealer on their consignments as they can get exceedingly attractive deals unavailable to the "average collector" as you put it and pass a nice piece of that good deal on to the collector. On cheaper stuff, ebay is a good choice of venue to sell stuff.

For cheaper stuff, a great alternative is to offer the stuff directly to a dealer who specializes in that area. No waiting for months to sell the stuff and get paid that way. For example, my personal goal is to spend millions of dollars this year buying modern coins. I would not be surprised if less than 2% of my total purchases were at Great Collections and less than 10% were at Stacks Bowers and Heritage combined. Toss in another 5%-8% or so from eBay and that results in roughly 80% of my expected purchases this year coming directly from collectors and dealers in quick and easy deals. ZERO buyer and seller fees that way!!

As always, just my two cents. Wondercoin.

coindeuce

To answer part of your inquiry: Heritage has the most comprehensive service available of the leading auction houses, with some consequences. They are primarily interested in consignments of value that clearly exceed $5,000 whether it is one coin or multiple coins.
However placement is a huge consideration. A single coin of $5,000+ value will certainly place in a signature auction. Anything less, be it a single coin or multiple coins will most likely be placed in a less prominent sale, with commensurately less attention paid. This isn't conjecture. It is nearly non-negotiable.

ranshdow

At the $5k+ consignment level, with easy-to-catalog items, you might find you get a slightly better rate and better service from S-B than from HA.

mercurydimeguy

HA is almost like retail+ pricing on a lot of material when all said/done, but how much (net) a consigners receives is different story. But price wise they'll likely fetch. Ore for the same coin as another venue (at least in my experience).

There are lesser quality coins in NGC plastic that are currently bid at 20% higher than I just paid for CAC PCGS plastic at the Goldberg sale.

So I tend to try to not buy from HA as a buyer (whenever possible) because they have so much reach (globally) that they will almost always sell the same coin for more $$.

One coin I just won from Goldberg PCGS Sold for (all including the juice) $988 on HA this summer at FUN. I bought the same coin now with CAC as a bonus for $822 from Goldberg.

So ... as a seller it's hard not to consign to HA cause they'll most likely fetch higher gross pricing. As a buyers prefer to buy from SB, Goldberg, and many other "niche" auctions that don't draw as many people...I tend to buy coins at those venues for less $$.

And GC??? It's hit/miss. Not nearly as good as Teletrade was but getting better.

One guy's opinion

SAM5969

I had a recent experience with Heritage .. My first experience ... And I went through a dealer contact close acquaintance .. Heritage was sent a sizable percentage of my Barber Quarter collection at the FUN sale. Most of the coins in the consignment were valued at $500-$3000 each. All coins were PCGS graded - some were CAC.

Let me first say I am very pleased overall and happy with the overall results.. I was a little frustrated with some of the decisions they made, particularly during the early stages when negotiating the potential consignment back in early October. This is NOT a b!-tch session

They were consigned 42 coins. These included a 1901-O/63, 1895 S/S/62, 1896-O/58, 1905-O/62, 1908-S/53, 1911-D/58, 1911-D/62, 1911-S/S/58, 1914-S/50, 1914-S/35 etc. and a dozen others of similar value/desirability/demand.
The consignment included perhaps 15-20 of the more common dates (actually ranging in rarity from R1-R4) - all in the same grade range: AU55-MS63 .. Of the 15-20 more "common" coins, here are a few examples of the coins HA rejected to auction (after being sent the complete list prior to shipping any coins to them last October and them not making any mention of what to include or not include):
1893-S/55, 1902/58, 1892-O/58, 1893-O/58, 1894-S/58, 1894-O/58, 1907-D/63 (rattler / CAC) ... These ranged in value from $200 to $700 and were all rejected. Heritage offered to put them in an internet only auction, which I promptly declined to do. Almost every one of those rejected had strong eye appeal, wonderful surfaces and were solid, conservatively graded coins .. If anything, some of the ones they kept were on the lower end of the eye appeal chart and were more loosely graded

What I have a problem with is:

A. They were sent a list of the exact consignment in advance and made no mention of not wanting the lower tiered stuff..

B. There was an inconsistency with what they kept vs. what they took - they kept a 1892-S AU53, an ugly 1911-D/58 but rejected the 1907-D/63 rattler CAC; rejected a very appealing 1893-S in PC-55, and frosty 1894-O AU58/CAC, 1894-S/58 with superb luster and eye appeal. The 1901-O/63 was as weakly struck a coin as you would ever find - and when I say weakly struck I am talking relative to the 1901-O quarters - of which ALL are poorly struck .. This was amongst the weakest of the weak. The 1908-S/53 was below avg. eye appeal and I graded it XF-42.5, not 53. So if the argument was they took what they felt were "strong for the grade with solid eye appeal"; WRONG - try again. And if it was all about a minimum value for the coin - Also WRONG, try again.

C. Of the "middle of the road" coins they decided to keep, many were duplicated dates within the auction, yet some of the more desirable dates consigned were complete voids in the auction ..
Example: They rejected an 1893-S AU55. This is a coin with great appeal and is a shot AU-58 if it were resubmitted. It is amongst the hardest to find dates of the entire series in an AU holder. There were ZERO 1893-S Quarters in the recent FUN sale - in ANY grade.
Yet - they took my below-average eye appeal 1902-S in AU58 (no CAC) and within the same FUN auction there were two (2) other 1902-S Quarters also graded PCGS-58. One of which was CAC ... 3 1902-S Quarters all graded AU58 within the same auction! With 3 to bid on in that one auction, did this coin ever have a chance to bring strong money?.. Yet, they rejected the 1893-S PC-55 (a coin that probably should be in a 58 holder and probably twice as "desirable" as the 1902-S let alone the fact there were 3 to choose from.. I have gone to the supermarket and less options when looking through their selection of red bell peppers ...............


I realize they are busy but so am I .. Why couldn't they say upfront - don't send the coins they weren't going to accept .. it only cost me two way insured shipping and about a month's time
Especially in the case of the letters B. & C. above - Isn't this a major part of the JOB DESCRIPTION of the consignment director? I think it is one of the critical components and EXACTLY what they pay a consignment director for?

All in all most of the coins brought strong to very strong bids - many were well over my expectations .. there were some that fell short of expectation but they were the minority .. All in all I am pleased with the net results. This is not a bashing. This is my best attempt to provide a factual editorial and honest review of my experience - what was good and what could have been done better in my opinion - a true answer to the OP question .. Perhaps someone at Heritage will read this and consider tweaking a few of their policies. All in all they run a first class operation and I am grateful for the exposure they receive .. Like any other business, they are growing. With growth there are always challenges .. People's jobs within almost any growing company become more and more bogged down with more responsibilities and the time and care they once were able to provide within the few areas within their job description, now all receive a thin coat of paint rather than the TLC they once were able to provide.


Examples of "Rejects" - Most were as appealing and conservatively graded as these examples

1893-S PCGS-AU55

1902 PCGS AU58


And here is the 1901-O/63 Heritage did keep - Just look at the 13 obverse stars if you can't detect the weakness of strike through the mottled tone. A nice original skinned specimen but really poorly struck

1901-O PCGS MS63

PTVETTER

I second "Great Collections"

puffer

I didn't realize that HA refuses to accept certain coins in their auctions. GC is OK, but you should set your reserves if the coins have a chance of not getting the strong bids you need. Stacks is good for high end stuff, an area dealer has a $50 slug he needs to get top dollar on, Stacks made the most sense to him at Baltimore. Goldberg is not a great option in my experience.

LegendRareCoinAuctions

<< <i>I didn't realize that HA refuses to accept certain coins in their auctions. GC is OK, but you should set your reserves if the coins have a chance of not getting the strong bids you need. Stacks is good for high end stuff, an area dealer has a $50 slug he needs to get top dollar on, Stacks made the most sense to him at Baltimore. Goldberg is not a great option in my experience. >>



May we inquire as to why Legend Rare Coin Auctions doesn't cross your mind?