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Legend Hot Topic - Auctions

earlyAurumearlyAurum Posts: 750 ✭✭✭✭✭

I think that this is a very good article from Legend. I especially like the part about when selling. This really helps out us non-insiders understand the market much better.

http://www.legendnumismatics.com/hot-topics/auctions/

Comments

  • ZoinsZoins Posts: 34,401 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 25, 2018 10:18AM

    Sorry for a delay since the last Hot Topics. I must admit, running Legend and Legend Auctions has not allowed me to even think!

    Sounds like a busy semi-retirement! Love the dedication!

  • Wabbit2313Wabbit2313 Posts: 7,268 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Great article!

  • JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Excellent article

    m

    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
  • TomBTomB Posts: 22,066 ✭✭✭✭✭

    This is actually a terrific article.

    Thomas Bush Numismatics & Numismatic Photography

    In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson

    image
  • coinlieutenantcoinlieutenant Posts: 9,320 ✭✭✭✭✭

    One of Laura's best. I liked it because it was straight to the point and not a "pathos" driven argument.

  • topstuftopstuf Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Do NOT share your information with others unless you are working with someone. I have seen countless buyers get “juiced” by not only dealers, but fellow collectors. Share your prize AFTER you buy it. ALWAYS do what YOU must-not what others want you too.

    Great info. TRULY great. :)

  • dpooledpoole Posts: 5,940 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • blitzdudeblitzdude Posts: 6,514 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Sounds like shes just trying to fluff up her own dreck company. No thanks, next.

  • tradedollarnuttradedollarnut Posts: 20,198 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Well, duh on that one Captain Obvious...

  • topstuftopstuf Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @blitzdude said:
    Sounds like shes just trying to fluff up her own dreck company. No thanks, next.

    Why.... the HUSSY !!!! :D

  • AblinkyAblinky Posts: 628 ✭✭✭

    Ah, I was wondering when the trolls would arrive.

    Andrew Blinkiewicz-Heritage

  • logger7logger7 Posts: 9,004 ✭✭✭✭✭

    On higher end stuff I try to get a sharp opinion from a local dealer. He has serious collectors pay him to review potential purchases as to how they are for grade, eye appeal, and price. If I were buying high end material I would have someone like him to do some work to do objective analysis. But even he makes mistakes. "In the multitude of counselors there is safety".

  • gripgrip Posts: 9,962 ✭✭✭✭✭

    NOTE: if you are selling coins valued at LESS then $5,000.00, its senseless to reserve them-unless they are problem coins .....................Really ?

  • sparky64sparky64 Posts: 7,041 ✭✭✭✭✭

    A short article chock full of great advice derived from years of experience.
    Well done.

    "If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"

    My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress

  • sparky64sparky64 Posts: 7,041 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 25, 2018 1:34PM

    .

    "If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"

    My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress

  • "One thing I do-if I am price sensitive, I bid earlier so I hit my final increment."

    what exactly does this mean?

  • jonrunsjonruns Posts: 1,197 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Great article...thanks for sharing!!!

  • tradedollarnuttradedollarnut Posts: 20,198 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Washingtoniana said:
    "One thing I do-if I am price sensitive, I bid earlier so I hit my final increment."

    what exactly does this mean?

    It means that if you’re not gonna stretch a bid or even a cut bid then your odds of winning go up if you’re on the increment. And the way to make sure you’re on the increment is to not wait until the end to bid your max

  • bestdaybestday Posts: 4,242 ✭✭✭✭

    If you previously did not know info in the article..... and have sold coins ..... LoL

  • sparky64sparky64 Posts: 7,041 ✭✭✭✭✭

    If or when the bid reaches what would be your max limit, you want the bid to be yours and not someone else's.

    It's painful when someone else wins at what would be your max bid just because you were off cycle.

    "If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"

    My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress

  • CryptoCrypto Posts: 3,867 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I don’t think it is unethical for buyers and friends to talk “collude” to avoid running each other up. You win some, you lose some but the friendship should persevere.

    It is annoying to consistently bid up a buddy and be his or he your underbidder. It undercuts the friendship sometimes. That is more important to me to avoid than tip toeing to maximizing monies to consigners. It’s a small world in small niches

  • specialistspecialist Posts: 956 ✭✭✭✭✭

    If you are a consignor, you do not want to hear about collusion-buddies or no buddies.

  • tommy44tommy44 Posts: 2,317 ✭✭✭✭✭

    A thought provoking article. Thanks for posting for those of us who may not have seen it otherwise.

    it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide

  • CryptoCrypto Posts: 3,867 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 25, 2018 8:25PM

    @tradedollarnut said:
    Actually, yes - it is unethical. Common, but unethical

    I disagree and you guys are throwing too large a net with the definition of “collusion”. Legal and ethical are not always synonymous. I don’t think maximizing transaction levels has the strangle hold on defining ethics even if you were right.

    Interpersonal obligations far and away outweigh any of that. Buyers don’t have an ethical or legal obligation to go into establishments blind and mute to their competition. Just as Statue of Liberty bidding is legit (trying to scare people form bidding), Talking people out of participating or bowing out to help a buddy is 100% legal despite what auction house would like people to think. Price fixing or bidding up or down to influence do have legal shortfalls.

    If joe see a coin we both need for our sets and is planning on bidding and I want it but I want joe to have it more. I just won’t bid. There isn’t one thing unethical about that. And isn’t even close to collusion. I am not colluding by missing out on a coin. I gained no advantage

    Collusion would be is party A,B and C are all at an auction actively bidding and see something is going cheap and agree not to bid against each other so C can win it cheap. C wins it cheap and splits the profit with A & B. That’s collusion.

    One could also argue dealers might have communication limits as their relationship to the situation is mostly financial.

  • MrEurekaMrEureka Posts: 24,412 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @tradedollarnut said:

    @Washingtoniana said:
    "One thing I do-if I am price sensitive, I bid earlier so I hit my final increment."

    what exactly does this mean?

    It means that if you’re not gonna stretch a bid or even a cut bid then your odds of winning go up if you’re on the increment. And the way to make sure you’re on the increment is to not wait until the end to bid your max

    To sharpen that point a little more, it helps to bid early when YOU are very price sensitive AND the market is very price sensitive. (If the market is well-defined, the coin is not likely to sell below your bid, and you won't want to stretch.) The best examples are bullion-related and other generics, but there are many other coins with well-defined market prices.

    Andy Lustig

    Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.

    Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
  • OldIndianNutKaseOldIndianNutKase Posts: 2,715 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Could a dealer that you might hire as an agent, where the dealer would otherwise be a competitor for the coin, be considered collusion? I would guess that at least half of the bidders at auction are dealers. Look at all of the auction results where you can "make offer to owner". I have been underbidder many times to dealers who listed the coin as "make offer".

    But collusion can also be interpreted as between a dealer and a collector, and not just between collectors.

    OINK

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Saw this - and read it - in another post further up the page.... I have saved it for another review. I like Laura's show reviews. Cheers, RickO

  • brianc1959brianc1959 Posts: 350 ✭✭✭✭✭

    What is the precise and unambiguous definition of "widget"?

  • TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 44,571 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @brianc1959 said:
    What is the precise and unambiguous definition of "widget"?

    Anything , and everything I own or touch, which isn't schlock or dreck.

  • tradedollarnuttradedollarnut Posts: 20,198 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @brianc1959 said:
    What is the precise and unambiguous definition of "widget"?

    A totally replaceable coin. Average for the grade and findable on the bourse floor in minutes

  • topstuftopstuf Posts: 14,803 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @OldIndianNutKase said:
    Could a dealer that you might hire as an agent, where the dealer would otherwise be a competitor for the coin, be considered collusion? I would guess that at least half of the bidders at auction are dealers. Look at all of the auction results where you can "make offer to owner". I have been underbidder many times to dealers who listed the coin as "make offer".

    I've noticed that, too.
    I'd sure like to know how successful the "Buy it from owner" offers are.
    I don't think I ....ever....made such markups on coins in my shop.
    Some are absolutely ridiculous.

  • bestdaybestday Posts: 4,242 ✭✭✭✭

    @tradedollarnut said:
    Actually, yes - it is unethical. Common, but unethical

    shocking

  • REALGATORREALGATOR Posts: 2,641 ✭✭✭✭✭

    On selling:
    Do not think you know the market better then the auction house. Consult with them (this is why you need to work with a dealer) about the timing on when your coins should be sold (example: I won’t hold a major auction in April).

    Why is April a bad month to sell?

  • JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,852 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @REALGATOR said:
    On selling:
    Do not think you know the market better then the auction house. Consult with them (this is why you need to work with a dealer) about the timing on when your coins should be sold (example: I won’t hold a major auction in April).

    Why is April a bad month to sell?

    Taxes due

    m

    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
  • cnncoinscnncoins Posts: 414 ✭✭✭✭

    April 15 tax time. Both collectors and dealers have money due at this time and the historical tendency is to sell to raise cash.
    Doesn't help prices for coins...

  • ColonelJessupColonelJessup Posts: 6,442 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @coinlieutenant said:
    One of Laura's best. I liked it because it was straight to the point and not a "pathos" driven argument.

    Straight-up talk and cogent well-grounded advice from someone who knows. o:)

    "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - Geo. Orwell
  • REALGATORREALGATOR Posts: 2,641 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thanks. So April means cash starved due to tax obligations. Is there a best month? Possibly October (6 months later).

  • specialistspecialist Posts: 956 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Timing when to sell is not easy. Currently anyone who has coins in any March Sale should do well. There are no coins around today (which is when u sell). May looks good too-but who knows how the market will be beyond June? Selling at a major show even like ANA is now no promise of doing well (because of the shows clear decline). There is no more magic good specific months to sell.

  • ranshdowranshdow Posts: 1,442 ✭✭✭✭

    @MrEureka said:

    To sharpen that point a little more, it helps to bid early when YOU are very price sensitive AND the market is very price sensitive. (If the market is well-defined, the coin is not likely to sell below your bid, and you won't want to stretch.) The best examples are bullion-related and other generics, but there are many other coins with well-defined market prices.

    I wonder if an early, well-considered, terminal (one and done) bid on a coin with such a well-defined market might feel like it's been 'walked' up to that bid? Contrasting this with Laura's comment re: which did strike close to home:

    **As far as how to actually bid, the best is always to wait. There are a few Internet Only Auctions I am highly suspect of shilling by their buddies. **

  • REALGATORREALGATOR Posts: 2,641 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @ranshdow said:

    I wonder if an early, well-considered, terminal (one and done) bid on a coin with such a well-defined market might feel like it's been 'walked' up to that bid? Contrasting this with Laura's comment re: which did strike close to home:

    **As far as how to actually bid, the best is always to wait. There are a few Internet Only Auctions I am highly suspect of shilling by their buddies. **

    Several time I've bid days early on auctions, then watch it live and watch it get walked up to my bid then I've had 3 scenarios happen:
    1. I get outbid and "magically" that bid is removed and I win the lot.
    2. I get outbid and "magically" that bid is removed, I become the higher bidder again, they wait until "going twice" and then outbid me again. Somehow trying to bait me into a chase. There are no other bidders.
    3. The low starting bid immediately gaps to my bid and then usually get outbid from there.

    Some of these are hidden reserves but most are shill tactics. #2 is especially lame.

  • DavideoDavideo Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭✭

    I question the theory that collectors are low on cash in April because of income taxes. If you owe more than $1,000, through withholding or quarterly estimated payments you need to have paid 90% of what you owe or 110% of last year's amount due. Individuals can certainly owe some money April 15th, but it really shouldn't be that significant except in unusual circumstances. And those who have salary withheld, often get a tax refund.

  • specialistspecialist Posts: 956 ✭✭✭✭✭

    because of taxes, wealthy collectors simply do not feel like spending during april. happens every year and sometimes quarterly.

    ditto two weeks ago when the stock market melted-they froze, but now they are back spending

    timing is everything

  • brianc1959brianc1959 Posts: 350 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @tradedollarnut said:

    @brianc1959 said:
    What is the precise and unambiguous definition of "widget"?

    A totally replaceable coin. Average for the grade and findable on the bourse floor in minutes

    Thanks - that sounds like a pretty useful definition. I admit that I bought quite a few widgets recently just to fill holes in my type set. Now if I could just find some draped bust $2.50 gold widgets!

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