Stacks Bowers ANA Sale

rays · July 26, 2012 2:29AM

Some great lots, especially the Rarities night (an MS66 Chain!). The photgraphy and lot descriptions are first-rate as always.

However,
I have to get this off my chest. The web layout of the sessions is infuriating! I want to see the early copper and colonials. It takes forever to find them! Get with it SB.

OK rant over, thank you.

RYK · July 26, 2012 2:52AM

I agree. It is very frustrating to search and browse lots. I tried last week and gave up. It just seemed too much like work.

Do they post a PDF of the catalog somewhere?

mingot · July 26, 2012 2:53AM

ebay's lightning fast search really spoils you.

SmEagle1795 · July 26, 2012 3:04AM

I agree, especially with how they sort the lots. If I'm looking for early gold, it takes far too many steps that all run unbearably slowly. Even just navigating to the "View all" page and then drilling down to a subset of the lots is a nightmare - no one would logically start their search by looking at an individual session: they would start looking at the coins, THEN see which session they're in (a la Heritage).

MFH · July 26, 2012 3:25AM

Sorry to say, but all these complaints are valid.

Their layout is a mess and it takes hours to locate
something on line. It it wern't for the hard copy catalogs,
I wouldn't be bidding at all.

mrearlygold · July 26, 2012 3:38AM

I was very surprised to see they redid the site in asp. Asp has been known for a long time to be slow as mollases. Heritage's is php. Follow the leader

blu62vette · July 26, 2012 3:47AM

I attempted to find coins the other evening. Gave up. The site makes no sense.

mingot · July 26, 2012 4:25AM

<< <i>I was very surprised to see they redid the site in asp. Asp has been known for a long time to be slow as mollases. Heritage's is php. Follow the leader >>

There is nothing inherently slow about asp.net and nothing inherently fast about php.

There are blazing fast and extremely slow sites written with both software stacks.

BryceM · July 26, 2012 4:59AM

Ditto. Heritage is light-years ahead in more areas than just this. Try looking up old lots at SB. It's possible, but you don't get near as much information. It's ridiculously easy to look up the sale price for the last 10 coins in a particular grade in a particular holder at Heritage, complete with the catalog blurb and decent photos. To me, that information is worth much more than any guide or greysheet price.

Whatever money SB would plow into their software would come back to them 10 times over. I will give them this though - their photography generally shows surface condition and fine detail better. OTOH, Heritage shows color and luster better.

I wonder if anyone at SB reads this sort of stuff. Obviously some of the guys at Heritage do, at least occasionaly.

garrynot · July 26, 2012 5:12AM

I agree the on-line catalog is difficult to navigate. Nothing like a catalog to browse through. I could always find a few good deals when Stack's had their post auction sale, but I don't think they do that anymore

bidask · July 26, 2012 9:54AM

How hard is it to make a commitment
to invest in a great online experience
for your collector/dealer/client base?

After all they are Stacks Bowers.....

MrEureka · July 26, 2012 9:57AM

How hard is it to make a commitment
to invest in a great online experience
for your collector/dealer/client base?

It's relatively easy to make the investment. It's much harder to get it right.

jdimmick · July 26, 2012 10:01AM

Yes, they are behind on ease of trolling up coming auction lots, and looking up prior auction prices realized. I simply had to search the entire sale all night long the other day and record all the lots to review when I arrive in philly. At least as far as the stacks auction, the lots I am intrested in, are in rarities night only, so i will be present to view them.

I am a little on the fence at this point, as there are two coins in the upcoming heritage sale I am intrested in, but If I pursue them, Ive blown the stash for the ana sale I am afraid.

mozin · July 26, 2012 10:10AM

I ended up looking through the entire catalog, so I didn't miss anything. Took me a very long time. Heritage is the one!

golden · July 26, 2012 11:08AM

<< <i>How hard is it to make a commitment
to invest in a great online experience
for your collector/dealer/client base?

After all they are Stacks Bowers..... >>

DDR · July 26, 2012 2:04PM

SB has some nice coins for sale and I have had satisfactory purchases from them in the past, including through electronic bidding on their auctions. But they sure don't make it easy for the customer! Heritage's set-up is much more consumer friendly.

Analyst · July 26, 2012 2:19PM

To search current Stack’s-Bowers auctions,
use the Stack’s-Bowers Search function and check Open Auctions

For example, to view a listing of Draped Bust Large Cents, put “Draped Bust Cent” in quotation marks. Also, PCGS numbers may be effectively used with this search function.

The ANA Rarities Night, Part 1: Standing Liberty Quarters, Cents and 1796 coins

Unique 1873-CC ‘No Arrows’ Dime in Stack’s-Bowers Auction

Finest Known Carson City Gold Coin

Rays: <<Some great lots, especially the Rarities night, an MS66 Chain!>>

It was I who raised the issue among experts that the initial pedigree listing was not correct. As soon as I saw the online listing, I knew that something was wrong. I am aware of the post-1979 ownership and certification history of the Garrett S-3, which is better than the currently offered Chain Cent. This is the Cleneay-Jackman-Ryder S-3, which Stack’s offered in 2009. At some point, I will write a detailed review of Chain Cents that have been certified in ‘MS’ grades. I have examined most all of them. Of course, this Cleneay-Jackman-Ryder S-3 is a very important coin.

1793 Cent sets $1.38 Million Auction Record for a Copper coin

cardinal · July 26, 2012 3:09PM

<< <i>It was I who raised the issue among experts that the initial pedigree listing was not correct. As soon as I saw the online listing, I knew that something was wrong. I am aware of the post-1979 ownership and certification history of the Garrett S-3, which is better than the currently offered Chain Cent. .
>>

As soon as I saw the NGC-MS66BN chain cent listed as the "Garrett" coin, I was quite suspicious, especially when the description noted that the NGC Pop Report included one specimen as MS66RB. The Garrett coin has always been recognized as a RedBrown example, so seeing that pedigree attached to a "BN" example with a superb gem "RB" still out there just didn't seem right. I had to check my library to confirm, and found that indeed the current coin is the one that was last offered (but unsold) in Stack's January 2009 sale.

MrEureka · July 29, 2012 10:34AM

I started looking at the sale today in NYC. For me, the highlight of the day was gorgeous JHF collection of Standing Liberty quarters. Although I probably won't bid on the coins, and even though the greatest individual coins in the sale were in other series, it was an absolute pleasure seeing such an impeccably assembled set of coins.

joecopper · July 29, 2012 8:58PM

rays - I totally agree with you on the SB website

timcoin · July 30, 2012 3:56AM

I though the ANR site was fantastic. Wonder if they can bring that back?

Stacks Bowers ANA Sale

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