Auction word -What does it mean?

giantsfan20 · September 12, 2014 4:52PM

What is meant in auctions like HA No “buy” or “unlimited” bids will be accepted. Not sure what is meant by it. Thanks for any replies

Boosibri · September 12, 2014 4:54PM

Can you provide a link. Don't recall seeing that wording before.

TommyType · September 12, 2014 6:19PM

Think they're just saying you can't bid "unlimited", or "I'll buy it at one bid over the next highest".

Simple reason: What happens if they get TWO bids like that?

cwt · September 12, 2014 6:47PM

<< Can you provide a link. Don't recall seeing that wording before. >>

It's under Auction Home / Auction Resources in Terms and Conditions of Auctions (a pdf file).

Here is a link:
link

PerryHall · September 12, 2014 8:23PM

<< Think they're just saying you can't bid "unlimited", or "I'll buy it at one bid over the next highest".

Simple reason: What happens if they get TWO bids like that? >>

This is correct. You must tell them your limit otherwise if two people placed an unlimited bid the auction theoretically would never end and the hammer price would be an infinite number of dollars.

Icollecteverything · September 12, 2014 10:41PM

That would be like two bidders at a live auction doing the old "Statue of Liberty" pose.

derryb · September 12, 2014 10:42PM

<< 

<< Think they're just saying you can't bid "unlimited", or "I'll buy it at one bid over the next highest".

Simple reason: What happens if they get TWO bids like that? >>

This is correct. You must tell them your limit otherwise if two people placed an unlimited bid the auction theoretically would never end and the hammer price would be an infinite number of dollars. >>

Can they make an exception for my consignments?

PerryHall · September 12, 2014 11:57PM

<< 

<< 

<< Think they're just saying you can't bid "unlimited", or "I'll buy it at one bid over the next highest".

Simple reason: What happens if they get TWO bids like that? >>

This is correct. You must tell them your limit otherwise if two people placed an unlimited bid the auction theoretically would never end and the hammer price would be an infinite number of dollars. >>

Can they make an exception for my consignments? >>

Buyers would normally place unlimited bids for unique or ultra rarities where it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to buy the coin so I don't think you have to be too concerned.

TwoSides2aCoin · September 13, 2014 12:38AM

Another rule to make sure we behave ourselves.

DeliaBug · September 13, 2014 12:43AM

This is an older term from the mail-bid days and what it did was *suppress* prices. It does not drive them to infinity as stated or thought.

It would work like this, you put in a "buy" bid for a lot and after all the other bids come in, you get it for one increment over. In a mail-bid sale, the earlier bid wins in a tie situation. Two "buy" bids are a tie.

So when two "buy" bids come in, the lot would still hammer for only one increment above the other bids. There is no bidding war.

Bids can still be placed by mail at almost all auction houses so I'm guessing they left that verbiage in to cover them just in case.

coindeuce · March 21, 2015 11:28PM

The concept of an unlimited bid is merely hypothetical in the setting of a live auction, as even if two competing bidders faced off in the "Statue of Liberty" position, eventually the price called for by the auctioneer is going to make one of the two drop their raised hand, unless both parties are stark raving lunatics.

J.J. Pittman gained a reputation for using the pose at several auctions, but it was more a novel intimidation ploy at the time than the need to own the piece at sale. He didn't mind bullying the social gentlemen who had deep pockets for coin collecting. That's not a personal judgement of Pittman, it's just a known fact.

roadrunner · March 22, 2015 6:34AM

In an absentee bid setting (ie dueling computers or dueling mail bids from the old days) there would in fact be no limit. After all, who would stop the bidding? The auction would never end and one of the 2 bidders would go bankrupt. But, I suspect the auction house would smell a "rat" after a $500 coin was passing the $50,000 or $5,000,000 mark and declare a no sale or something. Putting in a nuclear bid well above what a coin is worth can get you to the same place. I did that once on a coin that was over-graded in the holder by 2 pts. (a 64 coin parading around as a 66, pop 1 finest known). I put in a bid effectively 3X more than the coin was worth, not realizing he coin was over-graded by 2 pts. Someone sniffed that bid out (or the potted plant was in attendance) and the live floor action ran my mail bid all the way to the last increment. Had I bid say $1 MILL on that coin rather than the low 5 figure price I did bid, I'm sure it would have been run up to $975,000 by Mr. "Potted Plant." I no longer leave "nuclear" bids with the house. I was lucky to get out from under that one big mistake because the coin was so ridiculously misgraded. In fact next time out, that coin realized MS64 money.

mvs7 · March 23, 2015 1:52AM

Two computers facing off could create really large bids in theory, but this has actually happened with Amazon pricing, as can be seen in this CNN article. I know someone who works at Amazon that told me they had to build special safeguards into their software for sellers to avoid this type of situation after this happened a few years back.

Auction word -What does it mean?

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