How to break a coin guys heart
Rollerman
Posts: 1,908 ✭✭✭✭✭
So, I'm going to hit a coin auction that the auctioneer told me was a hour and a half's drive for me. I can't be at the auction when it starts due to a conflict, but since the auctioneer says he does 100 coin in an hour if I can get away by 11:00 AM, I should arrive at 12:30 PM at about lot 250 in the auction. My only real interest in going is lot 290.
With 50+ miles to go, I realize that the time estimate is off, so I step on it...really step on it. I was also told by someone connected to the auction, that the auction hall is right near the intersection of two roads, one of which I'm traveling on.
There isn't anything close to said intersection, but up ahead I see a sign that says, "Auction", so I pull in (it's now 12:45PM).
I realize as I entered the hall, this wasn't the right auction! I ask about the one I really want and head as fast as I can to the correct auction site which is about a QUARTER OF A MILE from the intersection. I rush into the auction at about 12:55PM and ask the check in lady, "What lot are they own?" Lot 295 was the answer! What a waste of time all because of some bad information. If I hadn't stopped at the wrong auction first, I would have made it. To make matters worse, the coin sold for $50 less than I would've easily paid for it! That was one big disappointment!
Louis Armstrong
Comments
Sorry to say poor planning results in poor results.
Sorry, but my military time is kicking in.
An old saying is "trust but verify".
That stinks! Should have had them contact the high-bidder for you.
Of course, why not have google maps direct you to the correct place, or check out location before you left?
Take it easy, hope its not a very rare coin. Keep your eyes open, it might pop in a GC or HA auction in future...
Next time I hope the results will be better. That sucks for sure. Get the address and map it before you leave, perhaps?
bob:)
I've had disappointments over the years but usually another,perhaps better piece comes along, after a time..
Yeah always sucks. They would not do phone bidding?
Absentee bidding? Also. who knows if you would have won? Other buyer might have bid you out anyway!
Sorry for your bad luck.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Frustrating
Lucky that you didn't get a $300 speeding ticket. That would have really messed up your day.
There will always be another deal.
At first I thought this was a 'speeding ticket' story.....That is a drag though.....
Sort of the same thing happened to me a few weeks ago on a house I was interested in.
Maybe you could buy it from the winer for 50 dollars more?
Sorry you missed out
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Yes, this is the imponderable conundrum. Although an auction result might look like “a bargain” when you were not the buyer, you never know how much the winner might have been willing to pay. Perhaps if you had bid, that winning bidder might have kept going until the piece was no longer viable.
As for the piece you “lost,” unless it is a great rarity, I’ve found that another one very often becomes available before too long. I must confess that the current market has not been as good at providing additional opportunities as other markets have been in the past.
Tough break.... I have found GPS works well when I am going into unfamiliar territory... Hope you get another chance...Cheers, RickO
GPS is good, but the GPS lady in my wife's car has a drinking problem, and hates me.
I use the GPS on my phone, as it is sober.
I have been lost in every major city in the US...that's my real skill. I use GPS, Mapquest, WAZE and Google Maps...because if there's an error in mapping systems I can find them...so I try to cross-check.
There's still one road split in Southeast OH, that's wrong in all of them.
Thanks for the comments. Some of you echo what my wife said, use the GPS. BUT I didn't have the address and was told by someone who lives near by that it was right at the intersection and you can't miss it. Well, I didn't miss the auction that was "nearby", unfortunately it was the wrong one! It all started with the wrong estimate of time given to me by the auctioneer who has a son living in my town and said it takes a hour and a half (really two hours). You guys are also right about the speeding ticket I might have gotten. I even passed a police car in a 55 MPH zone at 68 MPH but he didn't chase me down. Oh well, live and learn. I thought I had planned it pretty well, but if you have bad information all the planning in the world won't change results. As someone also said, there will be other coins....I hope.
Louis Armstrong
Ouch. So what was lot 290??
Yeah, may as well tell us what the coin was, so we can share in the disappointment. Sorry it didn't work out
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Rough story. I feel for you. One time I was supposed to go on a boat trip but couldn't make it because there was a city parade which blocked miles of road between where I was and where I needed to go. I always like having the exact address these days because services can route to the best traffic.
And as much as you never know if your bid would have won in an auction, I always feel better to have bid and lost than to never bid at all.
As others have said, who knows how high the winner would have bid if you were there. Worse yet, would you have gotten caught up in the frenzy of getting there "just in time", not had time to look it over, and bid higher than you should have. Unless it was a 1854 S half eagle or a MS 1794 dollar or something similar another will show up sooner or later and hopefully you'll have a shot at that one.
Sometimes things happen and we end up protecting ourselves from ourselves.
it's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide
I would never depend upon the estimates an auction gives for a lot that is in the middle of the sale. I've seen auctions go faster than predicted and sometimes a lot slower.
Years ago there was a lot in a Heritage auction that I figured would sell at 9:30 to 10:00 PM. As it happened there were a bunch of medals in the sale that opened at a couple hundred dollars and ended up selling for as much as $30,000. The auction dragged on though the night, and the lot I wanted didn't come down until 3 AM. I couldn't bid on it.
A well known, expert dealer told me he didn't think the coin was any good any way, so perhaps to the delay saved me from myself.
Sorry you missed your lot. Hope a comparable or better coin comes around soon.
Must have been rare
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
It was an 1870 Seated Liberty Dollar, looked like a high end VF or maybe even a XF40. Wanted it for the type set.
Louis Armstrong
Oh, I could have left a proxy bid, but I never buy that way. I have to have it in my hand before I bid.
Louis Armstrong