When to buy? At major auctions of the big sale of major/famous collections or the aftermath?
oreville
Posts: 12,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have had mixed experiences in throwing myself into the deep waters of major auctions such as the Eliasberg Collection, Pittman Collection, Jay Roe, Holmes Family Collection, etc. etc. Quite often, the prices are simply stir crazy.
Sometimes it pays to sit the original auction out and hope you ever see the coins ever again as prices seem to come down after the fact more often than not. I have done that too.
But it comes at a great risk in that you will never get to see the coins you want ever again.
But if you are a type collector, it seems to be beneficial to try to pick and choose at favorable prices where ever and when ever possible.
Your experiences?
Sometimes it pays to sit the original auction out and hope you ever see the coins ever again as prices seem to come down after the fact more often than not. I have done that too.
But it comes at a great risk in that you will never get to see the coins you want ever again.
But if you are a type collector, it seems to be beneficial to try to pick and choose at favorable prices where ever and when ever possible.
Your experiences?
A Collectors Universe poster since 1997!
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Comments
I have a few I'm sunk deeply into... Yet have a few that I was able to pick-up at 1/2 or even 1/3 hammer price just a few years after each famed auction.
<< <i>But it comes at a great risk in that you will never get to see the coins you want ever again. >>
If the coin is one you haven't seen for a long time, and/or expect it or a similar coin to be off the market for a long time, then now is the time to buy. If the coin is relatively easy to replace, then if the price is too high, wait for another one.
An authorized PCGS dealer, and a contributor to the Red Book.
but related to it:
Lester Merkin (New York dealer, now deceased)
told me one time in the mid-'70's, quote:
"Fred, sometimes the opportunity to buy a rare
coin is rarer than the coin itself".
Very true, in many cases.....especially some Mint Errors!
I have seen several Eliasberg and Bass coins over the last few years offered and almost bought. Now you have me curious as to what the auction sale price was vs. what they were when I saw them.
In summary I'd say for the neat coins you almost have no choice but to buy them when the name sale hits...esp if the market has been a significant downturn. The 1996-1999 major name sales were almost no brainers if you had the cash and the "eye." It seems to have worked the majority of the time. Though past performance is no indicator of future outcomes.
Somehow though I don't see the Pogues or Legend's major pattern buyer ever selling in a down market.
roadrunner
<< <i>Not a direct answer to your question,
but related to it:
Lester Merkin (New York dealer, now deceased)
told me one time in the mid-'70's, quote:
"Fred, sometimes the opportunity to buy a rare
coin is rarer than the coin itself".
Very true, in many cases.....especially some Mint Errors! >>
A very valid post especially related to mint errors.
5 years ago I decided to bid on 2 items in a Heritage auction, a mint error and a pattern.
Splitting my disposable funds for that auction on 2 lots I only won the pattern and was the under bidder on the error.
I no longer own the pattern and have spent 5 years hunting for another example of the error as it's the last I need for my type set.
Lesson learned was that I didn't realize how scarce the error was and that I only focus on acquiring 1 lot per auction.
Since it's been like 1800+ days of hoping another will flush out I've actually offered 1.5+ hammer on the error I missed in Heritage's "Make an Offer" program, yet the owner is not budging!
For example, a number of the significant colonials in Ford now reside in the museum at Colonial Williamsburg. So anyone who thought they would "wait to get it cheaper" will never have another chance to acquire them at any price.
<< <i>Seize the opportunity when its available. I still think about the coins I didn't bid strong enough for enough from years ago. >>
So do I. Your words are sage.
Also like the 'sometimes the opportunity to buy a rare coin is rarer than the coin itself'.
Finally, I've been on the receiving end of two unsolicited offers on half dollars I purchased from Heritage. I appreciate the offers, and look at them as validation of a smart purchase. Didn't think of selling the coins, mind you, as the offers were only marginally higher than hammer. An offer of 1.5 times hammer would have prompted more such thinking, but I would still have passed.
If I had to generalize, I'd simply agree with this. But I'd rather not generalize. Better to judge each opportunity on its own merits.
Doggedly collecting coins of the Central American Republic.
Visit the Society of US Pattern Collectors at USPatterns.com.
That becomes tricky if 2 people have that same logic.
I recently picked up an Eliasberg Sr. coin for $500 that sold for $805 in the Auction.