I prefer buying from dealers and discussing the coins. The best coins I have came from Legend, Witter, Winter, Northeast Numismatics, and Gerry Fortin. The current market does make it hard to buy from dealers because coins only last a few minutes when posted for sale.
I prefer private sales but if I look at my purchases over the last couple years, most have been at auction. As an example, I have purchased far more from Legend Auctions than Legend Numismatics in the last couple of years. Sellers are consigning because they perceive more upside in auctions so I have to follow suit to buy the coins I want. I haven't been at a big show in a while so I don't care as much about auctions at shows. I just want a trusted pair of eyes on a coin if I can't view it myself (and often want a second opinion anyway).
I prefer private transaction’s. I actually prefer it when the coins I buy have never been to auction or at least there is no record of a prior sale in the archives. Whenever I do sell they will all be completely fresh to market. Buying PQ coins out of auction right now is scary stuff.
I wish I could buy more coins from private sales but everything good (for my collection) is almost always in an auction. I think for coins > than $500 I've only bought one coin from a dealer in the last 5 years (20-s cent in 64+rd). I've never attended a live auction in person and think it would have been a ton of fun to do so, but the way things have been going maybe I'll never get that chance.
Either way, it is almost a REQUIREMENT that I have seen the coin in hand! Nothing beats personal inspection. If I can not see it there are some people who's opinions I trust to look at it for me.
By the way, if you haven't heard before, auction lot viewing is a good place to hone your own grading skills.......just sayin'.
I don't like auctions at all. I could count on one hand the number of times in 20+ years that I got "a bargain" in an auction. Usually I get taken to my maximum, and I miss out on items that have been on my lists for years. I have "gone crazy" a few times and paid too much. They call that "auction fever." I would rather go to ten Baltimore or FUN shows than to one auction.
The buyers' fees really get me. Dealers argue up and down that "sane bidders" adjust their bids for the fees. According them it wouldn't matter if the buyers' fees were 100%. the result would be the same. NOT TRUE.
Certainly any dealers who participate in auctions break back their bids for the buyers' fee, but there are enough "yahoos" who ignore them and keep bidding. There seems to be this mentality among auction bidders that if someone else is bidding, it must be good. The implication is that they don't have the confidence to see an item at a show, know if it's good price or not. BUT if someone else is bidding, it has to be good. I've seen items sit for months in a dealers' inventory, and then sell for more than the asking price, which the dealer would probably have lowered, in an auction.
I used to belong to a club in New Jersey that held an auction every month. There were a small group of members who would start bidding every time I placed a bid because I had a reputation as "somebody who knew something." despite the fact that I was less than 25 years old and these guys were at least ten years older. At one point I bidding as the treasurer of the club for door prizes. I was bidding not because it was a bargain, but because the price was fair. But as soon as my hand went up, their hands flew up too whether they had an interest in the lots or not as collectors.
By the way, if you haven't heard before, auction lot viewing is a good place to hone your own grading skills.......just sayin'.
Yes, there is a lot of truth to that. And don't go in there thinking that all the grading numbers on the holders are accurate. They aren't. Some of the stuff that ends up in auctions is the stuff the dealers could not sell elsewhere.
I prefer private transaction’s. I actually prefer it when the coins I buy have never been to auction or at least there is no record of a prior sale in the archives. Whenever I do sell they will all be completely fresh to market. Buying PQ coins out of auction right now is scary stuff.
I’ve attended more than 1000 shows, probably 2000 auctions in person, and many more online. Bottom line is that you never know when or where the best deals will pop up, so I have no preference.
What do you think of the big guy's auctions not happening at shows anymore?
I don’t really care if the auctions are held at the shows, but it’s important (to me, at least) that lot viewing takes place at the shows. Simply a matter of being able to accomplish more on the trip.
The following applies to coins priced from 3 figures to mid four figures.
My sense (but no hard facts) is when I started building most of my collection back in 2014 or so, the percentage of collectors bidding in auctions versus dealers was much smaller than today. In those days, I believe most of the bidding was by dealers getting inventory. As such, I had a lot of success, as dealers could only bid to a certain level, as they had to leave room for a fair markup.
I believe over time the percentage of auction bidders that are collectors has grown, and as such, I have a lot more competition now from other collectors.
Based on the above, while many of the coins I acquire today still come from auctions, I sense the fairest deals I’m getting are from dealers. However, the problem I find today is that VERY FEW of the coins I want can be found with dealers, but instead are typically now found only at auction. Ugh!
I search collectorscorner.com daily for coins I want. Tip: While technically they don’t have a filter for CAC coins, all one needs to do is type “CAC” in the Search bar, and it will then produce results only with coins that have the word CAC in their description.
I mainly deal in key, semi-key, and low mintage dates. I have to pay well above wholesale prices in order to buy enough in which to make a market, which (of course) means that auctions are a main source of supply. As such, when selling, private sales work far better for me because I often pay auction prices (or even more) and sell at retail. Without retail buyers, I would not even be in the coin business.
I find it interesting that here collectors prefer private sales. Out there in the big world they seem to prefer auctions.
At the big auctions you get thousands of bidders. I see the world slowly moving to auctions vs private sales-sadly.
As a seller, I do prefer auctions, for the reason you state regarding thousands of bidders. However, my sense is most people who replied to this thread were answering this question from a buyers perspective. As a buyer, those “thousands of bidders”, especially in this current market, is what drives current buyers to TRY to find private sales of good quality coins IF they can be found.
In the level of coins I buy, typically four figures, PCGS/CAC, it seems like those are now mostly found only in auctions in today’s market, with many fewer than in prior years available in dealer inventories for private sales.
Comments
I haven't been at a big show in a while so I don't care as much about auctions at shows. I just want a trusted pair of eyes on a coin if I can't view it myself (and often want a second opinion anyway).
By the way, if you haven't heard before, auction lot viewing is a good place to hone your own grading skills.......just sayin'.
The buyers' fees really get me. Dealers argue up and down that "sane bidders" adjust their bids for the fees. According them it wouldn't matter if the buyers' fees were 100%. the result would be the same. NOT TRUE.
Certainly any dealers who participate in auctions break back their bids for the buyers' fee, but there are enough "yahoos" who ignore them and keep bidding. There seems to be this mentality among auction bidders that if someone else is bidding, it must be good. The implication is that they don't have the confidence to see an item at a show, know if it's good price or not. BUT if someone else is bidding, it has to be good. I've seen items sit for months in a dealers' inventory, and then sell for more than the asking price, which the dealer would probably have lowered, in an auction.
I used to belong to a club in New Jersey that held an auction every month. There were a small group of members who would start bidding every time I placed a bid because I had a reputation as "somebody who knew something." despite the fact that I was less than 25 years old and these guys were at least ten years older. At one point I bidding as the treasurer of the club for door prizes. I was bidding not because it was a bargain, but because the price was fair. But as soon as my hand went up, their hands flew up too whether they had an interest in the lots or not as collectors.
Yes, there is a lot of truth to that. And don't go in there thinking that all the grading numbers on the holders are accurate. They aren't. Some of the stuff that ends up in auctions is the stuff the dealers could not sell elsewhere.
My sense (but no hard facts) is when I started building most of my collection back in 2014 or so, the percentage of collectors bidding in auctions versus dealers was much smaller than today. In those days, I believe most of the bidding was by dealers getting inventory. As such, I had a lot of success, as dealers could only bid to a certain level, as they had to leave room for a fair markup.
I believe over time the percentage of auction bidders that are collectors has grown, and as such, I have a lot more competition now from other collectors.
Based on the above, while many of the coins I acquire today still come from auctions, I sense the fairest deals I’m getting are from dealers. However, the problem I find today is that VERY FEW of the coins I want can be found with dealers, but instead are typically now found only at auction. Ugh!
I search collectorscorner.com daily for coins I want. Tip: While technically they don’t have a filter for CAC coins, all one needs to do is type “CAC” in the Search bar, and it will then produce results only with coins that have the word CAC in their description.
Steve
At the big auctions you get thousands of bidders. I see the world slowly moving to auctions vs private sales-sadly.
In the level of coins I buy, typically four figures, PCGS/CAC, it seems like those are now mostly found only in auctions in today’s market, with many fewer than in prior years available in dealer inventories for private sales.
Steve