jaggy

I was watching that auction. I had four lots in my 'cabinet', two of which I would have bid on. However, the prices went way above what I was willing to pay for the two coins. I will be interested in what happens in the Heritage auction tomorrow and whether US prices go the same way.

I pay no attention to the 'finest known' guff. However, that tends to be put out by the auction houses rather than the TPG when trying to talk up a coin.

Apologies for missing much of this more recent discussion. For auctions, I tend to focus on DNW, Spink, BSJ and Heritage. I do look at London Coins but my level of trust with them is such that I will only bid on NGC or PCGS slabbed coins in their auction. I don't bid in all auctions by any means. I have my list of what I'm looking for and if they don't have it, if the quality isn't there or if the price gets silly then I'm generally not interested. I have always been primarily a sixpence collector but the gaps are fewer, rarer and more expensive now. I did pick up a couple of nice sixpences at Heritage (1703 Lima & 1710) and they were expensive enough. I have my eye on a couple of coins at DNW tomorrow. I don't really have an overall completion goal as such. I tend to look at it in terms of monarch and I will buy duplicates if it is a good quality upgrade (the 1703 was an upgrade). I've also been branching out with a few type sets and building a couple of proof sets. Still a long way to go with these. I still do find coins at the quality I want and prices I'm willing to pay. On very odd occasions a coin will come along where I'm willing to pay over the odds. Especially with regard to sixpences, I do know my stuff and I know when it's worth splashing the cash or when it's worth waiting for another one to come along.

To your point, I think that newer collectors will often buy the run of the mill stuff. I know that I did when I was starting out some 35 years ago. So maybe that is driving the lower end prices up. I'm not sure that is true across the board. I've bought a few coins over the past three months and, as usual, I do my research across the various auction archives and the prices I have been paying are about right. No bargains but not overpaying either. Even so I've seen some coins that I was interested in go for mind-boggling prices (in my opinion of course). For example, a 1911 penny (MS65 Red) sold at BSJ for £250. I bought a 1911 penny (MS65 RB) for £115 on Ebay.

I suppose it depends on the coin. I've bought quite a few coins over the lockdown (gotta spend the dosh on something) and haven't been overly shocked by the prices.

I was shocked at the poor quality of the Frank Viles sale at Spink and I told 'Greg Spink' so on Facebook. That isn't a criticism of Spink as such. They are a business and, to be fair, have been very professional in all my dealings with them. Even so, the lots all sold. They sold a 1562 sixpence which, in my humble opinion is poorer than my own example, for £1,200.

Coin was slabbed MS63. So probably an EF when the tickets were written.

I recently acquired a 1703 Vigo sixpence and these tickets came with the coin. Does anyone recognise them?

The pics on LCA are deceptive. They flatter the coin and hide hairline scratches and other defects which are often not mentioned in the description.

It has been quite a while since LCA has offered anything that is 1) of interest to me, and, 2) that I would be willing to trust LCA on.

It isn't always the case that prices are higher in the USA. For example, a 1911 penny slabbed NGC and graded MS65RD sold for £250 hammer at BSJ not long ago. I bought a 1911 penny slabbed NGC and graded MS65RB for £109 ($142) from a dealer in the USA. I have made recent purchases in both the USA and the UK and prices seem to be generally pretty similar. Certainly there are outliers in both countries as a result of auction competition or greedy vendors. Up to us as customers to know what we are willing to pay.

Nice coin!

I was never able to attend the LCA auction in person anyway so it makes little difference to me. I always felt that LCA were missing a trick by not putting their auctions online in the same way as DNW or Spink. But it's their business and their decision. I will review the catalogue when available and enter bids if there is anything there for me.

My example cost £270 (inc Buyers Premium and postage) from Heritage in 2017. It's graded AU58. Personally, I think £440 is a little on the expensive side.

It might force them into the 21st century.

I have bought two coins since the lockdowns started. One has been delivered and one is en-route. I think this could push the price of higher end coins up as they are seen as an alternative investment while the markets tank. For the rest, unless incomes take a serious hit then I don't see that there will be much difference in prices.

George V, 1932, NGC, MS65RB

I like them and I don't need the money.

I have several bags of old pennies, a lot of GVI and EII sixpences, a piggy bank full of GVI and EII shillings and florins and other odds and sods outwith my 'collectable' coins. I'm sure that I'm not alone. There is probably a lot more out there than people realise.

I have a 1682/1 in VF. Bought from Glendinnings, March 15, 1988. I don't have a 1680 or 1682 other than the above. I haven't really researched these years as my focus has been elsewhere.

It's business. You make what you can make and what you believe the market can bear. And it works both ways. I'm sure we have all picked up bargains at auction and from dealers. I don't ever recall offering to pay more than I got the coin for. Nobody forces you to buy and its up to the buyer to do his/her research and work out how much they are willing to pay.

It really is a case of Caveat Emptor. Most of us 'regulars' are pretty savvy when it comes to prices. We know our fields of interest, we know when a coin is scarce or doesn't come up for sale very often, we know how to grade, we know how to check auction archives for sale prices. So we don't often overpay for a coin and, if we do, we usually have a good reason to do so. We also need to understand that a dealer has his/her costs as well and they do need to make a margin on a coin to be able to stay in business. How much that margin is will depend on the costs the dealer has. However, we all know that there is buyers premium on top of the hammer price, that there is postage and insurance to pay both in receiving the coin and in sending it out and there is the cost of capital tied up in the coin. On top of that, the dealer has to make enough profit to make it worth his/her time. All that can add a substantial premium to the hammer price.

I have no interest in provenance for my own purchases. I'm only interested in the coin. However, I always note provenance in my database because I know it is important for some and could add value the day the coin is sold.

I got mine on Amazon

Hammer was £2,700. There was nobody in the room bidding against me. Based on the photos, I think the grade of EF is probably about right. There are some scratches but they do not look like cleaning ones. If I have it graded, I think AU53-55 would be fair. That said, given its rarity and condition, this was a hard one to walk away from.