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No problem at all. As you said in a previous post, its not going to make much difference, because

of the condition. Saying that though, I expected better from a auction house. This type of thing you would

expect from eBay. And at least with them, you can send the item back for a refund, as most sellers of coins

on there, will offer this option.

The auction houses will just hide behind there terms and conditions. I will never buy through the

saleroom again. Its just a gamble! and a poor gamble IMHO when you think about it.

You have to remember you bought this as a 'mixed' lot of coins in varying grades!

Auction houses list bulk lots this way because they are (mostly) not worth listing singularly due to their faults or low value generally. If they were expected to go over every coin and describe it in its minutiae, they'd never get the auction ready, neither could they afford the cost for the tome that would inevitably be their auction catalogue.

You've obviously learnt a great deal from this experience, and will likely do it differently next time.

I think the expectation of the auction house is that you the bidder should be doing the legwork and sorting over the lots yourself. Hence, you really need to be there, and when looking through your 3rd batch of a 50-coin lot, you'll realise with cross eyes and a scrambled brain, why they sell them described as 'mixed lot in various grades'! :)

Great thread, coinmerchant! :)

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I will never buy through the

saleroom again. Its just a gamble! and a poor gamble IMHO when you think about it.

its a lesson learnt for sure, but now with that knowledge, your better placed to bid in any future auction. dont dismiss auctions on the basis of 1 bad experience, by bidding on individual coins rather than bulk lots, you may fare better.

ive never bought a bulk lot, ive had reasonable success with my bids on individual coins, i have returned 1 coin (in many lots)as i thought it wasnt of the grade the listing suggested and was given a full refund.

maybe ask some help here on a piece and take another punt.

ski

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I will never buy through the

saleroom again. Its just a gamble! and a poor gamble IMHO when you think about it.

its a lesson learnt for sure, but now with that knowledge, your better placed to bid in any future auction. dont dismiss auctions on the basis of 1 bad experience, by bidding on individual coins rather than bulk lots, you may fare better.

ive never bought a bulk lot, ive had reasonable success with my bids on individual coins, i have returned 1 coin (in many lots)as i thought it wasnt of the grade the listing suggested and was given a full refund.

maybe ask some help here on a piece and take another punt.

ski

I have bought some great bulk lots from W&W but I suppose it depends how you define the term - one was a collection of pennies from 1860 to 1967 many in high grade (buns average VF, though the only rarity was 1869 in Fair), an incomplete collection of halfcrowns from 1874 to 1967 many in high grade, and a collection of coins in flips in two coindex trays, some of which went into my own collection e.g. an EF 1797 penny. The point I'm making is that all three lots were obtained at considerably less than the total book price for the individual coins.

On the other hand, if by 'bulk' you mean accumulations mostly in bags, then you do have to be careful. If there are one or two coins among them that you want, you're better advised to work out what you want to pay for those, and then add on top an amount for any bullion value, or if no silver then a notional amount to cover the remainder of the lot. If your bid fails, you can always note who wins it and approach them afterwards explaining you wanted a particular coin(s) and asking if they would sell to you. A genuine dealer might be perfectly willing to horse trade on that basis, and you can't lose anything by asking. I once missed a superb collection of farthings from 1860, all in minimum EF many UNC, but I'd also noticed that the 1915 was the rare one. So I found out who won it and left my phone number for them to call me. When I said I was only interested in the 1915, the dealer didn't know (or care) that it was a rare variety and I got it without any problem.

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I will never buy through the

saleroom again. Its just a gamble! and a poor gamble IMHO when you think about it.

its a lesson learnt for sure, but now with that knowledge, your better placed to bid in any future auction. dont dismiss auctions on the basis of 1 bad experience, by bidding on individual coins rather than bulk lots, you may fare better.

ive never bought a bulk lot, ive had reasonable success with my bids on individual coins, i have returned 1 coin (in many lots)as i thought it wasnt of the grade the listing suggested and was given a full refund.

maybe ask some help here on a piece and take another punt.

ski

I have bought some great bulk lots from W&W but I suppose it depends how you define the term - one was a collection of pennies from 1860 to 1967 many in high grade (buns average VF, though the only rarity was 1869 in Fair), an incomplete collection of halfcrowns from 1874 to 1967 many in high grade, and a collection of coins in flips in two coindex trays, some of which went into my own collection e.g. an EF 1797 penny. The point I'm making is that all three lots were obtained at considerably less than the total book price for the individual coins.

On the other hand, if by 'bulk' you mean accumulations mostly in bags, then you do have to be careful. If there are one or two coins among them that you want, you're better advised to work out what you want to pay for those, and then add on top an amount for any bullion value, or if no silver then a notional amount to cover the remainder of the lot. If your bid fails, you can always note who wins it and approach them afterwards explaining you wanted a particular coin(s) and asking if they would sell to you. A genuine dealer might be perfectly willing to horse trade on that basis, and you can't lose anything by asking. I once missed a superb collection of farthings from 1860, all in minimum EF many UNC, but I'd also noticed that the 1915 was the rare one. So I found out who won it and left my phone number for them to call me. When I said I was only interested in the 1915, the dealer didn't know (or care) that it was a rare variety and I got it without any problem.

Good tip re approaching winning bidders of lots - I'd been writing lost lots off as a bad cause!

This happened to me at the last W&W, I was bidding on a couple of lots for specific coins I'd spotted in them...never occurred to me to hand a quick note to the winning bidder!

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I will never buy through the

saleroom again. Its just a gamble! and a poor gamble IMHO when you think about it.

its a lesson learnt for sure, but now with that knowledge, your better placed to bid in any future auction. dont dismiss auctions on the basis of 1 bad experience, by bidding on individual coins rather than bulk lots, you may fare better.

ive never bought a bulk lot, ive had reasonable success with my bids on individual coins, i have returned 1 coin (in many lots)as i thought it wasnt of the grade the listing suggested and was given a full refund.

maybe ask some help here on a piece and take another punt.

ski

I'd certainly echo what ski says about individual lots. I picked up my EF condition 1934 crown, together with EF examples of the other 1934 coins for £1900 plus fees, which is a hell of a bargain, given the going price for an EF 1934 crown alone. Also, my 1734 halfcrown in VF was well under the book price. So don't give up on general auctions, particularly where individual coins are concerned.

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I must thank all the members that have replied to this thread and giving me some

excellent advice, which has been taken on board.

I spent yesterday afternoon, calulating the value of the two lots I purchase through

the saleroom recently. I use the Grading British coins by Derek Francis Allen, and was very strict

with my grading, possibly under grading, so as not to kid myself. There were a total of 19 coins

all crowns, mostly late Victorian, some 1821 George IV and 1844/1847 young head.

I first used Collectors Coins GB 2011 Edition and total valuation was above what I paid for by around 15%.

I then used eBays Completed price search and using the lower prices was about 5% up.

So taken all things into account, especially as I am very new to coin collecting, I don't really have

much to complain about really. I'm more annoyed with myself, regarding bidding for a mixed

grade lot, which really tells you nothing about the grades, and was rather stupid to bid on in

the first place, without seeing the coins in person.

Cheers

William

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