There was a lot of excitement when Teletrade announced that it was auctioning Philippine coins from the famous "Just Having Fun Collection". The auction which concluded last night had some very mixed results.

The "Just Having Fun" collection ranks among one of the finest USA-Philippine collections ever assembled. The "Just Having Fun" NGC USA-Philippines Type set was the top ranked set in its category from 2004 through 2010.

The "Just Having Fun" PCGS Registry Sets are even more spectacular. "Just Having Fun" has had the number one PCGS Registry set in every USA-Philippine category since 2005 and is the number one All Time Finest set for all Eras in those (19) categories.

Unfortunately none of the 84 Philippine coins offered in the Teletrade auction #3327 were from those spectacular registry sets. The duplicates from the "Just Having Fun" collection were certainly nice coins but not the Ultra-Rare superstars that I had hoped for.

Nevertheless. there were several coins in this offering that I was interested in and hoped to purchase if I could obtain them at a reasonable price. I placed a pre-auction maximum bid on several lots at what I felt would be a reasonable bid. When the live bidding started I discovered that all of my maximum bids were below the opening price.

I was surprised by how overpriced the minimum opening bid was for many of the lots. As a result of the overpriced minimum opening bids the vast majority of lots were unsold at the end of the auction. Fifty-four (54) of the eighty-four (84) lots did not sell. The lots with a reasonable minimum opening bid generally sold at FMV or above.

Without double the two most outstanding coins in this offering were lot # 2731 a 1935M PCGS MS65 Five Centavos, and Lot #2774 a 1908 PCGS PR64 Peso. The 1935M Five Centavos is a Top Pop coin with a combined NGC/PCGS population of 4/0 and an Allen Catalog value of $2500.00. The 1908 Peso is a PROOF ONLY ISSUE with a mintage of only 500 and an Allen Catalog value of $1350.00 in this grade. Both of these coins sold for significantly less than their book value. The 1935M Five Centavos MS65 sold for a hammer price of $900.00 ($1035.00 with buyer's premium). The 1908 PR64 Peso sold for a hammer price of $925.00 ($1,063.75 with buyer's premium). I bid $900.00 on the 1908 PR64 Peso but was outbid by $25.00. If only I had bid a little higher.

I was successful in winning one lot in the Teletrade auction. My bid of $100.00 ($115.00 with buyer's premium) was the successful bid on lot # 2747 a 1935M NGC MS65 Ten Centavos. The Teletrade listing described this coin as "Gem. Well Struck. Pleasing surfaces. Lightly toned. Lustrous." The combined NGC/PCGS population for the 1935M Ten Centavos in this grade is 14 coins with only 6 graded finer.

Although I already own a 1935M Ten Centavos in MS64 I was really impressed by the superior strike and eye appeal of the coin in the Teletrade auction.

While this coin is not a superstar it is an attractive little GEM and a nice upgrade for my USA-Philippines Complete, Ten Centavos, and United States Manila Mint Registry Sets. It's also great to add a "Just Having Fun" pedigreed coin to my "Philippine Pedigrees" Custom Registry Set.

Click here to see my "Philippine Pedigrees" Custom Registry Set: http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/WCM/CoinCustomSetView.aspx?s=10670

Click here to see my "The United States Manila Mint" Custom Registry Set: http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/WCM/CoinCustomSetView.aspx?s=1113

The attached picture is the Teletrade image of the reverse side of my 1935M NGC MS65 Ten Centavos.

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