Just recieved the next catalog for Scotsman Auctions

[AnkurJ]

With some excellent descriptions by James

 

My favorite is lot 619, a 1796 Dollar with F details/graffiti thatis not pictured:

 

The "grafitti" refrenced almost defies rational description. In a smoke induced haze, one might easily mistake the varied and mysterious glyphs as some sort of witchcraft, or nefarious incantation. The symbols may well hold a strange, unseen power over some potential bidders...or they may simply be ignored as random scribbling. At any rate, the host small eagle dollar is a dead-to-rights fully original coin, so at least that is a plus.

 

Eye of newt, and toe of frog,

Wool of bat, and tongue or dog,

Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,

Lizards leg, and howlet's wing....

 

 

James..I gotta see a picture of this coin!

Ankur

[James_OldeTowne]

Ask... and ye shall receive !

 

 

[AnkurJ]

That's wicked cool! Why wasn't everything imaged in the catalog?

[James_OldeTowne]

That's wicked cool! Why wasn't everything imaged in the catalog?

Cost! If everything was imaged, the catalog would be something like four times larger, increasing the cost of publishing and of course, shipment.

 

They took away my free monthly bag of Doritos, too.

[AnkurJ]

They took away my free monthly bag of Doritos, too.

 

 

Give me your address I'll send you a snack pack.

[Walkerfan]

Any nice Walkers?? The catalog isn't online, yet, so now I am getting real curious.

[TomB]

The description is quite creative, but I will be a downer and state that it was not very helpful.

[AnkurJ]

The description is quite creative, but I will be a downer and state that it was not very helpful.

 

"The "grafitti" refrenced almost defies rational description."

 

What else would you want? There are cuts all over the face?

[TomB]

The description is quite creative, but I will be a downer and state that it was not very helpful.

 

"The "grafitti" refrenced almost defies rational description."

 

What else would you want? There are cuts all over the face?

 

I would like some sort of clear description to let me know there are cuts all over the face without my having to labor through something that James thought was clever. The job of an auction cataloguer might be well served to make things entertaining, but it might be better served to allow potential bidders to have a better idea of what the lot looks like.

 

From the description, would you have known if the grafitti was on the obverse? On the reverse? On both sides? In the fields only? Covering the main design elements? Does it include tooling or strengthening of details? What language is it in? Are there numbers? Is it well done? None of this was known until you asked for an image.

 

If the coin has no image then I want a writeup that does not require me to ask for an image.

[MJ]

I think James is thinking up of something clever to retort with

 

MJ

[Walkerfan]

[mkman123]

He is creative with his description but I think a simple: coin has been graffitied but masterfully would suffice

[James_OldeTowne]

Points well taken, guys ! The description was created with, shall we say, heavy creative consultation with the consignor. Left to my own devices, to be honest, I would probably have been somewhat harsher in my assessment of the coin.

 

We could be a "me too" auction house, but I want to add a dimensions or two to our persona, and try to keep "fun" in play. With that in mind, I prefer to work as closely as possible with our consignors in order to allow let some of their personality(s) filter into the auction catalog.

 

I read and take all commentary into consideration, so please don't hold back and let me know how you truly feel about individual lots, the catalog overall, etc.!

 

Edited to add:

 

From the description, would you have known if the grafitti was on the obverse? On the reverse? On both sides? In the fields only? Covering the main design elements? Does it include tooling or strengthening of details? What language is it in? Are there numbers? Is it well done? None of this was known until you asked for an image.

 

If the coin has no image then I want a writeup that does not require me to ask for an image.

Tom, I forgot to mention that ALL (non-group) coins for the auction are indeed imaged. They are just not all printed in the catalog, and are on-line instead. Thanks sincerely for your input.

[HCumberdale]

I have yet to get through the catalog entirely, but I will say that I very much appreciate the "fun" aspect that you mentioned James. I for one think it keeps things engaging and pleasurable.

[johnny9434]

at least the engraving looks neat