History Lesson: Concerning Coin Auction

[leeg]

A little bit of history from 1930. This may give some of us pause when we see the current Auction Companies "take/premiums" in a sale.

 

Vice-President Boyer Attends Coin Sale In Paris

 

1804 Napoleon I Gold Coronation Medal PR40 Uncertified. 25mm, 15.0 grams. Gold coronation medal of Napoleon Bonaparte on December 2, 1804. On the obverse, a bust of Napoleon facing left. The reverse depicts the custom of raising the newly crowned emperor on a shield by two men. This piece has file marks on the edge and may be a restrike. Not part of the sale discussing here. Just showing a French coin. Courtesy Heritage Auctions.

 

Yesterday and today there has been in session here in Paris a very important sale of coins and early feudal moneys. The collection was made by a man who spent his lifetime traveling looking for old coins. He sold most of those he found as a livelihood, but retained the finest and best for himself. These are now going under the hammer and will be scattered. The sale is in charge of two Paris expert numismatists, Monsieur Alfred Page and Monsieur L. Ciani.

 

The sale is being held in the Government Auction House. All auctions in France are run by the Government and the Government has a "take" of 19 1/2 per cent. taxe de luxe over what you bid, and the "take" is on the buyer, not the seller. If you bid 100 francs for a coin, your bill is rendered for 119 1/2 francs. In one auction house just outside Paris, where I have bought a lot of things, they even charge you 50 centimes (two cents) a line for "writing" your bill. They call this "Bordereau," and I understand this goes to the State, because the sale record is written up on "stamped paper," the same stuff that started the Revolutionary War in America.

 

At the sale there is a big attendance. Everyone generally marked their catalog. Many, I noticed, marked the opening bid also. The bidding was not fast. Mr. Page and Mr. Ciani had most of the out-of-town bids and secured one-third to one-half the lots. A long row of tables runs down one side of the room. The coins are shown during the sale on trays and passed along and anyone can look. Everyone gets a fair chance to bid and the drop of the gavel is final and means sold. Many women are attending the sale and manyh are securing important lots at high prices. The buyers seem to be mature types and few young fellows were noticed in the crowd.

 

The Paris sales differ from the American sales---

 

First---You can see the coins when bidding.

 

Second---The Government "gets" you for 19 1/2 percent, for wanting to possess rare coins.

 

The sale closes at 6 o'clock April 10, lasting four days.

 

Alden Scott Boyer

First Vice President, A. N. A.

 

Paris, France, April 8, 1930.

 

 

Information above from The Numismatist, June, 1930, p. 383.

 

 

[RWB]

Very interesting, especially the part about the "stamped paper." People today forget that prior to about 1960 nearly every official document in the US (and other countries) required application of revenue stamps. There were special taxes and tax stamps for hundreds of common products as well as surtaxes and luxury taxes.

 

European governments have usually been leaders in intrusive "official" actions and taxes, as well as the clear leader in regressive "Value Added Taxes" on commerce. They also lead in having ways for high income and wealthy individuals to avoid much of their income tax - that allows the burden to fall on middle class and upward mobile persons, which stifles economic innovation and advancement.

 

19.5% -- for nothing!

 

[jpcienkus]

Very interesting article. Thank you for posting it.

[leeg]

Thank you Roger and jpcienkus.

 

(thumbs u