Attempts to purchase prior auction lots

[World Colonial]

Heritage offers winning bidders the option to sell prior auction lots under their "Make An Offer" feature.

 

Recently, I was able to obtain parts of an old auction catalogue from the auction firm who sold these coins. I requested it for the sales history but when I did, there are some coins I would like to buy. The auction was from 2002, so yes, I know its unlikely I would have been successful but the firm didn't bother to reply to my inquiry. If they had just told me (in so many words), it isn't worth their time, I understand. I have been an occasional buyer but not a substantial one.

 

What I wanted them to do was contact the buyer, ask if they still owned the coins and told them of my interest. I would have been willing to deposit an agreed upon sum (returnable to me) with the auction house so that they could confirm their current condition and pay any incidental expenses. I also would have paid them a commission, whether their standard fee of 17.5% or a negotiated fee.

 

As for the coins, there were several but the one I wanted to buy most Is a 1752 Peru 1/2 real that was described as a high grade AU or MS (probably AU-58 to MS-63). It never occurred to me that this date existed in this condition and I rate the chances as zero that I can find another like it..

 

Anyone else ever tried or thought about it, with a more recent sale anyway?

[wheat'swheats]

I have bought one on the make an offer option and was contacted to sell two of mine on the site.

[World Colonial]

I presume this was on Heritage. If so, have you ever tried or heard of anyone who did so elsewhere?

 

I also once asked Heritage if they would consider facilitating offers on prior lots without the "Make An Offer" option. They said "no" and that was all I was looking for here.

 

 

As an additional side note, I once received an offer through Heritage but never opted into the "Make An Offer" feature. Not sure how it happened.

[jgenn]

I think you have to "opt-out" or all of your Heritage wins (above $500) will be available for others to make an offer (at a default of 30% above your purchase price).

 

I opted-out but subsequently set a few impulse purchases at prices that I would not refuse. Go to your "My Collection" page to set the status on individual items or do a total opt-out.

[wheat'swheats]

Yes my experience was through Heritage. I am not 100% certain but I think that coins of a certain price level automatically go into the make the owner an offer unless you opt out. The reason I say this is that I have never signed up for make an offer but have received offers and noticed that that all my coins of a certain price level are marked make an offer. I have never seen any other auction house use this option. There is one dealer / auction that I know through personal experience will contact an owner of a coin bought from them to advise that they have a collector that would like to purchase their coin. I don't know if they will do that for everyone or just certain clients they do not take part in the sale but will place the two collectors in touch with each other if both are ok with the exchange of the information. It is for that reason I will not divulge the dealer/ auction.

[Matt_dac]

I've inquired about previously sold coins before and I've never received a reply. It's tempting when you see the listing but it seems they are long gone.

[BillJones]

There was an 1838-C half eagle that Heritage auctioned a few years ago that had one of those, "Make an offer to the owner," signs on it. I had been the under bidder on the piece, and had since learned to it is hard to find an example of that issue in decent condition.

 

I contacted Heritage about the piece, and they followed up on it. Despite the offer to negotiate sign, they told me the coin is no longer available. I have not checked to see of that sign is still on that auction lot recently, but it was still there after they told me the coin could not be purchased that way. That auction was held in 2012, and I followed up on it in 2014.

 

I am a Heritage legacy client, and they have been great with me in the past about coin negotiations so I have no reason to think that they were not totally up front with me.

 

[World Colonial]

I primarily mentioned Heritage in my OP to clarify I am aware of their "Make An Offer" feature. I was wondering whether anyone else had been able to acquire a previously sold lot from somewhere else.

 

Sounds like the answer is "no".

 

What I suspect is that, the vast majority of the time, it isn't worth their time. I recall Harvey Stack relaying a story on their old website of how their firm had assisted Josiah Lilly in putting together his world gold collection in the 1950's which they did by contacting dealers all over the world. You know, the one he donated to the Smithsonian that I later read on Barry Stupler's website was worth $300 million maybe 10 years ago.

 

If it were feasible, I would consider asking a dealer to do that for a series such as the Peru and Bolivia pillar minors but even if I were willing to pay completely "stupid money" for the coins (which I am not), I know they wouldn't do it anyway because it still would not adequately compensate them for their time.

 

In this instance, the five or so coins I was interested in would have at most required a few phone calls or emails. They weren't even interested in making that minimal effort, this even though it probably took them at least as much effort to scan the pages from their prior auction catalogue I received by email. Go figure.

 

 

[bstrauss3]

The world of the 50s and the world of today are vastly different.

 

I'm sure that the 1st tier of the program is completely automated. If you click the button:

 

* And they have an email on file for the 'owner', a message is generated, if the owner cares to respond...

* They don't have an email, but the 'owner' has an ha.com account, a message is put in the account, IF the owner logs in, sees it and cares to respond....

* An email is generated to an exception account, IF that person still works for HA and the $ value is big enough and they have contact information ...

 

 

Either way, IF the owner responds, HA will send a few emails, and handle the transaction for their usual fee. IF not, nothing happens.

[World Colonial]

I am not referring to Heritage but other auction firms. I included Heritage in my initial response because I expected all of the replies to include them and if I left them out, any replies would have only mentioned them and no one else. Heritage has been mentioned in most of the replies anyway.

 

Other firms such as the one I have not named don't have this technology, even Stacks who is the second largest. I think Stacks should have it but I wouldn't expect the smaller non-US firms such as this one to have it.

 

I was asking for two reasons:

 

One to get an idea of whether my request was even reasonable since maybe it is not. I think it was even if the firm was not interested and if they are not, all I am asking is for them to tell me "no".

 

Second, to see if anyone else had ever attempted it with someone other than Heritage. One reply indicated they did.

 

Because the coins most collectors buy are not that hard to find, I wouldn't expect hardly anyone to make this attempt. I know the coins I saw are effectively impossible to find elsewhere and when I make this statement, I am not referring to the narrow definitions of scarcity used by almost every single US collector. If I knew or thought I could find these coins elsewhere, I would do so.

 

 

 

[bstrauss3]

You are asking them to act as a market maker and (I hope) willing to pay them for the service.

 

Depending on how well organized they are, they may spend several hours or more facilitating the exchange. And if it doesn't happen, they probably don't get paid.

 

So it has to work out to a decent return on their effort, vs. doing whatever it is that they normally do (soliciting consignments, preparing catalogs, etc.)

[World Colonial]

That is a good way of describing it. Yes, I would consider paying them for it, depending upon what they asked. Never got that far.