My take on the recent Heritage auction

[MikeKing]

There were several coins I was interested in, but I only bid on two and didn't end up a winner.

I only looked at two areas; colonial coins and Capped Bust Halves (1807-36) and in both, it looked like the good coins brought major money and the not so good ones came in short of.

My focus was pretty narrow so I don't want to make too big of a generalization, but I'll just give some examples:

lot 2014 the ex-Ford 1720-R French Colonies 20 Sols MS62 PCGS which sold only a short time ago, raw, at Stacks, for $350, uncertified, went for $920.00, which just re-inforces my belief that I should attend Stacks auctions of raw copper when they're in NYC and say to hell with buying certified copper (or other metal in colonial coinage).

 

lot 2037 1788 COPPER Vermont Copper, Bust Right AU50 PCGS went for about $1,600, and a far far superior specimen went for similar money in the recent Goldberg auction (which, in retrospect, I should have bid on).

 

The 1783 3PENCE Chalmers Threepence VF20 PCGS went for 11.5 K, and the XF 45 went for $32,200.00.

 

I guess I'll never have one of those.

Ooops...never say never!!!

 

A Long Worm XF 45 went for 6.9K, and the VF 35 didn't sell (it's up for buy it now at the exact same amount as what the XF 45 went for..makes you wonder, but the specimen, looks much nicer).

 

Last but not least, the 1791 1C Washington Large Eagle Cent MS62 Brown PCGS went for 2.9K, a coin I very much wanted, but just too pricey for me at this juncture. Some other time.

 

As for the Busties, I bid ferociously on an 1813 PCGS AU58 that was positively stunning, despite some toning spots I was unsure of, but it was bid a little bit too high for my sense of worth (which may be faulty...I just don't know yet) and sold for $3,000.00 smackeroos without the juice.

 

An NGC specimen, terribly hairlined, AU58 brilliant white specimen went for 1.45K. Money better spent elsewhere.

 

The NGC58 50C over UNI which has jumped around the auction circuit for awhile, went for about 2K.

 

An 1812 50C MS62 NGC, also terribly hairlined, went for a lot more money than what I recently spent on an AU50 example, far nicer in my mind, sans the hairlines. What does that tell you?

 

An 1819/8 50C Large 9 AU55 PCGS. O-102 went for $1,380.00, which is a lot more than I paid for my own NGC58 example, again, sans hairlines and sans the major dip job. So people are paying. What can I say? Hopefully that mentality will still be present the day I need to sell.

 

Of course, the 1827 50C Curl Base 2 MS64 PCGS went for 8 grand, which is why I'm settling for the AU50 I bought raw the other day. Ouch!

 

And finally, the last one on my radar was the 1835 50C MS64 PCGS. Ex: Friend, heavily thumbprinted but seemingly nice toning..I just don't know, not having seen it in person, went for a reasonable $3,220.00, and for that, you also get the 'Friend' pedigree written right there on the holder (and good cause to have your coin immediately re-holdered should you be the lucky winner...if you catch my drift).

 

Well that's it. I came up empty handed. And of course I see that as my good fortune...because now I'll have just that much more cash available should some really nice dealer contact me with some stunning gem they found while shopping at the Bourse.

[WinstonWare]

Nice write-up Mike What auction was that one? The Long Beach online session doesn’t end for another couple of days.

[TomB]

it looked like the good coins brought major money and the not so good ones came in short

That is comforting to read.

[Hoot]

...say to hell with buying certified copper (or other metal in colonial coinage).

 

 

I tracked a few coins and was surprised at each of them for one reason or another. The ones that surprised me the most were a 1793 S-3 chain cent, F12det VG10net (minor porosity) A, that sold for $10,120.00 (that's with juice), a 1796 S-81, VF20det F15 A (minor porosity), that went for a mere 632.50, and a 1799 S-188, VF12 VG8 A (rough), that went for only $6325.00. Each of these were listed as "problem" coins, but in the spectrum of early copper, each were fabulous pieces for the middle grade collector. I'd have bid on the 1796 Lib Cap but forgot to . I believe that these prices are weak and represent some softening of the copper market, which I think has been happening since last fall. Only a minor downturn, mind you.

 

Hoot

[michael]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"it looked like the good coins brought major money and the not so good ones came in short"

 

 

also that long worm for me is the best type coin for a chambers shilling i love these long worm coins and yes both where really nice with ironicially the vf coin nicer but not selling the xf for me brought nutty money but i might look back on this as i have other pricing advance trends and this coin might be the bargain of the century

[123cents]

Good report Mike. I watched the bids on the bust halves live last night. All too expensive for my budget.

[IGWT]

Thanks for sharing your observations, Mike.

[MBA101]

 

As for the Busties, I bid ferociously on an 1813 PCGS AU58 that was positively stunning, despite some toning spots I was unsure of, but it was bid a little bit too high for my sense of worth (which may be faulty...I just don't know yet) and sold for $3,000.00 smackeroos without the juice.

 

An NGC specimen, terribly hairlined, AU58 brilliant white specimen went for 1.45K. Money better spent elsewhere.

 

The NGC58 50C over UNI which has jumped around the auction circuit for awhile, went for about 2K.

 

An 1812 50C MS62 NGC, also terribly hairlined, went for a lot more money than what I recently spent on an AU50 example, far nicer in my mind, sans the hairlines. What does that tell you?

 

An 1819/8 50C Large 9 AU55 PCGS. O-102 went for $1,380.00, which is a lot more than I paid for my own NGC58 example, again, sans hairlines and sans the major dip job. So people are paying. What can I say? Hopefully that mentality will still be present the day I need to sell.

 

Of course, the 1827 50C Curl Base 2 MS64 PCGS went for 8 grand, which is why I'm settling for the AU50 I bought raw the other day. Ouch!

 

And finally, the last one on my radar was the 1835 50C MS64 PCGS. Ex: Friend, heavily thumbprinted but seemingly nice toning..I just don't know, not having seen it in person, went for a reasonable $3,220.00, and for that, you also get the 'Friend' pedigree written right there on the holder (and good cause to have your coin immediately re-holdered should you be the lucky winner...if you catch my drift).

 

Well that's it. I came up empty handed. And of course I see that as my good fortune...because now I'll have just that much more cash available should some really nice dealer contact me with some stunning gem they found while shopping at the Bourse.

 

Must add a little on the 1807 Busties myself. I bid on the NGC XF 40, which was the most original looking of the three, the others being a PCGS VF 35, and an NGC XF 45. I bid $1000 for the 40, and it went for a bid of 1100. I guess someone on the floor was not going to lose that one no matter what I had bid. The PCGS coin went for less (as it should) at an $800 bid, while the 45 went for more at around $1700.

 

Others that I tracked that went for moocho deeneros were as follows:

 

A potentially nice 1811 ANACS! AU-58: 1500

A sharply struck semi-original 1811 PCGS AU-55: 1050

A clearly dipped 1811/10 PCGS AU-55: A whopping $2300

A very original and nice 1812/11 Large 8 PCGS AU-50: went for right at greysheet, $17,500

A decent original 1814 NGC AU-58: $1500

A decent 1817 PCGS AU-50: $750

 

then there is my favorite of all.

An 1828 O-114A (R3) NGC AU-55 that is nice and original, the seller put a $1250 reserve on it and of course, if any of you would like to spend $1434 on a $500 coin, log into Heritage and give it a buy!

 

Still to come is the "less" expensive online session with a plethora of very nice original PCGS Busties!

[EZ_E]

Ok, I'm man enough to admit that I had to look sans up although I properly guessed the meaning via the context.

 

the French word sans, meaning "without".

 

Great report, Mike. I love these types of posts since it keeps the collector in touch with the reality of the current market trends.