Advice on liquidating a collection via an auction house

[traveler]

Hello all,

I've been collecting ancients for about 10 years now but I've tapered off quite a bit over the last two years. It's gotten to the point where I can't remember if I have a coin in my trays(!)

Although I still enjoy collecting, the shipping fees and buyer's fees are really starting to hurt. Also prices seem to have increased quite a bit over the last two years. At this point I'm seriously considering selling my collection via an European auction house.

The collection consists of late Roman solidi and their fractions (Constantine II to Zeno, approximately), denarii struck from the Imperatorial era to the first and second centuries. Also a relatively small number of Greek tetradrachms and staters.

Was wondering what is the general procedure to follow. Can anyone share about

How does one deliver the coins to the auction house?
Is it ok to negotiate about the seller's fee?
Any other things to consider?

Thanks in advance.

[rasiel]

I sold my collection via CNG a couple of years ago and I can sort-of recommend them. On the plus side, with them you're likely to get about as good a return as possible. In fact, I'd say if your prime motivation is to get the most money, and in a relatively short space of time, then it's down to either CNG or Heritage anyway. If you have more patience then you could also include Stack's and Ira Goldberg for US-based firms and maybe consider also the European firms too. NAC sits at the very top and would be a great if you have a fair amount of coins that will reach five figures. Leu, Nomos, Künker, Peus, Gorny & Mosch are just a notch below NAC.

For CNG at least it's quite easy on the up front: as a first step you email them (or call them if you prefer) and go over what type of material you have. If you have pics that greatly helps. They're going to divide your collection into the crap that will sell in lots, the mid-grade that will be listed in their E-sales and your besties which will go to their end-of-year or summer featured sales. On those that are expected to reach five figures you will likely be offered a small percentage above the hammer. If you accept they'll ask you to mail them in (on their dime and insurance) and after a week or two they'll get back to you with an overview of what will be listed where. They're also going to recommend that you let them set the estimates. I would strongly advise you to let them do it. The estimates are a joke anyway. They're meant to entice bids - and it's a well-established practice that yields better results than going with a high reserve. Once they're off in the mail, at that point then it's just a matter of waiting it out til the coins are sold off. You get your check a couple of weeks after each auction close with a detailed writeup for each lot. If there are any fakes or unsolds they'll be sent back to you.

On the down side, expect no more than a basic service. It was, for me at least, a bit unnerving sending off a collection with a value north of 200k in a FedEx mailer. Happily, no issues on that front. I was less than gobsmacked, however, with what I interpreted as a rather impersonal followup. If you consider yourself a "high maintenance" customer, or want more of a white glove service, I would definitely steer towards Heritage (even though I don't know their process). If you don't mind being treated like a number then I'd say this was the biggest gripe I can think of.

And, needless to say, this was my personal and one time experience so use that for whatever it's worth!

For my part, I'm probably going to look first to the higher tier European auction houses when it comes time to sell again. To this end, I'd love to hear accounts from others with selling their coins; the good, the bad and the ugly!

Rasiel

[traveler]

21 minutes ago, rasiel said:

I sold my collection via CNG a couple of years ago and I can sort-of recommend them. On the plus side, with them you're likely to get about as good a return as possible. In fact, I'd say if your prime motivation is to get the most money, and in a relatively short space of time, then it's down to either CNG or Heritage anyway. If you have more patience then you could also include Stack's and Ira Goldberg for US-based firms and maybe consider also the European firms too. NAC sits at the very top and would be a great if you have a fair amount of coins that will reach five figures. Leu, Nomos, Künker, Peus, Gorny & Mosch are just a notch below NAC.

For CNG at least it's quite easy on the up front: as a first step you email them (or call them if you prefer) and go over what type of material you have. If you have pics that greatly helps. They're going to divide your collection into the crap that will sell in lots, the mid-grade that will be listed in their E-sales and your besties which will go to their end-of-year or summer featured sales. On those that are expected to reach five figures you will likely be offered a small percentage above the hammer. If you accept they'll ask you to mail them in (on their dime and insurance) and after a week or two they'll get back to you with an overview of what will be listed where. They're also going to recommend that you let them set the estimates. I would strongly advise you to let them do it. The estimates are a joke anyway. They're meant to entice bids - and it's a well-established practice that yields better results than going with a high reserve. Once they're off in the mail, at that point then it's just a matter of waiting it out til the coins are sold off. You get your check a couple of weeks after each auction close with a detailed writeup for each lot. If there are any fakes or unsolds they'll be sent back to you.

On the down side, expect no more than a basic service. It was, for me at least, a bit unnerving sending off a collection with a value north of 200k in a FedEx mailer. Happily, no issues on that front. I was less than gobsmacked, however, with what I interpreted as a rather impersonal followup. If you consider yourself a "high maintenance" customer, or want more of a white glove service, I would definitely steer towards Heritage (even though I don't know their process). If you don't mind being treated like a number then I'd say this was the biggest gripe I can think of.

And, needless to say, this was my personal and one time experience so use that for whatever it's worth!

For my part, I'm probably going to look first to the higher tier European auction houses when it comes time to sell again. To this end, I'd love to hear accounts from others with selling their coins; the good, the bad and the ugly!

Rasiel

Thanks Rasiel. I was thinking of selling via an European auction house mainly because of the difficulties I've read here about shipping coins into the US.

I do not think NAC will want to bother with my collection. I was seriously considering Kunker because of their customer service. Long ago I bid on a Kunker auction during the pre-bidding phase (before the live bidding), and I thought I might have won a lot or two. I was going on vacation shortly after, so I emailed Kunker to check if I'd won anything, and to ask for their patience if I was late to make payment.

The representative crafted a very polite email to let me know I'd won nothing. This was before I realised how competitive Kunker live bidding was (and still is).

Would be glad to hear any other recommendations.

[rasiel]

Yeah, I'm with you. I can't think of many reasons why you should not go with Kunker. My only concern with them as a possibility would be that their auction schedule is so spread out (they cover a lot of ground in different areas) that you might have to wait a long while before settlement. That and one does not see many under €100 coins there so unless all your coins are top shelf you might have to offload the lower grade ones elsewhere, subtracting a point for convenience maybe.

Keep us posted please!

Rasiel

[shanxi]

It depends on your collection. If your collection is heterogeneous, it can happen that the top auction houses group the simpler pieces into lots, and perhaps only show a picture of the obverses in the catalog. You should therefore clarify beforehand whether e.g. your  second century denarii, will be auctioned as individual lots. If not, it might make sense to sell them at another auction house.  

[SimonW]

2 hours ago, traveler said:

I was seriously considering Kunker because of their customer service.

One thing that would keep me from consigning to Künker is their unfavorable photos. They are good for the buyer (I am always pleasantly surprised when I first see a coin I bought from Künker in hand), but probably not so good for the consignor.

Here's an example:

Künker:
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=13022150

G&M:
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5328349

 

[Factor]

Of European auctions I have only consigned with Nomos. Overall good experience, despite the fact that there were only several coins and none of them was particularly valuable. 

[traveler]

19 hours ago, SimonW said:

One thing that would keep me from consigning to Künker is their unfavorable photos. They are good for the buyer (I am always pleasantly surprised when I first see a coin I bought from Künker in hand), but probably not so good for the consignor.

Here's an example:

Künker:
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=13022150

G&M:
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=5328349

 

The difference between those two images are really stark. Thanks for that. Will have to take it into serious consideration.

Nomos is a good suggestion, thanks Factor. Also only had good experience with them, although I've bought comparatively few coins from Nomos.

My second century denarii form sub-collections in their own right, so I hope there will some interest in them as individual lots.

I gather the seller's fee is not generally negotiable unless the coins in question are five figure coins. I don't believe I have those unfortunately. Unless the price of late Roman gold has really spiked recently. Thanks very much for the feedback and thoughts.