Tweet
Last time I was complaining about buying comic books at auctions.
This time I am rejoicing over how much fun and pure coin auctions are. All collectors/dealers, so no one accusing me of trying to "Steal from little old ladies"
. There are nothing but coins from sea to shining sea, coins, coins, and more coins. 
This was their smaller spring auction, their winter one is much much bigger.
I did really well too. I like the odd, ancient, and foreign coins.
Am I intimidating you yet?
I saw a beautiful silver coin that was from 781-792 AD, Tabaristan. 1200 year old coin, still looks rather good. So I looked up the basic information on my phone.
Auctioneer: I don't even know how to pronounce this one.
Me: *said in a board/informational tone* Tabaristan (Tab-are-i-stan), just south of the Caspian Sea in the Northern part of modern Iran.
Everyone: *turns and looks at me*
I won the coin $65.
I think I succeeded in intimidating other buyers. Made me look smarter than I is
. Confused the competition. I love that look people give me when I "help" the auctioneer. 
disclaimer: all my "help" is truthful, the goal is to intimidate others with the power of my mind. Goal is to give just enough to look smart, but not so much as to arouse interest in the piece (which drives up the price).
I even got complemented on that win by one of the other bidders.
Tiny Indian Fanam Gold
I won one tiny 1850's era gold piece from India for $40. The world smallest Gold coin. Still looks beautiful, but is so tiny. One to one and a half grams at most. Sure its gold, but how do people not lose the thing is amazing.
Look at it that is just so cute and tiny.
Rare Nazi 5-Mark coin
90% silver, 1936a coin. It was in very nice condition. I got it for only $47.50, about average price online.
Background, because of the "ritual cleansing" to purify the land and its people of their sins, anything that had the swastika on it was destroyed. So this is a very uncommon find. Not a good 'display' piece but still good to keep around, so that we never forget the loss of my people (Jewish).
(that ritual cleansing line was not a joke, it was not until the 1990s that the Lord's punishment was finished. But it is still to keep a few so that we may never forget.)
Error Coins
I love these. I got 3 more now. 60% off-center penny, 50% off-center dime. My favorite though a 2000-D Maryland Quarter that was missing its Clad layer on the front (showing its copper colored body). I paid $72.50 for that one. It was even slabbed by PCGS graded at AU58. That was a good deal, some go for around $100 or more.
Foreign coins
I bought 2 bags of random foreign coins for $30. I like the exotic nature of them, fun to collect.
British coins are fascinating. You can see how Her Royal Majesty has aged over the years. The Pound is a nice thick coin with words engraved on the outer-rim. Also, you win the Silliest coin award for the 3-pence coin (from 1955. Why would you make that coin???).
Australia you confuse me to no end. You put numbers on the coin, but no cent/dollars. Is this rather large coin $20 or 20c? I don't know, let me look it up......
I have Earl Grey tea on the stove, help yourself.
OK, your 20 CENT coins are still ridiculously over-sized at 28.52 mm (1.122 inches), but the Platypus might attack me if I say anything so please do not sic your monsters on me. Otherwise, I love the designs on your coins, both cute and terrifying. (So the British 3 cent coin beats it, but only because of the awesome power of the Platypus 
)
Asian and Middle-eastern coins........ I can't even tell where you guys are from. They are wonderfully designed but I can't even read the numbers. Even if I could read the middle-eastern coins, I would need to look up the dates because some use the Islamic calendar. Asian, I can only read to the number 7 in Japaneses, That is because of Bleach.
Mexican pesos, could you guys come up here to the State to design coins? seriously, they are the best. The Mayan/Aztec design on your 1980s era $20 peso is just fabulous. I also like the inner and outer design on the $1 and $2 pesos, ('yellow-copper' inner piece and 'silver-nickle' outer piece). I feel bad that they are so beautiful but not worth much.
They really do not like Credit Cards
They will charge 5% for a CC. I spent $500 that would have been $25 extra. Fortunately, I use cash-only now to help me budget things better, so I did not have to pay that. (I saved up for months, just for this one event)
They will take checks, even out-of-state checks are more acceptable than a CC. (they make you provide ID before you can get a bidding number.) I understand why, I was one of the smaller buyers, I ONLY spent $500. One Carson City Morgan Silver dollar went for $1900. No, I did not forget the decimal place Nineteen-Hundred dollars and another (Carson City again, not surprised) went for $1000.
So I can understand why they do not want to mess with the legal hassles of CCs. The fact CC companies charge for their services because "we are in a low volume area" does not help matters.
side-line: Morgan Silver dollars are big in the collectors world. "Normal" ones go between $50-$200, rare dates go from $150-$400. ANYTHING with Carson City goes for insane prices, even the cheapest low grade ones can break $500 without a sweat. If they are nice and a rare date, you better have a few thousand to spend. This auction, as with most coin auctions, about 1/3 were dedicated to Morgans. I left just after they started on the Morgans, I am not much of a fan (dear God NOOOOOO, I am becoming a coin collecting hipster
)
Overall, I had a great time. Hung out with othercrazy collectors like me and generally had an interesting time.
This time I am rejoicing over how much fun and pure coin auctions are. All collectors/dealers, so no one accusing me of trying to "Steal from little old ladies"
. There are nothing but coins from sea to shining sea, coins, coins, and more coins. This was their smaller spring auction, their winter one is much much bigger.I did really well too. I like the odd, ancient, and foreign coins.
Am I intimidating you yet?
I saw a beautiful silver coin that was from 781-792 AD, Tabaristan. 1200 year old coin, still looks rather good. So I looked up the basic information on my phone.
Auctioneer: I don't even know how to pronounce this one.
Me: *said in a board/informational tone* Tabaristan (Tab-are-i-stan), just south of the Caspian Sea in the Northern part of modern Iran.
Everyone: *turns and looks at me*
I won the coin $65.
I think I succeeded in intimidating other buyers. Made me look smarter than I is
. Confused the competition. I love that look people give me when I "help" the auctioneer. disclaimer: all my "help" is truthful, the goal is to intimidate others with the power of my mind. Goal is to give just enough to look smart, but not so much as to arouse interest in the piece (which drives up the price).I even got complemented on that win by one of the other bidders.
Tiny Indian Fanam Gold
I won one tiny 1850's era gold piece from India for $40. The world smallest Gold coin. Still looks beautiful, but is so tiny. One to one and a half grams at most. Sure its gold, but how do people not lose the thing is amazing.
Look at it that is just so cute and tiny.
Rare Nazi 5-Mark coin
90% silver, 1936a coin. It was in very nice condition. I got it for only $47.50, about average price online.
Background, because of the "ritual cleansing" to purify the land and its people of their sins, anything that had the swastika on it was destroyed. So this is a very uncommon find. Not a good 'display' piece but still good to keep around, so that we never forget the loss of my people (Jewish).
(that ritual cleansing line was not a joke, it was not until the 1990s that the Lord's punishment was finished. But it is still to keep a few so that we may never forget.)
Error Coins
I love these. I got 3 more now. 60% off-center penny, 50% off-center dime. My favorite though a 2000-D Maryland Quarter that was missing its Clad layer on the front (showing its copper colored body). I paid $72.50 for that one. It was even slabbed by PCGS graded at AU58. That was a good deal, some go for around $100 or more.
Foreign coins
I bought 2 bags of random foreign coins for $30. I like the exotic nature of them, fun to collect.
British coins are fascinating. You can see how Her Royal Majesty has aged over the years. The Pound is a nice thick coin with words engraved on the outer-rim. Also, you win the Silliest coin award for the 3-pence coin (from 1955. Why would you make that coin???).
Australia you confuse me to no end. You put numbers on the coin, but no cent/dollars. Is this rather large coin $20 or 20c? I don't know, let me look it up......
I have Earl Grey tea on the stove, help yourself.
OK, your 20 CENT coins are still ridiculously over-sized at 28.52 mm (1.122 inches), but the Platypus might attack me if I say anything so please do not sic your monsters on me.
Otherwise, I love the designs on your coins, both cute and terrifying. (So the British 3 cent coin beats it, but only because of the awesome power of the Platypus )Asian and Middle-eastern coins........ I can't even tell where you guys are from. They are wonderfully designed but I can't even read the numbers. Even if I could read the middle-eastern coins, I would need to look up the dates because some use the Islamic calendar. Asian, I can only read to the number 7 in Japaneses, That is because of Bleach.
Mexican pesos, could you guys come up here to the State to design coins? seriously, they are the best. The Mayan/Aztec design on your 1980s era $20 peso is just fabulous. I also like the inner and outer design on the $1 and $2 pesos, ('yellow-copper' inner piece and 'silver-nickle' outer piece). I feel bad that they are so beautiful but not worth much.
They really do not like Credit Cards
They will charge 5% for a CC. I spent $500 that would have been $25 extra. Fortunately, I use cash-only now to help me budget things better, so I did not have to pay that. (I saved up for months, just for this one event)
They will take checks, even out-of-state checks are more acceptable than a CC. (they make you provide ID before you can get a bidding number.) I understand why, I was one of the smaller buyers, I ONLY spent $500. One Carson City Morgan Silver dollar went for $1900. No, I did not forget the decimal place Nineteen-Hundred dollars and another (Carson City again, not surprised) went for $1000.
So I can understand why they do not want to mess with the legal hassles of CCs. The fact CC companies charge for their services because "we are in a low volume area" does not help matters.
side-line: Morgan Silver dollars are big in the collectors world. "Normal" ones go between $50-$200, rare dates go from $150-$400. ANYTHING with Carson City goes for insane prices, even the cheapest low grade ones can break $500 without a sweat. If they are nice and a rare date, you better have a few thousand to spend. This auction, as with most coin auctions, about 1/3 were dedicated to Morgans. I left just after they started on the Morgans, I am not much of a fan (dear God NOOOOOO, I am becoming a coin collecting hipster
)Overall, I had a great time. Hung out with other
Comment