California-based Internet coin auction company, Great Collections, sold over $828,000 in certified coins during August. Great Collections, along with Heritage and Teletrade, compete with auction houses selling coins on the Proxibid portal. On occasion we’ll run releases from these major coin auction houses so that Proxiblog houses know their competition and can keep pace.

Great Collections President Ian Russell subscribes to Proxiblog to canvas the coin-buying houses on the portal and to see how they are faring in the numismatic trade. Proxibid’s Coins and Currency Auctions are doing so well as to attract attention from the major houses that only sell slabbed coins from top companies. That said, some of Proxibid’s major clients–such as Western Auction, Silvertowne, Leonard Auction, Weaver Coin Auction and others–compete because of quality consignments and entrepreneurial spirit.

For the record, Proxiblog buys and sells almost exclusively with Proxibid auctioneers. Russell, who used to be president of Teletrade, is an NAA auctioneer and entrepreneur who established his own company and is securing top consignments. He is a success story, as his most recent press release shared here indicates.

Russell reports that one of the many highlights of the month for his auction house was the Anacapa Collection of U.S. gold coins, which realized $202,178 with a sell-through rate of 96%. This collection included several U.S. rarities, notably the 1866-S Liberty Eagle No Motto NGC AU-55 and 1907 Saint-Gaudens High Relief NGC MS-64.

On August 28th, GreatCollections sold a collection of 20th century gold coins for $66,000. A superb set of Indian Quarter Eagles was assembled over many years by a connoisseur of Quarter Eagles, and it included one of the finest 1911-D examples on the block, depicted in the photo above. Russell says this ranks as one of the highest realizations for an online coin auction during 2011.

“Since our launch earlier this year, we have grown rapidly, increasing both the number of coins we offer and the number of customers we serve,” Russell says. “We attribute this growth to positive word-of-mouth, as more and more collectors and dealers realize that we offer outstanding customer service, a trusted alternative to eBay and other online venues, and absolutely the lowest fees in the industry.”

Buyer’s fees on Great Collections are similar to ones by Western Auction, one of our top-ranked houses. Several of Proxiblog’s top houses offer similarly low consignors fees. The Great Collections fee structure features a buyer’s fee of 10% (minimum $5 per item). Seller’s fee range from 0% to 5%, depending upon the value of the coin.

Proxiblog is an independent entity with no connection to the auction portal Proxibid. Our intent is to uphold basic numismatic standards as established by the American Numismatic Association and the National Auctioneer Association and to ensure a pleasurable bidding experience not only on Proxibid but also on similar portals such as iCollector and AuctionZip.