It’s important to be in sync with the Proxibid technology to showcase your photos, hone your lot descriptions, and highlight your consignments for top bids on the leading portal! In the latest installment, Proxiblog laments and compliments best and bad auctioneer lot descriptions during the past week. We will name the best, but you will have to search Proxibid for the bad. (Click pictures to expand and view lot descriptions below.)
Booyah Topless Collectible Coins! for noting that this counterfeit coin is a copy without the required markings as mandated by the Hobby Protection Act. To test for base metal, often used in fakes (and probably used in this poor copy), test with a magnet. Silver isn’t magnetic.
Booyah Weaver Auction! for noting scratching and cleaning of a rarer Carson City coin whose flaws are typically obscured when placed in a plastic holder. Hard to get those moves by auctioneer Dave Weaver whose lot descriptions are among the best on the portal.
Boo! Deep Mirror? No way! This unnamed auction house continues to label common cartwheel Morgans as “deep mirror.” For a coin to be deep mirror, it has to reflect accurately 6 or more inches. This won’t even qualify as proof-like. To learn how to test for mirrors, read this article.
Booyah Engstrom Auction! for noting that these Morgan dollars are polished. Some auctioneers unfamiliar with coins would have labeled these “shiny” or even “deep mirror” when they actually only are damaged because of amateur attempts at cleaning.
Booyah Key Date Coins! for noting that the consignor may think this is a DMPL, but auctioneer and numismatist Eddie Caven just doesn’t see it. (Neither do we.) When auctioneers write accurate lot descriptions, as Caven does, accompanied by excellent photographs that capture the true condition of a coin, buyers can bid with confidence. That helps consignors more than allowing their inflated grades.
Booyah Kaufman Auction! for noting cleaning on this Mercury dime. Digital photography often does not pick up cleaning on small coins like dimes. That’s why we need the auctioneer to inspect the coin and depict it as accurately as possible. It’s yet another method to insure return bidders and, in the end, helps consignors once again because buyers trust the house.
One Big Booyah! to Larry Fuller of Silvertowne Auctions, one of the top graders on the portal, who warns bidders that this expensive coin has a slight bend. That decreases the bids by hundreds of dollars. But it increases the chances that buyers will return to this auction because they can trust the lot descriptions.
Viewers can point us to other candidates for our “Boos & Booyahs!” series. Just leave a comment but follow our rules–all in good fun as a way to inspire accurate lot descriptions on Proxibid.
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.
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Far too many auctions yet have poor photography and worse descriptions. I no longer bid on many sites due to this ongoing problem. I always think the coin(s) are less than advertised due to these two issues
I hear you, Dick. I’m doing the same. I’m dropping three auctions that I have patronized heavily for two years for the same reasons. I’m also contemplating dropping others that see maximum bids. No matter how many justifications I see, no matter how much I trust the house, I just cannot bid with confidence.