Bidders who believe the hype, and there are many, are shortchanged literally and won’t see a return on their investment for several generations. To check the retail price of an NGC or PCGS coin, go to their respective sites and type the certification number.

Click to expand photo for details.

In the above case we went to NGC’s home page, typed in the certification number 1830074-009, and came up with the retail price of $68.40, more than $200 over retail. Add buyer’s premium of 15% plus third-party shipping (which we never recommend), and you have a grossly inflated price.

If you ever see this type of gimmick, as we did with this company, we immediately cross off the house for future bidding. We recommend that you do the same. Either the auctioneer knows nothing about coins and believes the consignor, or knows about coins and allows the hype, which in both cases is bad for bidding.

The way to stop the hype is not to believe it. Unfortunately, there are ignorant bidders with hefty credit cards (we could provide their initials, but won’t) buying all manner of silver and especially gold coins at double or more retail prices.

Smart bidders know Proxiblog is looking out for them. Smarter auctioneers know that trust is the key for return business. See our favorite sellers in the right sidebar.

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.