Tag Archives: Kaufman Realty and Auctions

Western Auction Wins … “Best Consignment”

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Western Auction, operated by Dave Zwonitzer of Cheyenne, Wyoming–yet another top-ranked house through much of 2012 on Proxiblog–has won the category of “Best Consignments,” based not only on the caliber of rarities but also on raw coins that actually grade as described with PCGS.

Competition for best consignments was keen as anticipated, with Western Auction just nudging out Leonard Auction, which offered a rare raw shifted eagle 1901 Morgan dollar, which also made the cut at PCGS.

Other honorable mentions were Capitol Coin Auction, Fox Valley Coins, Kaufman Realty and Auctions, SilverTowne Auction, and Weaver Signature Coin and Currency Auction.

Western Auction also won the category in 2012, tying with James Peterson Auction.

To give you an example of a coin offered raw that holdered as described by PCGS, take a look at this beauty, which rated a coveted MS65 deep mirror prooflike from the toughest grading company on the planet.

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Here are other coins from that same auction in September:

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You just don’t see coins like this being regularly offered by auction houses, including many of our top-ranked ones. We should mention that excluded from consideration were high-dollar rarity auctions with near retail or above retail opening bids. Also, several coin auctions had superior lots but also allowed maximum-bid and ghost-bidding. No auction house permitting those latter questionable practices qualified for any of our awards.

Of all the coin auctions on Proxibid, in our nearly three-year bidding experience, none more than Western actually crossed over without dipping, alteration, cleaning or other flaws. Western, like Leonard Auction, schedules regular consignment and appraisal sessions with the local community, a surefire way to attract hitherto unseen estate collections.

And cherry coins can be had regularly in our Honorable Mention houses: Capitol Coin Auction (look for Morgans here), Fox Valley Coins (incredibly large selections across denominations), Kaufman Realty and Auctions (offering more NGC and PCGS coins), SilverTowne Auction (one of the best sites for rarities and hard to find coins such as California Fractional Gold), and Weaver Signature Coin and Currency Auction (for seldom-seen rarities such as PCGS Regency-Holdered coins).

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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More Viewers, New Rankings

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As Proxiblog grew yet again to 18,000+ views since inception, and more than 4,000 in the past three months, competition in the Coin and Currency page of Proxibid has heated up significantly with top houses improving photography, lowering buyer’s fees and securing top consignments.

As far as audience goes, most views came from the United States followed by Canada, India, United Kingdom and the Philippines, with viewers from 60 other countries logging in at one time or another in the second quarter of 2012.

The five-part series on Proxibid vs. eBay by far was the most viewed item on the site followed by our Articles and Boos and Booyahs pages.

Moreover, several auction companies have donated $1000 for scholarships for the next generation of bidders, including Auctions Unlimited, ClickCoins, Coin Update, Engstrom Auction, GreatCollections, Kaufman Realty and Auctions, James Peterson Company, Key Date Coins, Krause Auctioneering, Leonard Auction, Matthew Bullock Auctioneers, Scott Auctions, Weaver Signature Coin and Currency Auction, and Western Auction.

Those and other houses are featured on our popular “On the Block” page.

Several of those houses also vied for top spots on our rankings. We judge companies by sharp and expandable photos, quick and inexpensive shipping, accurate lot descriptions, reasonable buyers’ fees, customer service and quality consignments.

Competition has never been keener. Silvertowne Auctions, which recently instituted timed auctions to accompany its several live sessions per month, held on to first-place status, but just barely, with five other auction houses only one point behind, essentially tied in second-place.

Rising toward the top was Southwest Bullion with its zero percent buyers’ fee, good photos, flat-rate quick shipping and numismatically savvy lot descriptions.

Consistently excellent sessions with choice consignments were held by innovative houses Weaver, Western and Key Date Coins. New to the top 10 is Capitol Coin Auctions, which lowered buyers’ fees and features some of the top consignments on the portal with numismatic lot descriptions, superior photography (among the best on the portal) and excellent service.

Leonard Auction shares many of the same attributes as Capitol. Six of the top 10 companies are run by auctioneers, and four by coin dealers.

Although several new houses are coming online in the Coins and Currency pages, including ones with 10% or lower buyers’ fees and flat-rate shipping, the rest of our top 20 have been competing now for months, with Honor Roll standards and cherry consignments. Fox Valley Coins makes its first appearance on our top rankings list.

Finally, you’ll note on top of the sidebar rankings an important observation concerning our criteria. Auction houses in our top 20 do not see maximum bids or allow ghost-bidding by auctioneers or employees. All rankings are based on Proxiblog buying experience to establish informed opinion. While other bidders’ experience may differ from ours or our mini-reviews, and while all such reviews are in part subjective, we wanted our bidders to know that we are ranking companies based on actual buying on the portal.

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.