Tag Archives: Liberty Shops Auction

Boos & Booyahs: Best & Bad Auctioneer Lot Descriptions

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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.)

defects

One Big Booyah! to SilverTowne’s Dave Nauert for identifying flaws in this otherwise attractive coin.

hardly

Boo! to this unnamed auction house maintaining this bagmarked slider is a super gem. If you don’t know how to grade, don’t hype.

fakegold

One Big Boo and then Booyah! (or several) to this auction house that featured a fake California gold piece and then retracted it when informed. Watch for a post on this soon.

hype

Boo! to this unnamed auction house for hyping ridiculously high this common silver lot worth $28-30 and not thousands.

investment

Boo! to this auction house that has the nerve to label what may be the ugliest flawed silver melt dollar “an investment.” The $19.95 shipping rate is about the worth of this coin.

nomintmarkmentioned

Boo! to this auction company that doesn’t know where to look for the mint mark. Bidders can rob consignors blind when this happens, and it happens too often.

onesidephoto

Boo! to this long-time Proxibid auction house that refuses to show both sides of a coin. Would you buy a car, or any item, if you saw only half of it?

polished

Booyah Traders Cottage! for noting this Peace dollar is polished. Always note flaws, and gain trust with bidders.

cleaned

Booyah Jewelry Exchange! for noting this coin has been cleaned, often hard to cipher from online photos.

varieties

Booyah Liberty Shops Auction! for taking the time to note varieties on coins, which add to value.

values_NGC

Booyah Southwest Bullion and Coin! for taking the time to note values on lots, using the right price guide for the coin in question.

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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Capitol Coin Auction tops list!

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Competition among top coin-selling houses on Proxibid has become even keener, with only fractions separating one favorite company from another. Only one scored a full 25 points in all categories: quality consignments, detailed descriptions, quick and inexpensive shipping, superior photography, expert grading, reasonable buyer’s premium and other value-added considerations. Not only is competition growing, our audience is too, surpassing 1,600 views for the first 28 days in April.

Capitol Coin Auction continues to feature some of the best numismatic estate auctions on the portal. Every few months it schedules an auction with key date coinage and holdered rarities. Moreover, as we noted in this recent post, Brad Lisembee ranks among the best graders in the business along with John Leonard of Leonard Auction.

Also high on the numismatic grading list are Dave Nauert of SilverTowne Auction, Justin Quinn of Southwest Bullion and Coin, Dave Weaver of Weaver Signature Coin and Currency Auction, and Sean Cook of Liberty Shops Auctions.

These were ranked ever so close behind Capitol at 24.5 each out of 25, along with Western Auction (one of our personal favorites) and Fox Valley Coins.

Returning to the portal is Kaufman Realty and Auctions, with strong consignments, numismatic lot descriptions and good photography. If it shipped more quickly, it would challenge other top houses in our rankings.

Darron Meares, one of our favorite auctioneers, elevated his company to the top rankings, too, with great consignments and much improved photography. Engstrom Auction continues to improve with better consignments. Its photography has been good, and its customer service is fine, too.

Essentially, you should have an exciting time in the spirit of traditional auctioneering bidding in any auction by these top-houses.

Rolling M Auctions is one of our favorite houses. Mark Murphy is going a fantasic job for Rolling M. with great consignments and fine pre-auction advertising. We think he can still do better with sharper photography that captures luster and provides an onsite view for the Internet crowd.

Key Date Coin continues to showcase the best photography and auctions always worth a look. We advocate for better consignments as Eddie Caven knows how to feature premium lots. Star Coin and Currency continues to impress with improving consignments, neat photos and numismatic lot descriptions.

New on the list this month are Atlantic Auction Company and Cannon Auction whose Honor Roll features include 15% buyer’s fee, good photography and numismatic lot descriptions.

Online buyers expect:

  • Rapid shipping with professional packing.
  • Sharp, expandable photos of both sides of a coin.
  • Accurate lot descriptions.

That said, our rankings are reviews of favorite houses based on our buying and/or selling experience and numismatic expertise. Your experience with our top houses may differ from ours. Our intent is to educate and praise whenever possible–to our own buying detriment, at times! We have seen when we showcase an auction house how bidding becomes more intense, often edging out our own bids.

Perhaps this is due to the rise in our viewership. As the screen shot below shows, more than 1600 page views were logged in the first few weeks of April alone.
30dayview

The favorite and most accessed page? “Boos and Booyahs.” The all-time most favorite post? “California Gold: Real, Replica and Fake,” which gets on average 100+ views per month from all over the world, indicating once again that auctioneers need to take care before they label those tiny yellow tokens “gold.”

Also becoming more popular are our “Find the Flaw!” features, designed to improve grading skills.

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.

1901 VAM 3 Shifted Eagle Was Correct Answer!

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1901shifted

We thought no viewer emailed Liberty Shops Auction with the correct answer in our “Win a Silver Eagle” game, but we have a winner, after all–Charles Lang–whose email with the correct time stamp went into the wrong folder. That’s technology for you! Congratulations to Charles, who works at Southwest Bullion and Coin and is a regular viewer of Proxiblog.

    Question: Study the device depicted in this partial photo of a coin won in a Proxibid auction and inform Sean via this email the exact date and VAM designation of the coin. You can use Vamworld as a reference … unless you know the diagnostics by sight (and you should).

    silvereaglecoinquestion

The coin was won with a $240 bid in an August 17, 2012 Leonard Auction session on Proxibid. It slabbed at PCGS at XF40, worth $1600.

This is the type of bargain you can score on Proxibid coin auctions if you know numismatics. We hope Proxiblog is helping in that effort!

Proxiblog thanks Sean Cook and Liberty Shops Auctions for sponsoring this week’s Proxiblog and for donating to our scholarship fund. While we welcome donations from our audience, Proxiblog invites high quality houses for sponsorship because we want to promote the best on Proxibid to our viewers.

Win a Silver Eagle from our Sponsor!

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Liberty Shops Auctions

Welcome to Liberty Trading Post!

Liberty Shops Auctions, also doing business as Liberty Trading Post, continues to set standards on Proxibid, the latest being the top seller! A newer top-ranked house on Proxiblog, auctioneer Sean Cook has helped his company win Honorable Mentions in our annual awards program for the best timed auction, the best value added, the best descriptions and the most improved.


Sean continues to innovate, with his latest being a focus on bidder confidence. He encourages bidders to know more about numismatics because he has seen too many purchasing altered, counterfeit and hyped coins on the portal. He also wants viewers to know more about numismatics. So he has issued a challenge with this sponsorship:

The first person registered on one of his coin auctions (for verification purposes only, as you don’t have to bid to win)–and to email him the correct answer to the question below–will receive an American Silver Eagle worth $36 retail.

    Question: Study the device depicted in this partial photo of a coin won in a Proxibid auction and inform Sean via this email the exact date and VAM designation of the coin. You can use Vamworld as a reference … unless you know the diagnostics by sight (and you should).

    silvereaglecoinquestion

Proxiblog will reveal the date and VAM designation on Monday.

We also hope that you will visit Proxibid’s top seller, Liberty Shops Auction, which includes inexpensive shipping and ZERO buyer’s premium. A few other coin auctions have offered low or zero buyer’s fees, which we applaud! Liberty Shops Auction adds value to that with customer service, grading expertise and numismatic descriptions accompanied by expandable visuals so that bidders know what they are getting in word and photo.

Sean Cook also communicates quickly with bidders and focuses on customer service to get return bidders. His company’s values include warm, pleasant and friendly interaction.

If you are interested in bidding in or consigning to his auctions, or in visiting his online store, feel free to contact him at:

Email: libertyshops@hotmail.com
Web: http://www.libertytrading.net/

Sean Cook
Liberty Shops Auction Service
Vandalia, Illinois
618-283-9244 or 618-283-9156

Proxiblog thanks Sean Cook and Liberty Shops Auctions for sponsoring this week’s Proxiblog and for donating to our scholarship fund. While we welcome donations from our audience, Proxiblog invites high quality houses for sponsorship because we want to promote the best on Proxibid to our viewers.

Godless Exile is 1860 Half Dime

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halfdime

The answer to last week’s Silver Eagle Giveaway was the Seated Liberty Half Dime, 1860 TRANSITION J-267.

Last week Liberty Shops Auctions sponsored an Eagle giveaway for the first person to familiarize himself with the background of a coin and then answer this question below:

Background: In 2007, the public’s ire arose at the suggestion that the US Mint was producing a “Godless Dollar.” Click here to read a CBS News story about that. The public outcry was so intense that the Congress passed a bill mandating that “In God We Trust” no longer appear on edge lettering but on the face of the coin, which the government began minting in that manner in 2009. Turns out that as many as 50,000 2007 Washington Presidential dollars, out of a mintage of more than 300 million, lacked edge lettering that stated “In God We Trust,” a motto appearing on US circulating coinage since the two-cent 1864 coin. But around this date the United States considered a transitional pattern coin that not only preceded and therefore lacked the motto, but also lacked the name of the country.

godless

Question: What transitional pattern coin, which hobbyists still collect as part of a series, not only lacks “In God We Trust” but also “The United States of America,” making it a Godless Exile coin?

While there are many transitional patterns, and a few without the legend, the key to correctly answering this question was in the phrase: “which hobbyists still collect as part of a series.”

NGC writes about this coin: “This is a popular pattern issue that is collected by many Seated Liberty aficionados alongside the regular-issue series. The usual mintage given is 100 pieces.”

For the full commentary, click here.

There was no winner of the Silver Eagle, although D****7 came close, writing: “”Thanks to Sean and Michael for these contests. I always learn so much. Really had to wrack brain on this one, but I believe it was the 1856 Flying Eagle transitional pattern coin. It transitioned between the large cent an the small cent. It had the Flying Eagle on the obverse, but has no date, no motto and no ‘ United States of America’ minted on it. Really enjoy seeing Proxiblog in my mailbox, always a good read. And thanks Sean for making Silver buying reasonable again, with quality and low premiums.”

Sean Cook decided to give this viewer an Eagle for coming so close. The difference was, the half-dime is typically collected as part of the series.

This was an important coin because an example was seen last year in a Proxibid auction. If you are an auctioneer, or a sharp-eyed bidder, you might want to keep on the lookout for sleeper coins. See this article for more information.

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.

Weaver Coin and Currency Regains Top Slot

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Weaver Signature Coin and Currency Auction, a long-time top-spot holder in our rankings, has reascended to that position based on sharp photos, rare consignments, quick shipping, numismatic lot descriptions and value-added customer service.


We especially value the customer service of Dave and Cheryl Weaver, consummate professionals.

However, competition is keen with our favorite sellers that we find very little difference in the top 10 and routinely bid in their auctions. One might have a slightly better consignment. One may have a special. Another may offer a new service or additional timed auction.

We always eagerly go through catalogs of Western Auction, Leonard Auction, Capital Coin Auction, SilverTowne, and Rolling M. Auctions, primarily because we can find rarities and sleepers (especially the latter). Sleepers are coins that have low mintage. Photography on Western, Leonard and Capital Coin is exquisite, and so we can grade raw coins accurately. When it comes to Leonard or Capitol, we rely on numismatic descriptions, which sometimes are sharper than our own.

Key Date Coins continues to showcase the best photography. We love Eddie Caven’s auctions and admire him immensely; but we hope more consignors will send him premium lots. If you’re looking for Carson City dollars, this is the place, as Eddie always has a few MS63-64 lots in each of his regular sessions.

We’re happy to see Southwest Bullion and Coin back in our listings. Justin Quinn has been enhancing his numismatic descriptions, offering zero buyer’s premiums, and shipping quickly and inexpensively.

Star Coin and Currency continues to improve. Jim Haver’s customer service is among the best on the portal.

We congratulate Liberty Shops Auctions for the volume it is doing on Proxibid, qualifying still as the top coin category seller.

Each month these rankings get harder to do because auctioneers continue to improve. However, some houses are not included–even ones with low premiums and nice items–because they see maximum bids, allow shill bidding, have poor photography (unable to discern grade or luster of coin), continue to offer dipped and/or self-slabbed coins without identifying them as such, or lack APN clearance.

We emphasize that content on Proxiblog is educational. We are not an open-source blog or complaint board, which is why we do not even identify auction houses in our “Boo” section of “Boos and Booyahs.” Also, we emphasize, that our rankings are based on our own experience with an auction house. Consider these are our favorite sellers. Your experience might differ from ours.

As for Proxiblog, we now have surpassed 32,000 all-time views and average 650 unique visitors each month–about the size of a mega auction session. Our most popular post continues to be California Gold, real, replica and fake, which averages 60+ views per week (indicating the concern over counterfeits).

Finally, we invite auction houses to sponsor our blog and contribute to our scholarship fund. We continue to publish Proxiblog for free, without subscription. We have more than 400 posts about coins in our archive and over 1000 numismatic photos. Several auction houses have been especially generous this month and we thank those companies on behalf of journalism students at Iowa State University of Science and Technology.

Proxiblog is sponsored by

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Liberty Shops Auctions

Welcome to Liberty Trading Post!

Liberty Shops Auctions, also doing business as Liberty Trading Post, continues to set standards on Proxibid, the latest being the top seller! A newer top-ranked house on Proxiblog, auctioneer Sean Cook has helped his company win Honorable Mentions in our annual awards program for the best timed auction, the best value added, the best descriptions and the most improved.


Sean continues to innovate, with his latest being a focus on bidder confidence. He encourages bidders to know more about numismatics because he has seen too many purchasing altered, counterfeit and hyped coins on the portal. So he has issued a challenge with this sponsorship:

The first person registered on one of his coin auctions (for verification purposes only, as you don’t have to bid to win)–and to email him the correct answer to the question below–will receive an American Silver Eagle worth $38 retail.

    Background: In 2007, the public’s ire arose at the suggestion that the US Mint was producing a “Godless Dollar.” Click here to read a CBS News story about that. The public outcry was so intense that the Congress passed a bill mandating that “In God We Trust” no longer appear on edge lettering but on the face of the coin, which the government began minting in that manner in 2009. Turns out that as many as 50,000 2007 Washington Presidential dollars, out of a mintage of more than 300 million, lacked edge lettering that stated “In God We Trust,” a motto appearing on US circulating coinage since the two-cent 1864 coin. But around this date the United States considered a transitional pattern coin that not only preceded and therefore lacked the motto, but also lacked the name of the country.

    godless

    Question: What transitional pattern coin, which hobbyists still collect as part of a series, not only lacks “In God We Trust” but also “The United States of America,” making it a Godless Exile coin?

Proxiblog will reveal the problem on Monday.

We also hope that you will visit Proxibid’s top seller, Liberty Shops Auction, which includes inexpensive shipping and ZERO buyer’s premium. Sean Cook communicates quickly with bidders and focuses on customer service to get return bidders. His company’s values include warm, pleasant and friendly interaction.

If you are interested in bidding in or consigning to his auctions, or in visiting his online store, feel free to contact him at:

Email: libertyshops@hotmail.com
Web: http://www.libertytrading.net/

Sean Cook
Liberty Shops Auction Service
Vandalia, Illinois
618-283-9244 or 618-283-9156

Proxiblog thanks Sean Cook and Liberty Shops Auctions for sponsoring this week’s Proxiblog and for donating to our scholarship fund. While we welcome donations from our audience, Proxiblog invites high quality houses for sponsorship because we want to promote the best on Proxibid to our viewers.

Free Collector Giveaway Tomorrow!

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checkback

Do you know a youth, teen or student who’d like to collect coins and currency? Check back tomorrow to see how you can win a collector kit–coins, folders, and more!–to get him or her started in the hobby!


Sean Cook, auctioneer at Liberty Shops Auctions, says his sponsorship of a free Silver Eagle giveaway drew lots of positive responses. “I am thrilled at how many we received,” Sean says.

He also issued a challenge: “I am always looking to introduce coin collecting to the younger generation especially college students. I would like to do something on a regular basis in an effort to make more people interested in numismatics. I would like to have a student giveaway once a month.”

You don’t have to be a student to enter; but you do have to know one you’d like to introduce to coin and currency collecting. You also need to register via Proxibid in one of Liberty Shops Auctions’ sessions. (You don’t have to bid to enter the contest!)

The winner will receive a group of coins, a grading book, a value guide, and some collecting folders. “The value wouldn’t be huge,” Sean says, “but it would be enough to get someone interested and introduced to the hobby.”

Proxiblog also enthusiastically supports youth numismatics. Check back here tomorrow for rules and win a kit for a kid!

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.

Silver Eagle Won Within Hours

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1879CC_TradeDollar

An astute viewer took up our and Auctioneer Sean Cook’s challenge of identifying the primary flaw of the above picture, an 1879-CC Trade Dollar, a counterfeit coin in as much as the last circulating Carson City trade dollar was minted in 1878.

Trade dollars were minted for export as the US Government needed a large silver coin to compete with the Mexican 8 Reales. Trade dollars weighed 420 grains, a little heavier than the Morgan dollar.

Business strike trade dollars were minted from 1873-78. They have the distinction of being a popular counterfeit coin, flooding the US market from China. Other coins often counterfeited are quarter eagle and $3 gold pieces. These typically come from the Middle East and were sold to tourists there during the 1960s. California fractional gold made of brass or gold plate ranks as one of the most abundant fake coins because they have been manufactured in the US continuously from the 1880s to this day.

Within a few hours of our post, a Proxibidder (D****7), who registered on Liberty Shops Auctions, wrote:

“Love your auctions, zero buyers premium and lots of value in the coins. I believe that the trade dollar is a fake. It looks like a business strike but, they only made proof trade dollars in 1879. That coin does not have proof like surfaces. So either it was heavily dipped to remove proof surfaces or it is a fake. Either way it is not worth much more than any silver content. Thanks for the contest.”

When informed that he was the winner, as the last Carson City trade dollar was minted in 1878, D****7 added, “Thank you Sean and Michael. Almost all of what I learned about examining and grading coins at auction, I learned from Proxiblog. Hope that both of you keep up the great work.”

We are so grateful to Sean Cook and Liberty Shops Auction for sponsoring this Silver Eagle giveaway to promote grading and coin-buying skills. If you are an auctioneer and would like to arrange a free-giveaway sponsorship, please write to Proxiblog at this address.

Congratulations to D++++7 and to all who sent in answers to Sean Cook. Watch for more such sponsorships from Liberty Shops Auction!

Rolling M Auction Wins … “Most Improved”

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1A_Most Improved

Rolling M Auction, an Ohio house, has been named “most improved” on Proxiblog, with owner Mark Murphy securing ever stronger consignments and improving photos and descriptions (with a little more to go on both).

Rolling M Auction won the award over four close Honorable Mentions, named later in this post.

Rolling M was an honorable mention in this category in 2012, as was Meares Auction Group.

Last year’s winner was Key Date Coins and owner Eddie Caven whose house continues to make strides in part, as Eddie mentioned last year, due to the recognition of Proxiblog. Watch for more on Key Date in upcoming awards.

Mark Murphy improved photography in the past year. This 1923 Peace Dollar was photographed in his Jan. 1, 2012 auction (click to expand):

1923_2011

Compare it to this year’s 1923 Peace Dollar up for bid on Jan. 1, 2013:

1923

The MS66 NGC grade is an indicator of the kinds of consignments Rolling M is offering.

Rolling M marketing efforts are superlative, including brochures mailed to previous bidders in addition to email blasts and other advertising. In this respect, his consignors must be truly happy with his promotions as they bring in both onsite and online bidders.

However, if Mark Murphy is to follow the same trajectory as Eddie Caven, he needs to continue improving photography (he’s having trouble capturing luster and details like VAM-like varieties) and should spend more time identifying flaws in coins in his descriptions (he catches what he can but misses some, too). With more effort in both categories, Rolling M would be in contention next year for an overall top coin auction on Proxibid.

We applaud Mark Murphy in winning this award. As mentioned previously, he had stiff competition from our Honorable Mention houses in this category, which include Back to the Past Collectibles, Engstrom Auctions, Liberty Shops Auction and Meares Auction Group–all with zero to low buyer’s premiums and excellent customer service.

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.