Ah, Heavy Eyes Lost Me My Coin at Noonan's Today

[VickySilver 775]

Well no secret I live in the US and so 10 AM London auctions mean 5 AM start time here on the East Coast. So I got myself up in time and had a target of the 1904 Halfcrown and to "spy" on results on a few others (the 1839 currency and proof halfcrowns) that I already have but curious as to how they might do

So the auction was going on possibly a bit slow & grabbed 1/2 hour more quick sleep, checked the auction progress and saw I could grab another 1/2 hour - which I did. Unfortunately, I slept on through to Lot 326 (non-consequential). Damn! Missed the '04 which looked good from the pictures!

Don't know if anybody got that one (closed at 2200 plus commission) but was wondering if anybody held it in hand; the obverse bust of Eddy appeared to be very well struck with few or nearly no marks & the reverse very pleasant

By recall the two 1839s went for I think 4k and 3.8k plus commission....

Oh well, just a bit of a rant....(and I saved 3k or so quid!).....

[secret santa 2,013]

I sympathise, Eric. Many's the time I've just done a "5 minute job" before my lot came up only to get engrossed and completely forget about until it's too late. The scars never heal !

[VickySilver 775]

Yes, maybe I can generalise to the "we". I confess I am addicted as I already have TWO mint state (at least by TPG standards) 1904s but this coin looked superior and somehow I missed it at Colin Cooke 20+ years ago when it was sold despite having a good customer relationship with CC. Ah well, you win some and lose others... I miss out on minor lots on ebay all the time, LOL.

I have been the beneficiary in the past of well healed buyers being caught off-footed and me getting coins I simply should not have been able to compete for.

[oldcopper 276]

1 hour ago, VickySilver said:

Yes, maybe I can generalise to the "we". I confess I am addicted as I already have TWO mint state (at least by TPG standards) 1904s but this coin looked superior and somehow I missed it at Colin Cooke 20+ years ago when it was sold despite having a good customer relationship with CC. Ah well, you win some and lose others... I miss out on minor lots on ebay all the time, LOL.

I have been the beneficiary in the past of well healed buyers being caught off-footed and me getting coins I simply should not have been able to compete for.

Talking of 1839 halfcrowns, I presume you got the Heritage Auctions 1839 proof halfcrown PF66+ at a very reasonable $38,400 and perhaps also the "pure silver" 1847 Gothic crown at $186,000. Maybe not!

That was a nice result for the halfcrown vendor as it sold 10 years ago for $10,500 at HA, so a nearly 300% increase. I hate to think what the Gothic crown vendor made. And telling the difference between pure silver and sterling silver might be difficult - the specific gravities of both would be close, and for that price increment you'd hope some test would be pretty clear-cut! Otherwise it's only a PF64 1847 Gothic crown, of which there must be loads around. Perhaps there's some spectroscopic method.

[1949threepence 3,366]

Sympathies Eric. I know how you feel for different reasons. I suppose in such a situation you could always got to bed 3 hours early the night before, but that's never as simple as it sounds. I think I'd be sharper bidding at 5am - especially if it was light outside - than at midnight.  

[Sword 1,330]

Sorry to hear that. Whenever I missed out on something in an auction because I forgot to leave a bid, I always console myself by saying that the winner might have gone a lot higher and, so I might not have got it anyway. And in this case you already have two MS already ...

[VickySilver 775]

Yes, sometimes I think that...If I had seen that in hand chances are I would not have minded going a fair bit up the scale.. My others are MS63 but that looked excellent.

No, I did not buy the 1839 2/6 at 38k. Mine I bought for 2500 and is the pictured coin on the PCGS pop reports that graded Deep Cam 63; of course it is mine but think it would have a good shot at 65 or above these days...Never got the Gothic crowns even when they were relatively cheap as I actually liked them on the florin size which as may guess I have a number of. But the bank account is not so great these days so probably good from that standpoint. In the good olde dayes I would have had an agent bid for me....