Just Ask John: Common Auction Queries
Every week we get emails from our clients asking our fearless leader John Brush for his knowledge and opinions on a wide range of issues within the coin industry. Last week, John expressed his thoughts on fees in the coin industry and explained the DLRC No Fee Guarantee. This week has been particularly busy here at DLRC, but John was still able to take a moment to answer a couple simple questions about our weekly auctions that we frequently receive from clients both new and old.
I see this label on some of the coins in your Auction... what are Vault Values?
Vault Values are simply coins that have run through an auction previously and we’ve decided to discount the starting bid prices a rather large amount to offer them at a more reasonable wholesale-based level. It doesn’t mean that we own the coins, but consignors can decide to reduce their minimums to us by an average of at least 10%, after which we’ll give the coins a second spin through the auction process. We’re very careful with these as we don’t want to run auctions with thousands of items, since this results in interesting coins slipping through the cracks. Instead we focus on curating smaller, high quality auction events, so by carefully selecting Vault Values, we give some really special coins a second chance to make a first impression!
DLRC seems to be running a lot of themed collections lately. Why do you run them and what is the benefit to the collector?
Well, as a collector, when we’ve put so much time into putting together a collection, we often develop a certain affection for the group. Sometimes we decide to name the collection, sometimes we don’t, but it’s simply something that shows our appreciation of the collection. When DLRC offers these specific groups of coins, we like to promote them to other collectors as a way to honor the time and commitment that was put into the collection by the consignor/seller. A themed collection can come in any size, shape, and value as not all collections are created equal. However, they do all deserve to be treated with respect and promoting them through our auction is our little way of celebrating the passion that first assembled those coins.
Sometimes with groups like Red’s Silver Washington Quarter Collection, we’re highlighting the fact that the collection is an excellent opportunity to upgrade a high quality set of Washington Quarters. And sometimes, like with the upcoming Ye Olde Colonial Gold Type Set, it’s just an opportunity to showcase a really fantastic offering in our next auction. It’s a fun process and not always a perfect one, but it always adds some extra character to our auctions!
Do you have a topic about DLRC, the coin industry, or the collecting hobby that you want John to tackle? Email your question to coingroup@davidlawrence.com and it might be featured in a future edition of “Just Ask John!”