Spink Auction

[thelawnet]

Anyone following the current banknote auction?

 

http://www.spink.com/asp/cataloguesearch.asp

 

I have to say I am not impressed with them.

 

I was interested in two lots:

 

http://www.spink.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp...4&saletype=

Sale 9010 Lot 681

 

Bank Indonesia a group of specimens comprising 5 rupiah, orangutan, 25 rupiah, rhinocerous, 50 rupiah, crocodile, 100 rupiah, squirrel, 500 rupiah, tiger, and 1000 rupiah, elephant, all ND (1957)

(Pick 49, B50, 50, 51, 52, 53) almost uncirculated, the 25 rupiah very rare and only issued for three days (6)

Estimate £ 400-500

 

and

 

http://www.spink.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp...0&saletype=

 

Sale 9010 Lot 682

 

† Bank Indonesia, specimen 5000 rupiah, ND (1957), purple and multicoloured, buffalo at left, reverse green, ships

(P 54A), red SPECIMEN overprint, perforated, mounting traces, good extremely fine and rare

Estimate £ 500-1,000

 

 

 

I went to Spink once, they are still living in the 19th Century. So when the bidding for lot 681 opened at £1300, can I say I was not impressed.

 

Evidently they had a proxy bid at that level, making a mockery of their £400-£500 estimate. If they had adequate systems to reflect the real prices being bid in advance, I wouldn't have wasted my time on this auction. The estimate was ludicrously low. The 25 rupiah is worth at least $700, the 500 in excess of $400, and the other 4 maybe $200 each.

 

682 opened at £700 and closed at £1400, which is not so bad, but still I can't help thinking they're wasting people's time.

 

I visited them last year and they did the same thing, gross underestimates on the pricing. Pointless.

 

I was actually quite surprised with the high prices. I have a standing offer from a dealer to sell the 5000 rupiah at $1900. The prices for lot 681 might reflect the fact that the 25 rupiah at least is a proof rather than a specimen, and this might extend to the other lots as well (Spink are shocking at a cataloguing their items - I can buy a banknote for $3 on ebay and it comes with obverse and reverse scans. They are selling something for 1000 times as much and they only include a face scan of ONE of the six notes, and don't even bother to describe the other notes. Money for old rope.)

[anil2]

Hi,

 

Completely agree with you.

 

This is very common of Spink and many other catalog based auction houses.

But they are the only ones for now who has the real infrastructure to source and sell the rare banknotes around the world.

 

Anil