This year’s Canadian Numismatic Association Auction
set many records. The auction, which was held in Vancouver in conjunction with
the annual CNA Convention, was conducted by Michael Walsh, the Canadian
Coinoisseur and had total sales in excess of 1.1 million dollars. This sets the
new Canadian record for prices realized in a numismatic auction, eclipsing the
previous mark set in 1999 by Charles Moore with the Bank of Canada Archive
Sale.
The spiral bound 108 page catalogue had a total of 1185 lots. It
began with a small assortment of world coins and continued through over a
hundred lots of tokens and medals, some three dozen lots of Canadian and US
gold coins and four dozen lots of paper money. Then from lot 252 to the end of
the first session at lot 550 was the major reason bidders flew to Vancouver
from as far away as Western Australia: selected pieces from the Douglas L Mason
Collection. The second session was entirely Canadian and Maritime decimal
coins.
A total of 288 bidders from four continents registered for the
auction and there was very strong pre-sale bidding by mail, fax, courier and
email. “Generally in Canadian numismatic auctions,” said Walsh,
“the majority of lots sell in the range of 60% to 75% of catalogue, and
about one-third of the lots fail to sell or don’t meet their reserves. In
this sale, 76% of the lots sold, and the average was 73% of catalogue, with 117
of them selling for more than full catalogue, 40 of these at over 125% and half
a dozen at more than double catalogue. Mail bidders won 22% of the lots,”
continued Walsh, “generally this figure is considerably higher in my
sales, but we had very active floor bidding.”
Some of the most
active was on Lot 424, a 1910 Victorian Leaves 50 Cents graded ICCS MS-65 with
superb eye appeal and catalogued at $50,000. Bidding opened at $33,000 and the
field of bidders gradually narrowed to two who battled on to a final hammer of
$75,000, $82,500 with the 10% buyers fee. “This is a dramatic illustration
of the influence of eye appeal on coin pricing,” said Walsh, “the
piece would be catalogued at $25,000 with eye appeal and $37,500 with great eye
appeal. With superb eye appeal, we have seen in this auction what dedicated
collectors are willing to pay.”
There were many other examples of
the influence of superb eye appeal on pricing. Among these was Lot 357, a 1904
10 Cents in ICCS MS-64 with superb eye appeal. It sold for $4,290, even
although with average eye appeal it would catalogue $2,000. Lot 434, a 1940 50
Cents ICCS MS-65 with superb eye appeal sold for $1,925. With average eye
appeal it Trends at $1,100. Lot 872, a 1902H 25 Cents piece in ICCS MS-66 with
superb eye appeal sold for $11,495 although with average eye appeal it
catalogues $7,500. Lot 1039, a 1936 Silver Dollar in ICCS MS-64 PQ+ sold for
$660, although a regular looking one catalogues $250.
A full list of the
Prices Realized will be included in the next Canadian Coinoisseur auction
catalogue, which will be for the October Torex in Toronto. This auction will
include part two of the Mason Collection as well as numismatic items from other
consignors. Catalogues are available at $15 each. As well, a CD with over 1300
high resolution photographs of the coins in the Mason is available for $25.
Catalogues and CDs can be ordered online at
www.coinoisseur.com or from Michael
Walsh, #345 Unit 101 - 1001 West Broadway, Vancouver, Canada V6H 4E4.
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