Conders from Goldbergs available on eBay

[farthing]

Always interesting to see instant markups It's amazing the prices NGC suited Conder tokens are fetching. Too bad PCGS has, so far, turned their back on the market.

 

Middlesex Newton #1151 - Sold in Goldberg's auction 1/31 for $310, now available on eBay for $399.

 

Middlesex National #977 - Sold for $240, now available on eBay for $370

 

Middlesex National #979 - Sold for $265, now available on eBay for $325

 

Middlesex National #985a - Sold for $150, now available on eBay for $250

 

Middlesex National #197 - Sold for $414, now available on eBay for $550

[Yarm]

Farthing,

 

Perhaps there are serious Conder collectors who frequent Ebay but have never heard of Goldberg's or Stacks, etc. Perhaps they'll feel comfortable starting the bidding at those levels (not even BIN's!) based on improved images -which appear to be Goldberg's images lightened up. But I doubt it. IMHO, the "usual suspects" can be counted on to pursue a desirable Conder token whether it comes up on Ebay, a major auction house or a major dealer's inventory.

 

Of course, if this entire group sells (especially the dead common Midd 977 at $370), I may have to become a seller and collect buttons instead!

 

Yarm

 

 

[HiHoAudio]

Don't do it Yarm!

 

I bid on all six of the Goldberg Pidcock's farthings and half pennys and I thought I had bid enough to win at least a few of them.

 

But for some weird reason they undervalued every Conder so my bids were all too low, even though I had bid market value and more.

 

I am a big fan of the Goldbergs but for heavens sake they spelled Conder as Condor and in some cases Condo. I expect better from them.

[RareSov]

A condo for .. $150 ? I'm in !!

[Yarm]

I'm very pleased with the Conder tokens I received from the Goldberg sale.

Photographing them is another issue. I'll either have to break them out or

just get over the prongs. No envelope, tickets or provenance info accompanied

the lots, as I feared.

 

Did anyone get the Goldberg calalog? I wondered if there was a little piece

up front about the Conder collection and collector? Only 250 tokens were up for sale

from a collection reported to be 400 tokens, so perhaps some were presold or not deemed

worthy of grading. The auction descriptions reminded me of Sgt. Friday ("Just the facts, ma'am!"}

with some glitches in the rarity ratings. The order of lots was determined

alphabetically rather than by D&H order adding to the challenge.

 

The Conder section was tacked onto the front of a US sale but judging by the prices realized,

this very nice group was not overlooked. Nevertheless, the average hammer was $225,

which is more than respectable for Conder tokens but won't buy much at a Lincoln cent or

Canadian large cent sale these days! Some of the prices for relatively common tokens

only made sense to me if the pieces were among the finest known, but with many

thousands of extraordinary tokens in dealer and collector hands, I wouldn't count on it.

In the absence of NGC population figures, even the "highest graded" is a mystery.

 

The average grade for the entire collection was almost MS65 and that was true of the rarer tokens

as well (often made in limited quantities for collectors so they "come nice").

Among the many attractive tokens were some weakly struck and spotty pieces that may

have deserved their technical grade but held no attraction to me. One token in the sale

was BB'd for a flan crack and another was not, so I guess it depends. Not a single

token got a "red" designation from NGC! Does anyone have one or ever seen one?

 

Back to sleep (dreaming of Robbie Brown, Part II)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[World Colonial]

I know of Condor tokens but know nothing about them.

 

I will say though that it makes no sense generally to buy anything on eBay that can be bought at public auction. As you note, that is where these sellers obtain their inventory. I have been buying less and less on eBay recently.

 

I do not know what these items should sell for, but as a general comment, I would say that there is a large volume of riduculously overpriced material listed on eBay, including in my areas on the few occasions when it comes up for sale.

[HiHoAudio]

 

Did anyone get the Goldberg catalog?

 

No, and this is one catalog I would had kept and cherished as a Conder reference.

[HiHoAudio]

Anyone have any good Conder websites?

 

http://www.vcoins.com/world/cheapsidetokens/store/dynamicIndex.asp

 

I often go here to dream and drool.

[Conder101]

Did anyone get the Goldberg calalog?

Yes, I think three copies. I know I have already given one of them away. I got shut out in the sale. Of course I only bid on two lots. There was only one piece in the sale that I actually needed. It was just an avarage piece and not a rarity. I bid $175 on it which in my opinion was more than it was worth and about twice what it would have been worth two years ago. I believe it went for $250.

 

The other was the Warwickshire 38a. I have a weakness for that piece. They typically go for around $300, I bid $450 and it went for over $600.

 

I think what may have happened was that a lot of US collectors who had never really seen these things were suddenly exposed to a large number of high grade pieces, 200+ years old, in NGC slabs. They were from the same period as the US copper that came after them, about the same size, in MUCH better condition! I think a lot of new buyers figured they had to worth a LOT more and they bid them up. (Now they are trying to flip them on ebay and get the windfall they thought they would. Be interesting to see if they sell. So far halfway though the week and not a single bid))

[HiHoAudio]

Did anyone get the Goldberg calalog?

Yes, I think three copies.

 

If you still have a spare copy I would be very interested in it, unless Yarm asked first. PM me with a price + postage.

 

Your theory as to why the Conders went for so much makes perfect sense.

[Conder101]

Well not a single one of them sold and they all been relisted

 

Middlesex Newton #1151 - Sold in Goldberg's auction 1/31 for $310, now available on eBay for $399. Relisted at $425 with 10% off or $382

 

Middlesex National #977 - Sold for $240, now available on eBay for $370. Relisted $370, 10% off $333

 

Middlesex National #979 - Sold for $265, now available on eBay for $325. Relisted $325 10% off $292

 

Middlesex National #985a - Sold for $150, now available on eBay for $250. Relisted $275 10% off $247

 

Middlesex National #197 - Sold for $414, now available on eBay for $550. Relisted $575 10% off $517

 

I don't hold much hope for them at their new prices either. You notice that in three of the five cases they raised the listing price so that after the 10% discount they were just a little less than the first listing. I think the Goldberg sale prices were high, except for the Middlesex 985a which is probably about right. Only one of those coins is rare (#979 RR) and they tend to be available in high grade.(My #979 is a 62 and I didn't pay close to $265 for it.)

 

I'll see if I can find that other catalog.

[Yarm]

Hurry, that 10% sale ends in one day!!

 

I'll be keeping an eye open at the Las Vegas Coin show this week to see if there are any other dealers hoping to cash in on their Goldberg token purchases. I'll likely be wearing a badge that says "BOB"! Say hello if you happen to be there on Friday.

 

 

[farthing]

The only one of the five that I would be interested in is the Middlesex #197 - but not anywhere near his price!

[HiHoAudio]

Suddenly I am really happy that I bought my Middlesex #447a (Pidcock's antelope and ostrich 1/2P) when I did. It's only AU55 but that's good enough for me.

 

I'll be even happier if the "investors" abandon Conders and leave them to the collectors again.

[Conder101]

Hurry, that 10% sale ends in one day!! ;\)

And 8 days later they are still all available at that same 10% off sale price. Methinks he overpaid.

 

I have to admit I wonder who he is. He has a LOT of the CC coins and rare varieties from the Dan Holmes sale listed including BOTH of the 1793 strawberry cents.

[Yarm]

I was curious about this phenomenon so I tried to locate Goldberg Conders in dealer cases on the opening of the Las Vegas Plaza coin show. Not a one. However, I've counted 27 tokens from the auction available at hefty premiums on Ebay and elsewhere. Of these, just 7 show as sold so far (5 to one individual)! There seems to be several Ebayers willing to go $200-300 for a common token slabbed 64+.I can see how this might appeal to a collector of early American coppers.

[MJ]

My sources tell me a noted dealer of Conders was extemely active during the Goldberg sale.

I did fly into LA to view all of the tokens but had to bid online. The online bidding was a diaster so I had to rely on max bids. Truth be told I had to rely on instinct rather then hard data on where to place the bids on these MS 65-67 tokens as I'm somewhat new to Conders. I really couldn't find much data to go on and I readily admit to somewhat strong bids. I love the tokens I "won" and these are for my personal collection and I feel good about them. I was high bidder on 8 tokens of the 19 I bid on.

 

I will fess up to buying the following tokens from the Goldberg sale MJ

 

Oh, I did get a healthy flip offer on the second Conder listed below from a well known dealer. I passed. I think there's a total pop of around 75 struck of that one. I payed $690 all in for it.

 

And a HTT that I would have bid twice the amount it hammered.

[rbrown4]

Those are some very, very nice looking Tokens. I especially find the 1798 Dealer in Coins and Medals quite interesting. Congratulations on your new aquisitions.

 

Rey

 

 

[farthing]

MJ - While not knowing what you paid for the 7 Conder tokens - I think you did quite good! Spence and Pidcock tokens in top condition are always in demand, and for the other 2, all I can say is WOW!

[Newmismatist]

The Goldberg prices seemed a bit high - I was in long Beach after the sale, (couldn't get there for the sale) and I saw several that had been purchased by a friend - They looked better in hand than on the website - but with copper, that is most often the case. As for the prices, it's my thought that Conders have been under-priced in comparison to what you pay for most "modern" (post 1800) coins.

 

If anyone is going to be at the Fort Worth ANA next week, I'll have a few Conders on display.

[HiHoAudio]

I will fess up to buying the following tokens from the Goldberg sale MJ

 

So that's where most of the Pidcock's wound up.

 

Jealous but at least they went to a real collector. Congratulations MJ!

 

PS - If you ever get tired of this one PM me with a price and I'll see what I can do...

 

 

As it would make a nice bookend to this which I just recently acquired...

 

 

I have a Pidcock's D&H 447A too.

[MJ]

Thanks for the feedback and all points noted

 

MJ

[coinsarefun]

I also picked up a few Conder's from that auction