19th century rare ingots are in a league of their own – they are the cream of the crop when it comes to vintage bars. Thus they require special care and handling when it comes to trading them – both buying and selling.
Public Auctions
First and foremost, one must keep in mind that the market is relatively thin for these bars even though for the most part they are quite unavailable. It would be bad for the market if many of them came onto the scene at one time from a private hoard since there may not be enough demand to support the temporary influx of supply. Some of this temporary depression was seen back in 2007 during the big Ford sale where approximately 60 bars were brought on the scene at one time at Stacks Bowers, or more recently when a hoard of San Francisco and other related bars were released in a large auction at Heritage. Both can be wonderful auction venues, but care must be taken in order to stage the supply so as to avoid the temporary dilution in the market.
When compiling the information on the ingots in our census, we’ve leaned heavily on the data and write-ups provided by these auction houses and where known we have directly linked to every single public sale we can reference for maximum exposure and transparency.
Some of the auction houses we encounter most regularly are;
- Stacks Bowers
- Heritage Galleries
- Holabird & Kagins
- Vegas Coin Dealer
- iCollector – platform of archives of Holabird and others
Private Placement
A second way of selling one might consider is through a private sale and placement through a trusted intermediary. The benefit of doing this is to provide anonymity to both buyer and seller as well as making it a discrete transaction where pricing information can remain confidential to all parties. This may be particularly important for both sides to benefit from keeping certain information out of the public lime-light.
Both auctions and private sales can provide substantial benefits depending on the circumstances required. However, more often than not, a trusted intermediary can realize prices just as good as an auction house if not better when they know who the ultimate buyers are already through their private book of business.
While we are not an auction house, we provide exceptional handling when it comes to private sales and private placement.
Another benefit to consider is reduced fees: The typical fee for a private placement might be about 5%, whereas the fee for an auction company can range from 10-25% depending on the venue of choice.
Summary
No matter what option you choose, ultimately there can be multiple tools for the job that will achieve similar results. If you have questions along these lines we are happy to assist and advise a suitable direction to take.