Archives International Auctions sale 24

The next live auction from Archives International will take place Thursday May 7 in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The sale will offer 897 lots, of which almost 600 are stocks and bonds. North American railroads are well-represented with about 244 lots.

Like most auctions from Archives International, this sale offers a substantial number of specimens (150 railroad lots) plus a handful of proofs (4 lots). I also count 14 multi-item lots which is always an excellent way to lower your per-item cost. (Plus, you can always sell extra items you don't want.)

Because there are so many specimens in the sale, it is hard to mention every rarity. As I've said time and time again, all specimens are scarce and some are notably rarer than others. Fortunately, Archives gives numerous indications (e.g. "3 were found in archives") when items are particularly scarce. Among the items that jump out at me are specimens from the Boyer Valley Railway, the Iowa Central Railway, the Michigan Midland & Canada Railroad, the Mexican Northern Railway and a new $10,000 bond from the New York Central  & Hudson River Rail Road.

You can view the auction catalog online by going to the Archives International Auctions site at https://archivesinternational.com/. If you click on "Link to Virtual Catalog," you will reach a "Flipbook" edition. Like all Flipbooks, you will be limited to viewing rather small images. On the other hand, if you click on "Virtual Catalog Downloads," you can download the Flipbook edition to your own computer. This method will allow you to view slightly larger images depending on the size of your monitor.

For a physical edition of the catalog, contact Archives International Auctions at 201-944-4800 or info@archivesinternational.com. Like all Archives International auctions, you can bid by mail, email, fax, phone, internet and phone. To avoid embarrassing bidding mistakes (in this and EVERY auction), be sure to read and understand the "Conditions of Sale" (found on the last page of the catalog) before bidding.

How much do cancellations matter?

Before the advent of eBay, uncancelled certificates routinely attracted higher prices than those with cancellations. It was not a hard and fast rule, of course, but intermediate and advanced collectors usually sought uncancelled certificates when they could find them. When offered choices, those collectors tended to bid more for uncancelled examples.

That pattern is harder to see today, It seems intermediate and advanced collectors still want uncancelled certificates for their collectors. However, are they backing up their desires with dollars?

If we limit our inquiry to items offered in live auctions from established auction companies, I think the answer is a guarded "yes." Those kinds of companies tend to offer better and rarer material. They are expert catalogers and experts in their fields. They know what their buyers want and they usually dedicate a fair amount of space to descriptions. By necessity, photos in printed auction catalogs are usually too small to see details such as cancellation. Sadly, even though all could offer larger images online, few companies do. On the bright side, auction house images of certificates are always rectangular and properly exposed. Between their photos, descriptions and knowledge of their customers, today's high-class auction houses are able to realize relatively high prices for their items. Uncancelled items seem to command moderate premiums.

EBay, on the other hand is an unfocused marketplace. It offers everything. Seller overburden collectors with loads of ultra-common certificates. Descriptions are typically minimal or non-existent. When sellers do offer descriptions, they tend to be off-topic extracts from Wikipedia that say nothing about certificates. Yes, today's eBay photos are notably larger than auction house images and the quality is improving on average. Unfortunately, the quality of many images is still downright pathetic.

In this setting, I cannot detect any evidence that cancellations affect eBay prices. Period.

Yes, I know professional dealers argue that uncancelled certificates SHOULD be worth more. I agree wholeheartedly!

There is only one problem. EBay pricing behavior does not currently support that assumption.

Since I record prices every day, I can testify with absolute certainty that pricing on eBay is crazy. One day a certificate will sell for $30. A month later, a near identical certificate will sell for $100. A few weeks after that, bidding on another near-identical certificate will struggle to reach $20. There are rarely any visible reasons for such insane price swings.

The truth is that insane price swings are normal on eBay, so it is utterly impossible to quantify the effect of cancellation on prices. Any possible distinction is made greatly more difficult because so few sellers mention cancellations in their meager descriptions. Still, because I retain images from every sale, I can usually identify whether the items sold were cancelled or not when entering records into my database. For that reason, I can tell you with certainty that there is NO PREDICTABLE RELATIONSHIP between cancellation and prices on eBay.

Yes, I still estimate price differences between cancelled and uncancelled certificates in my catalog and will continue to do so. On average, I still believe that experienced collectors willingly pay more for uncancelled certificates. It is just that detecting those price differences on eBay is not possible.

HWPH sales 37 and 38 approaching

I received two more beautiful auction catalogs from Herr Matthias Schmitt. All 2,152 lots are illustrated in full color. Part 1 of the sale (Auktion 37) will take place on Saturday, April 18 and will feature a total of 835 lots. Of the 20 lots involving North American railroads, I'd suggest looking closely at lot 27, a 100-share specimen from the Missouri Railway Construction Company. That is a certificate with one of the most impressive ABNCo vignettes showing men building a stone retaining wall and lifting blocks into place with a small railroad crane. (Minimum bid, €180.)

Although much less visually attractive, I suspect lot 20 will attract higher bids because it is the first certificate to appear from the Los Angeles San Diego & Yuma Railway Co. (Minimum bid, €400)

Part 2 of the sale (Auktion 38) continues on Monday, April 20 with the remaining 1,317 lots. Like all HWPH sales, the company's selections include certificates from all around the world. 217 lots involve certificates from North and South America. Of interest to my typical readers are about 47 lots from North American railroads. I will suggest paying particular attention to lot 1509 which features one of two known varieties of stock certificates from the Memphis Dallas & Gulf Railroad. There are three issued examples known and this is the only one (serial #120) that is fully signed with signatures of both the secretary and president.

Please check out the online catalogs at http://hwph.de/.

Mario Boone, 54th Auction, Mar. 28 & 29

The latest auction from Mario Boone will take place in Antwerp, March 28 and 29. As usual, the auction will offer certificates from all over the world, totaling 1,381 lots.

Unlike most of Boone's sales, this auction will offer a mere twelve lots related to North American railroads. Nonetheless, the sale offers a global selection of certificates in most other specialties.

As always, I recommend viewing the catalog online where you can see decent-sized images of every lot. (Online images are about twice the size of images in the printed catalog and exceed image sizes offered by almost all of Boone's competitors.)

You may bid in Boone's auctions by mail, internet, telephone or in person. Please contact Mario.Boone@skynet.be for a printed copy of this full-color catalog.

Archives International Sale 23, March 10

I want to let you know about the latest offering from Archives International Auctions to be held Tuesday, March 10 at its offices in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The sale will offer 1,043 lots in a live auction setting, although remote bidders can participate by mail, email, fax, phone and internet. You can access the online auction catalog at https://www.archivesinternational.com/ or you can order your own copy by calling Archives International at 201-944-4800.

The morning session of the sale will feature 778 lots of worldwide bank notes and related ephemera plus 22 lots of Military Payment Certificates. The evening session will auction 151 lots of U.S. banknotes, 64 lots of security printing ephemera and 28 lots of United States bonds, savings bonds and related documents.

Unlike many recent sales, this sale does NOT contain any ordinary corporate scripophily. Nonetheless, I suspect most of my readers will find something of interest among the printing ephemera. Sharp-eyed collectors will also spy a few lots of railroad-related scrip that few have never seen before.

Spink Collector's Series Sale (aka sale 321)

Regular bidders probably have received the January 27-28 "Collector's Series" sale by now. For those of you who collect auction catalogs, this is sale 321, continuing the numbering system of R.M. Smythe catalogs.

Unlike most sales in the Collector's Series, this sale is heavy with certificates. No certificates appear on the cover, but 44% of the lots in the sale (~782 lots) involve certificates. Of that number, 635 lots are from the U.S. Certificates from Cuba, particularly banking, are also well represented.

I count 305 lots involving railroad certificates. Quite a few are on the higher end of the rarity/desirability scale. I would include Alaska Central Railway (lot 1051), California Eastern Railway (lot 1075), California Southern Railroad (lot 1076), Covington Street Railway (lots 1110 and 1111) and Enos Electric Railway Supply Co (lots 1126 and 1127) among a whole host of other lots to consider very carefully.

Autographed certificates are well-represented, both in the catalog as a whole and among railroad certificates in general. In fact, one-third of all railroad certificates (108 lots) in this catalog involve some sort of "celebrity" signature. Some autographs are highly important including items with autographs of John D. Rockefeller, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Eastman, Jay Cooke and James Longstreet.

If there is a downside to this sale, it is the lack of photographs. Only 48 railroad-related lots are illustrated.

Please don't get me wrong. I am wholeheartedly recommending this sale! I am merely pointing out that the lack of images is a really large problem for everyone publishing catalogs – MYSELF INCLUDED. It is a crucial consideration for auction catalogs because illustrations consume so much space and printing is so very expensive.

At the same time, let's accept the evidence. I can't prove it conclusively, but my data strongly suggests that illustrated lots tend to receive better bids. As a benefit to both my readers and to Spink, I suggest you pull up my Coxrail database on your computer while you are browsing the catalog. I cannot show you images of every certificate listed in the Spink catalog, but I have over 13,650 images online.

Spink's sale will take place in New York, January 27-28, 2015. The most important autographed items will go under the gavel on the 27th. This includes three lots of autograph certificates signed by Fillmore, Rockefeller and FDR (lot 812 at left) and great selection of presidential autographs. The remaining 773 lots of certificates will be auctioned on the 28th. You may, of course, bid in person, by mail or online at Spink.com. Everyone is looking for "new material", so please consider contacting Spink today for this catalog. The entire catalog is available in eCatalogue form and PDF form on the Spink site.

Another Fabulous Sale from Fred Holabird

The latest sale from Fred Holabird will take place in Reno, Nevada over three days, starting December 9 at 8am. If you collect anything from the U.S., but particularly from the American West, then I guarantee there is something in the sale for you.

In fact there is so much in the sale that the only good advice I have is to get a catalog for yourself. Contact Holabird's Western Americana Collections at 775-851-1859 or visit Fred's site at FHWAC.com.

This particular sale is titled, The Art, Brewery, & Collectibles Auction, but I have to tell you, even that title does not do the offering justice! The sale includes 2169 lots. The catalog is entirely in color and illustrates essentially every lot – INCLUDING multi-item lots. (I applaud Fred for showing entire lots; I really don't know why other sellers refuse!)

If you will go to FHWAC.com, you will be able to see large views of all lots. By "large", I mean images many times larger than typical auctions. Fred and I are in full agreement on this. Online illustrations cost nearly nothing. It only makes sense to use the whole screen. In other words, show bidders as much as humanly possible. Thanks, Fred!

(Here is a picture of a multi-item railroad lot from my computer monitor, 11 inches tall.)

So what's in the sale?

• Saloon-related artifacts, bottles, artwork, broadsides, bungs, mugs, glassware
• Nevada artwork (prints and oils)
• Historic maps
• Exposition ephemera and souvenirs including badges, postcards, spoons, tickets
• Presidential photos and autographs
• Firearms
• License plates
• Auto stocks
• Air industry stocks
• Books and directories
• Civil War covers and photos
• Alaska photos, brochures, postcards, stock certificates
• Bodie, Tahoe, Donner (Nevada) photographs and ephemera
• Charles M. Russell sketches and photos
• California postcards and ephemera
• Nevada postcards and ephemera
• Green River fish fossil specimens
• Gold balances
• Arizona stock certificates, postcards
• Colorado stock certificates, photos, claim maps, atlases
• Michigan mining stock certificates
• Montana postcards, stock certificates
• Nevada stock certificates, photographs, mine reports, checks
• Oregon stock certificates
• Utah stock certificates
• Oil stock certificates (many locations)
• Coins
• Obsolete currency
• Confederate currency
• Fractional currency
• Colonial currency
• Scrip
• Saloon tokens
• Wells Fargo lanterns, locks, ephemera, bag sealers
• Strong boxes
• Railroad passes (large selection)
• Railroad certificates, artwork, locks, ephemera
• plus gobs of material too diverse for me to list

Again, if you collect anything from the American West, grab a catalog and visit Holabird's Western Americana Collections website as soon as possible.