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Re: Gold Jewelry at Auction

By: micro in 6TH POPE | Recommend this post (0)
Wed, 15 Nov 23 5:41 PM | 46 view(s)
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Msg. 47451 of 60008
(This msg. is a reply to 47446 by Decomposed)

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It's only a great deal iffen one has a real need for any of those things they buy and they are not overpriced.

Otherwise, they're not.

I have to resist impulse buying because I at one time had a tendency toward that.. Now, Scrooge would be proud of me... Except for worthy charities that actually help people in real needs.

I support St. Jude's Children's cancer hospital for example. Precious little children who are cursed with cancer and trying to shorten their lives. Those kids don;t even know what that is or why they feel bad.

So I am hoping to be a help to extend their lives or even to defeat the cancer they had gotten before they came here.

I will leave them a large part of my estate when I and my beloved wife are gone. My children do not need it and are better off than us. So let God use it to help save children's lives..

I also support Wounded Warriors. And the Local Mission for homeless in need of help.

Anyway, I am a soft touch when I see people in distress and my own neice died from cancer she got as a teenager.


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The above is a reply to the following message:
Gold Jewelry at Auction
By: Decomposed
in 6TH POPE
Wed, 15 Nov 23 4:48 AM
Msg. 47446 of 60008

There are many on-line auctions every day. Few, however, are the type I enjoy: Miscellaneous merchandise and pickup within 50 miles. The nice thing about miscellaneous merchandise auctions is that you never know what you'll find, and there are times when you may have more subject knowledge than your opponents. Specialty auctions, on the other hand, always put me at a disadvantage - or so I imagine. There are coin auctions, stamp auctions, comic book auctions, sports card auctions, collectible doll auctions, Pokemon card auctions, Chinese art auctions, Christmas decor auctions and oh, yes, the ever present JEWELRY auctions. Tons of jewelry auctions. And what do I know about any of those? Not much.

Tonight, though, there were none of the auctions I like. On a lark, I decided to watch a jewelry auction just to see if I was possibly missing out on bargains. After all, that gold necklace I bought a few weeks ago (but not at a jewelry auction) went really well. Maybe I could land another such deal!

For a while it almost looked like I would. Earlier today, I saw an auction lot described as "AUREA 14K Gold Herringbone Necklace 5.5 G" and a top bid of only $85. A little math on 5.5 grams of 14K gold told me that it had a spot value of $170, so it was going for half price! But when I came back as the deadline approached, it was up to $138 and I knew that I'd be beat. In those final minutes, I saw it reach 195, then 200, and 205, and 215, and 225, 235, 245, and finally 255. Is there any rationality in that? It only has $170 of gold in it!

The really fascinating part, though, was that right alongside this necklace, there was a bracelet described as "14K Gold Herringbone Bracelet 1.8 G." It was really just the same as the necklace, but less than a third as long. The bidding, however, was nuts: $36, then $56, then $72, $82, $92, $102, $107, $117 and finally $125. It sold for about half the price of the necklace while having just a third as much gold, $55 worth.

Are these people crazy?

Here I thought that the specialty auctions would have shopkeepers and other professionals who knew EXACTLY how much the merchandise was worth and would bid with discipline. Instead the people bidding on the necklace and [especially] the bracelet were driven wholly by emotion, overpaying by as much as 125%.

I'll just stick with my miscellaneous auctions. There, at least, people who don't know what they're doing tend not to bid at all. There's actually a pretty good chance of getting a screaming deal if you know what you're buying. When it comes to specialty auctions, though, everything gets sold, perhaps for far too much.

As a reminder, the 14K necklace I bought at auction weighed 7 grams and sold for $140.



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