Almost exactly 6 months after its inaugural auction of banknotes with special serial numbers, the much anticipated auction was held today at the same venue, Sasana Kijang in Kuala Lumpur.
This time there was 178 lots up for grabs, compared to 231 for the first auction (53 lots or 23% difference). The buyer's premium is at 15%. The official schedule :
8:30 am Registration Starts
10:30 am Session 1 - RM1, RM10 and RM50
1:30 pm Session 2 - RM5, RM20, RM100
The auction did start at 10:30am this time around, registration was comparatively smoother than last time, mainly because the crowd was not as big as the first time and also perhaps people know what to expect already.
definition : literally "already seen", is the phenomenon of having the strong sensation that an event or experience currently being experienced has been experienced in the past, whether it has actually happened or not. (Source : Wikipedia.org)
This is a quick run down on the statistics and a brief analysis of the BNM auction yesterday. The are base on the UNOFFICIAL results of the auction. I do hope MNP will publish the realized prices soon so that further analysis can be done.
The much anticipated numismatic event of the year has finally arrived. As I made my way to Sasana Kijang in downtown Kuala Lumpur, there are many thoughts about how the event will turn out and how it will affect the local numismatic market. There has been much buzz on social media sites and many will turn up at the event - either to bid for the items or to just sit on the sidelines and enjoy the show. Which ever way it goes, I think it is going to be a very crowded.
From what I know, and do correct me if I am wrong, such an event is unprecedented; as in our central bank is, for the very first time, running such an auction. The event is conducted by MNP Auctioneers (based in Penang, with office in downtown KL) at the auditorium of Sasana Kijang. The buyers' premium is quite reasonable - at 15% of the hammer price and there are 231 lots up for grabs.
As I arrived just after 9:00am and made my way down the escalator to the foyer of the auditorium, you can already hear the noise. People are already queuing up to register.
Fig 1: Escalator going down to the auditorium
Fig 2. Crowd building up....
Fig 3. Registration counters were packed.
Fig 4. Waiting for their number cards.
As I reached the foyer, I could immediately see all the familiar faces, just about every personality and dealer in the numismatic scene are there; from Steven Tan to Raymond Chang to KN Boon. Folks from the Malaysian Numismatic Society like Dickson Niew were there too. We even have collectors coming from down south, as in from Johor and Singapore, some from the north of the peninsular as well. I did not, however, encounter anyone from Hong Kong or China, which according to some will be here as well.
There was a lot of catching up to do, after all, no where in this country you can find all the dealers and collectors all in the same place at the same time ! I said many hellos to people whom I know and chatted with for hours on Facebook Messenger but have NEVER met them in person.
Fig 5. Guess who's here?
Fig 6. Can't touch this!
According to the itinerary, registration will be from 9:00am onwards and bidding is expected to begin at 10:00am. Due to the overwhelming crowd, the registration took a bit longer and bidding finally got underway at 11:00am. As I entered the auditorium, I took a rough calculation and my estimate that there there are about 250 to 300 people at the start of the session, this is the probably the biggest numismatic auction in this country yet.
Fig 7. The atmosphere of the grand looking hall.
Fig 8. Very spacious hall at audio was good and clear.
Fig 9. Waiting for the bidding to start.
Fig 10. And so it begins ....
Fig 11. Bidding went on for hours.
Fig 12. Good turnout.
The first lot up for grabs was RM1 AB Prefix with numbers AB0000001-10 with an indicative price of only RM200. Now this first lot was a BIG shocker, it came in at RM5,700 ! Subsequent similar lots settled at about RM3,500 to RM4,800 range. This took everyone in the room by surprise, there were gasps and claps at the same time. Amazing.
The next big thing was Lot 61 RM5 AA6666666, that piece comes with a frame and it got bidded up to RM16,000. Unbelievable. Considering that the rest of RM5 pieces were doing RM2000 to RM3000+.
Fast forward to 2:00pm, we are still at Lot 77, only one third of the way thru. At this rate, my calculations show that this should finish at about 8:00pm.I couldn't stay any longer and had to leave for my next appointment, after all according to the itinerary, it was suppose to finish at 2:00pm.
The prices are just incredible - for low serials, at least 10 times the catalog prices.
As I made my way out, I could see that some people have already left, perhaps disappointed that they could not get any of the lots at their target prices. I left the place thinking about what will be the subsequent impact of these new high prices of special serial number banknotes ....
I'll be back with my thoughts and some analysis of this momentous event. I will try to get the realized prices tonight and run thru them.
Stay tuned!
P.S. In the meantime, get ready to answer a barrage of questions from your brothers, sisters, wife or wives, aunties, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, colleagues, friends, your insurance agent, car mechanic, right up to your hairdresser about what is their nice number banknote is worth and whether you want to buy or not. Expect this to be inflicted upon you for a minimum of 6 months.
There has been much frenzy and debate over a Malaysian 50 cent coin from 1969 with milled edge that was graded by NGC at AU55 being auctioned off in Singapore for a whopping RM10,253 on 19 October 2013. Ever since news of this broke, I had people coming to me saying that they have that 1969 50 cent coin to sell and asking me how much I am willing to offer.
And of course my response was that the price offered is highly dependent on the type, variety, condition/grade of the coin. The grade of the coin is in turn dependent on the big 4 major factors i.e. luster, contact marks, strike and eye appeal. But that’s not the point of this article; I will save the grading part for another day.
