Fierce bidding as auctions go online, Mughal coins mint money

I have a live bid at Rs 1,95,000. Final call,” yelled the auctioneer of Imperial Auctions, inside the auction hall at COINEX 2018 recently, the numismatic auction on Karve Road that was literally the cause of traffic snarls on an already groaning carriageway.
“Sold for Rs 1,95,000,” the auctioneer declared, as a mild cheer rippled through the floor-bidding crowd.
An anonymous online bidder had outbid all else to buy a rare Mughal coin, cast in gold, minted during the emporer Shah Jahan’s time, at Burhanpur.“The crowd at the floor and online bids always spikes at the time Mughal coins are up for auction,” remarked Mohi one of the dire of the Pimp based Imperi Auctions.
As it turns out, numismatic auctions remain extremely sought-after, eve though the act hobby of numis ics has drifte from the newer generations over the past two decades.
Kapoor said that they are flooded with enquiries from regular clientele and newer entrants, hoping to have a look at prices and strategise their bidding.
Before entering the auctions every bidder mu pass financi background che and provide a g tee, but some loyal clientele are nominally exempted.
hat was de- as a measure convenience s also turned nto a bidding actic- the online auction process, mainy to avoid beg recognised. “Some of the e bids are ofced by people who are probably in the vicinity, but not in the hall. Most collectors know each other, and they do not want others to know that they are bidding for a certain coin. Thus they stay way from the auction hall, and use our mobile applicaion to bid for e coins,” Kaor laughed.
But floor bids et out of fashion, he observed. “When we auctioned coins dating back to the Maratha confederacy, there was quite fierce bidding on the floor, with a lot of paddles going up,” he said.
At this auction, a total of 500 lots of coins were up for auction, across various price bands, from Rs 1,000-1,500, to the heavily-bid on samples, dating back to the Gupta era, with final bids going up to Rs 2-3 lakhs.
Some of the coins were minted in gold, and experts have ensured that the surface and inscriptions remain as legible as possible. They have also been classified in that manner in the exhaustive catalogue.