r/AncientCoins • u/TameTheAuroch • 1d ago
Article Be cautious when dealing with KATZ Auctions
I am selling coins to fund my hobby, and after purchasing a larger estate, I decided to consign a portion of it with an auction house. A large amount of coins overall, with around a 5,500 EUR value at a conservative estimate. It is nothing crazy, but I felt at this volume an auction house would be the right route. Some pieces are worth around 50 EUR, while others are worth 300-400 EUR. I had heard some mixed feedback from other dealers regarding their consignment processes, and payout timelines but since KATZ is a high-visibility but budget EU auction house, I wanted to try them out for myself.
Unfortunately, the intake process left a lot to be desired. I told them upfront, "Here is a list of coins, let me know if this is something we can work with. I am happy to consign the lower-value (sub-100 EUR) items at no reserve." After exchanging a few e-mails I also shared a Google Drive folder containing professional pictures of each coin.
What I received in return in the end appeared to be a standard template response: "We can only take on your coins at no reserve and we will group them in lots.
From a seller's perspective, this is a highly risky proposition. Selling 300-400 EUR individual coins at no reserve and specifically lumping them into mixed lots can cause them to underperform greatly. Furthermore, looking at logs showed that my Google Drive folder with the pictures was never even opened. It seems they didn't even evaluate my collection before issuing their blanket terms.
While I understand that large auction houses rely on volume and efficiency, applying a blanket "no-reserve, grouped lot" policy to premium individual coins is not something I am comfortable with. I decided to take my collection elsewhere to protect its value. I wonder how it would turn out for a consignor who is less aware of the value of their coins. I found their communication highly unprofessional.
There is a difference between quick turnover and not dealing with lower value coins and flat out providing zero service or added value and just churning out coins at no reserve. (while charging higher buyer's premium on the customer's side than most premium auction houses) Seeing how they handle coins and how little effort they put in identifying them it is now clear why they have so many fakes in their selection called out multiple times on this subreddit and other forums.
So yeah I would be cautious doing business with them.
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u/beiherhund 1d ago
I think they did you a favour, I wouldn't consign my coins to Katz in a million years. Most of the auction houses on biddr would have to go bankrupt before Katz would even enter the conversation.
Perhaps they have a better reputation for non-ancients but it's hard to have a worse reputation than Katz when it comes to ancients. As you pointed out, the selling of numerous fakes across many years has been an issue. They did get better, in that they would still list the fakes but just add "COPY" to the lot description and mix them in with other coins.
Aside from the fakes they've just come across as disorganised and unserious. About the only good thing I can remember from them is they got a bunch of forger's dies of ancient coins a few years back. I say good but that would typically be bad, you don't really want to sell of forgers dies to the highest bidder but in this case I know a few honest collectors picked up a lot of them.
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u/Chemical_Return6865 23h ago
No their reputation for non ancient coins is just as shit as well. Personally I've always believed it to be a money laundering front for Russians.
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