Hello everyone!

A lot has happened since I last posted in August, including the Annual YN Auction and the fall Long Beach Expo. I will talk about the Annual YN Auction today and probably cover Long Beach in a week or two, when I have time (school has been really busy).

Overall I felt that the auction went very nicely. A few changes were made to the format since last year (I attended in 2021 but didn't win any lots). I was surprised to find the morning of the auction that it was being moved from Youtube to Google Meet, even though the auction catalog said it would be on Youtube. Less YNH (YN's at heart) were able to drop in, although Mr. Walt Ostromecki visited for a few minutes. The other noticeable change that was made was that all bids had to be in increments 5. This combined with the lack of lag because of the new platform allowed the auction to finish in about 3.5 hours, a big improvement from 2021's time of about 5 hours. I had a completely positive experience, with Sam (with a virtual cat background) running the auction very smoothly. I had spent just over 300 YN$'s the month before the auction, nevertheless, I still had about 900 YN$'s to spend. I spent the first 15 lots gauging and recording what YN$'s were valued at this year, as they can fluctuate wildly from year to year. Everybody had a little bit more to spend this year, as me, Cheerio Coins, Thatcoinguy, and a few others became major players for the first time (I think).

I was able to pick up four lots, all for decent deals according to my calculations. I recorded the auction sales of the first half or so, with $10 worth of coins selling for about 100 YN$'s. The first 11 lots were some of the ones I had the most interest in, unfortunately, I got nervous, thinking that there may be a lot more deals at the very end. I almost got the semi-key 1922-D Lincoln Cent in Good condition, but it went just over my highest bid of 225, with it selling for 230. Looking back on it, I regret not getting it, as I am working through a complete set of Lincoln Cents. The first lot I actually won was lot 11: an  MS-65 1944-P with a clip error, worth about $20 (mostly because of the high grade). I bought this lot for 180 YN$'s, a pretty good deal as I find errors fascinating. The Morgan Dollars were a few lots later, and went for VERY high prices. In the lull afterwards, I was able to pick up lot 31: an AU 1962-D Jefferson Nickel with a petty good sized reverse lamination. As this was one of my middle-interest lots, I kept my bid low and was shocked to find that I had won it for my second bid of 80 YN$, a pretty good deal for a 15 dollar error. I took a quick break and came back in time to catch the world coins.

The highlights were a 1883 Hawaian quarter (went for 710 YN$), and the gold coin, a French 20 Franc (went for 3500 YN$). After a lunch break, the proof sets went quickly, and a commemorative dollar sold for 380 YN$'s. The next lot was a 2011-W 9/11 National Medal. With a mintage of under 110,000, I really liked the lot and originally bit a bit on it. I caught action fever with another YN, partially because it was around the forth time it was us being the last two. I ended up buying it for 410 YN$'s and originally regretted it, but the slabbed coins had heavy bidding, so now I am pretty happy with this purchase. By the time the slabs finished, many of the previously active bidders had left, with just a few of the richer (in YN Dollars)  bidders left. I knew that this was the time to get undervalued lots. This opportunity arose when many bidders were talking about the 3rd Edition Mega Red Book. The lot before was a special edition 2018 Red Book for the 30th Anniversary of NGC (lot 96 of 100), worth about $100 dollars according to my Red Book. I was able to pick this lot for the steal of 195 YN$'s, Sam Gelberd said that in previous years, this same edition had sold for over 1000 YN$. The rest of the auction went quickly, finishing with 10 grab bags for younger YN's.

Thanks for bearing through my report on the Annual YN Auction, I am VERY thankful to all the donors and people who made this awesome event work. Thanks for reading, feel free to comment.

P.S. If any YN's would like me to post the auction prices of the around 60 lots I recorded please comment and I will try to get around to it :)