The following Terms & Conditions are generally applied to our auctions.
The specific details of these change to reflect the location and timing of the auctions.

CREDIT REFERENCES OR DEPOSIT: Potential bidders who do not have an established business relationship with Michael Walsh, or with the Canadian Coinoisseur, Inc., will be required to provide us with acceptable credit references prior to the sale. If such references are not provided, bids may be refused unless a deposit of 25% of the bidder’s total bids or an acceptable credit card guarantee is tendered to the Auctioneer prior to the sale. Any portion of the deposit not used will be promptly refunded.

BIDDING PROCEDURE: Bids can be placed in person or through an agent at the auction or by mail (fax, eMail, post or courier) prior to the auction. Telephone bids are accepted if they are confirmed in writing by fax, mail, eMail or courier. Lots will be sold to the highest bidder. If there are identical bids, the earliest received will have priority. Unlimited or "buy" bids will not be accepted, nor will bids from minors. The auctioneer reserves the right to refuse bids deemed by him not to be made in good faith.

There will also be simultaneous on-line bidding on eBay LiveAuctions. Although not essential, a highspeed modem is recommended to keep-up with the floor bidding. Proxy bids can also be placed on eBay LiveAuctions at www.ebayliveauctions.com at any time up to approximately one hour before each session.

PURCHASER’S COMMISSION: For Floor Bidders and Mail Bidders, a Purchaser’s Commission of 15% will be added to the Hammer Price. For eBay Bidders, a Purchaser’s Commission of 18% will be added to the Hammer Price. The total of the Hammer Price and the Purchaser’s Commission will constitute the Selling Price. The additional 3% charge for eBay bidders is to partly compensate for the substantial additional work required to administer successful eBay bidders and to cover part of the 5% fee charged to us by eBay.

CONDUCT OF THE AUCTION: The auctioneer will open the bidding at the higher of approximately 10% above the second highest mail bid or below the consignor’s reserve. If there are no mail bids or reserve for a lot, the auctioneer will open bidding at about 45% of the catalogue value. If there are still no bids, the auctioneer will at his discretion, either call for an opening bid or proceed to the next lot.

Bidding advances are at the discretion of the auctioneer, and will generally be in the range of 5% to 10%. Lots will be sold to the highest bidder acknowledged and accepted by the auctioneer. In any dispute between bidders and the auctioneer, the auctioneer’s decision shall be final. The auctioneer reserves the right to withdraw any lot for any reason at any time prior to its sale. Bidding will proceed at an average of 150 lots per hour.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE: Bidding in this auction will be in Canadian dollars. Mail bids received from non-Canadian addresses will be deemed to be in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated by the bidder on the bid sheet. For those wishing to bid in US dollars, bids will be converted at the exchange rates at which we can sell those bid amounts to our bank on the day of the first auction session. Normally we accept both Canadian and US dollars for account settlement; however, with the current instability of the US dollar, we may need to adjust the exchange rate between the date of the auction and the time of settlement and we reserve the right to refuse US dollars.

CATALOGUE VALUES: All values listed are in Canadian dollars. For Canadian coins, they are taken from the Canadian Coin Dealer Newsletter Retail Price Guide, from current and past Cornwell Report Valuation Guides and from the most recent Charlton Standard Catalogues. Foreign coin values are generally from Krause-Mishler Standard Catalogue of World Coins and were converted to Canadian dollars at the exchange rate current when this catalogue was prepared for printing.

When calculating your bids, bear in mind that deep discounting is mostly on rather generic coins and on those of neutral or negative eye appeal. Condition-Rare pieces and those with above average eye appeal continue to be in demand, and to command strong prices.

CHARLTON CATALOGUE NUMBERING SYSTEM: Throughout this catalogue, use is made of the Charlton Catalogue Numbering System for ease of reference by the bidder. The copyrights to this Numbering System and to these Numbers are the property of Charlton International Inc., which has granted us permission for this use.

GRADING AND DESCRIPTION OF LOTS: Many of the more important coins in this sale have been independently graded by third party certification services, mostly ICCS, NGC and PCGS, the most recognized standards for Canadian coins. Census data used in the lot descriptions are from the most recent issue of the ICCS Population Report and from the PCGS and NGC on-line Population Reports. For some of the lots, in addition to the grade, you will see the following eye appeal descriptors: "+", which is used to indicate Above Average Eye Appeal for the grade; "PQ", which is used to indicate Premium Quality, or Well Above Average Eye Appeal; and "PQ+", which is used to indicate Superb Eye Appeal. These terms, which can significantly affect the values of the coins, are used by the cataloguer (Michael Walsh) based on his personal skill and experience, and may or may not agree with the opinions of other experts.

GRADING STANDARDS: The cataloguer has taken every reasonable measure to ensure that all of the lots in this sale are as described, bearing in mind that the grading of coins is a subjective art, and not an exact science. Among experts there are often differences of opinion on both the grading and eye appeal of coins. Descriptive terminology varies from observer to observer, and from cataloguer to cataloguer, and third party certification services vary in their grading standards.

The bidder’s attention is directed to the PCGS Official Guide to Coin Grading and Counterfeit Detection, which is more easily referred to as the PCGS Grading Guide. The chapters titled "PCGS Grading Standards" and "Elements of a Coin’s Grade", show that there are distinct differences between the grading standards of Canada and those of the American grading services. PCGS uses five elements to determine the grade of a coin: Wear or Contact Marks (circulated or Mintstate); Strike; Lustre; Color and Toning; and Eye Appeal. Canadian grading uses only the first three, preferring not to factor Toning and Eye Appeal into the grade.

The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Coins says: "Toning is not a grading factor — unlike popular belief, the toning that might be present on a coin and which might add considerably to the coin’s overall eye appeal is not to be considered one of the grading elements. Toning is an enhancing feature that might affect the coins (sic) final price but not its grade." According to Haxby and Willey’s Coins of Canada, "These toning features, while an integral part of a coin’s price, do not form part of its grade assignment."

In Canada, the Eye Appeal of a coin is assessed separately and then used to determine the value of the piece. The values published in the Trends pages in each issue of Canadian Coin News generally refer to pieces with neutral or average Eye Appeal. To these values, a premium is applied for the Eye Appeal to arrive at the market value of the coin. The Cornwell Report has during the past few years presented these values in tabular form, showing values for Average, Great and Superb Eye Appeal. The incremental increase from Average to Great Eye Appeal ranges from less than 15% to as much as 150%, making some pieces worth two-and-a-half times their ordinary value. Coins with truly Superb Eye Appeal are, according to the Cornwell Report, "priced as if at the next higher technical grade level, sometimes higher".

In the PCGS Grading Guide it is stated that they take Eye Appeal into consideration in grading a coin. Their grades are generally referred to as the "Market Grade" of a coin, and it is important to understand the implications of this as more and more Canadian coins become certified by PCGS. It seems that the American and Canadian grading systems each travel by different routes to arrive at the same destination.

NGC and PCGS certify and guarantee a market grade, which includes the Technical Grade plus an Eye Appeal factor. ICCS certifies their opinion of the Technical Grade only, and leave the interpretation of a coin’s Eye Appeal factor to the owner of the coin, and often to a negotiated agreement between the buyer and the seller. This is why we very often see ICCS AU-58 coins selling for prices near, at or above MS-62 values, and PCGS MS-62 pieces cross-graded AU-58 by ICCS selling at those same MS-62 levels. Similarly, PCGS MS-66 pieces cross-graded by ICCS as MS-65 almost invariably have well above average eye appeal, and demand much stronger prices than for the ICCS Technical Grade alone.

In the final analysis, it comes down to a matter of deciding whether you want the Eye Appeal factor added in with the Technical Grade and guaranteed as a Market Grade, or whether you wish to simply have an opinion of the Technical Grade of the coin. Whatever your choice, remember that you are buying coins, not certificates or holders. Buy what you like, buy what captivates you, buy the coin based on your agreement with whatever is represented on the holder and by the seller.

There are other coin certification services, such as ACG, ANACS, ICG, PCI and SEGS. Some of these services use grading parameters and standards that are different from those used by the major services and/or their consistency in applying their grading standards is not as predictable. Generally when cataloguing such pieces, we base the catalogue estimate on the grade of the coin rather than on the grade on the certificate.

SIGHT SEEN & SIGHT UNSEEN: All of the preceding notwithstanding, there are two quite distinct markets in certified coins: the Sight Unseen market and the Sight Seen market. As its name implies, Sight Unseen refers to coins that are traded blind, based on the data on their certificates. These pieces usually trade at price levels that indicate low Eye Appeal or just-made-it-into-the-grade pieces, whether this is justified or not. While prices are generally low and there are sometimes bargains, caution is advised.

Sight Seen pertains to those coins that are available for examination prior to completion of the transaction. Included in the this category are coins that are sold face-to-face; those that are sold to floor bidders in an auction where viewing is available; and those coins that are sent on approval or for pre-auction viewing. Prices for Sight Seen coins are generally considerably stronger than for Sight Unseen.

RETURN POLICIES: Bearing in mind the preceding paragraphs, and except where noted in the descriptions of some of the bulk lots, within five days of their receipt of lots, absentee bidders may return (in their intact holders) for refund any lots that are mis-attributed or incorrectly described. Excepted from this are those bidders whose late invoice settlement causes such return to extend beyond twenty-eight days after the sale. This is to allow the Auctioneer, who is acting as an agent between the Consignors and Purchasers, to settle the Consignors’ accounts within the contracted time.

All Floor Sales are final, and no returns will be accepted from any Floor Bidder (including those acting as agents for others). Also, all lots purchased by bidders who had the opportunity to view lots prior to the sale are final.

KEEPING WITHIN A BUDGET: Many of you will be enticed by more pieces than your budget or current cash flow can comfortably encompass. To ensure that you stand a good chance of getting some of the pieces you want without exceeding your budget, send us a list of bids on all the lots that interest you, arranged in your order of priority, and stating your maximum total expenditure including Purchaser’s Commission and any applicable taxes. We will do our best to apply your bids in your sequence of priority, and keep you within budget. Bear in mind when arranging your priority list, that you might not get many of your top priorities if they are all near the end of the sale and all your lower ones are nearer the beginning.

TITLE TO AND RISK OF THE LOTS: Title to all lots remains with the auctioneer until paid for in full by the Purchaser, but each lot is held at the risk of its Purchaser from the time of sale.

SALES TAXES: On all lots delivered to addresses outside Canada, no taxes are collected. On all lots delivered to New Brunswick, Newfoundland or Nova Scotia, HST of 15% of the Selling Price (the sum of the Hammer Price and the Purchaser’s Commission) is collected. On all lots delivered in Ontario, a total of 15% is collected for GST and PST, or 7% GST only if the bidder provides the Auctioneer with his valid Vendor Registration prior to the auction. On all lots delivered to the remainder of Canada, 7% GST is collected.

LOT PICK-UP: Lots will be available for pick-up from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM on the day following each auction session.

SHIPPING & INSURANCE: All lots not picked-up after the sale will be shipped to their purchasers. We provide our own insurance through separate arrangements, and to be eligible for insurance all packages must have a postal or courier tracking number. Within Canada the purchaser will be charged $8.00 plus one third of one percent of the invoice value plus 25¢ per enclosed piece. For shipments to the USA, add $7.00 to the result of these calculations; for shipments to all other countries, add $15.00. If the purchaser waives insurance and accepts all risks, the package can be sent regular parcel post.

ACCOUNT SETTLEMENT: Generally, for well established clients, your lots are shipped when your cheque is received. For new or infrequent clients, we must clear your cheque before shipping your lots. If you are in a rush, you might consider a Certified Cheque or Money Order, or you can deposit directly to our TD Canada Trust account from any TD Canada Trust branch in Canada. We accept Visa and MasterCard at a 2% premium. PayPal does not allow surcharges, and since the high fees they charge take a huge percentage out of our commission, we no longer accept it for auction settlement. You can convince us to change our mind and accept your payment by PayPal by adding 3.3% to your invoice. On all amounts not paid within one month of the auction, interest at 1% per month, calculated from the date of the auction, will be added.