Noble Numismatics Sale 90 - Just How Much Fun Will It Be?

I'm writing this in the lounge at Perth Airport, while waiting for my flight in about half an hour, quietly pleased that I was able to pass without incident about 3 dozen men in denim and leather downstairs (and no, there is not a Village People S&M convention in town).

I've spoken with a few people about the Noble Sale over the past few weeks, and more than a few have remarked at the apparent lack of stock available. I say apparent because even in a quiet Noble sale, my experience is that there is always something to buy, even if initial appearances might suggest otherwise.

It's a sign of my times that the best analogy I can come up with for this auction at this stage in my life (early fatherhood) that this auction could very well yield exactly that which Jafar (himself of the relatively recent Disney animated movie Aladdin) lusted after - a diamond in the rough. In my case, I will not be searching for a teenage boy of Arabian descent and a pure heart (such things always end in tragedy, our mate Jafar ended up captured in a genie's lamp for all time), but a numismatic rarity of incalculable value that has been overlooked by everyone else in attendance at the sale.

Such rarities come but once or twice a year (Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus), so I expect I will have to settle for grinding the next few days out against my fellow numismatists, bidding on the same material that we all know is included. When it comes to generic material that is saleable and has an agreed value, the winner ends up being the guy or gal that is able to work on the leanest margin.

Taking a punt on attending this auction, just like any other, means that you / we / I have to run the risk that you / we / I make no money at all, and thus waste our time. Although this may indeed be the case, I console myself with the maxim that fortune favours the brave, and I for one am not about to stop taking a punt on the possibility that the universe will provide. (Please refer to the Secret for a populist explanation regarding the laws of attraction and abundance).

So yes, there may not be much in the Noble Sale, and times may be lean at the moment, but that sure doesn't mean that we can't buy what we need to get for our collections at the moment, we may just need to go about our business slightly differently in order to get them.