1970 Pontiac GTO (The Judge) and gold and silver coins will headline Tim's Inc. auction, Sept. 30 A 1970 Pontiac GTO (“The Judge”) in original condition and hundreds of fine gold and silver coins are just some of what bidders can expect when they attend a Fall Sizzler Estate Extravaganza Auction.
News-Antique.com - Sep 21,2012 - (BRISTOL, Conn.) – A 1970 Pontiac GTO (“The Judge”) in original condition, a large single-owner lifetime stamp collection, hundreds of fine gold and silver coins, vintage clocks and antique furnishings are just some of what bidders can expect when they attend the first-ever Fall Sizzler Estate Extravaganza Auction scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 30, by Tim’s Inc. Auctions.
The inaugural event will be held at Tim’s, Inc. Auctions' gallery facility, located at 1185 Farmington Avenue (Route 6) in Bristol. More than 1,000 quality lots are expected to cross the block, making it comparable in size to Tim’s, Inc. Auction’s last Cabin Fever Auction held in March. And, said Tim Chapulis, the firm’s owner, there are similarities between the two sales.
“We’ve got so much wonderful estate merchandise packed into one day, just like Cabin Fever, all of it items drawn from local estates and collections,” Chapulis said, He mentioned a bank-sealed bag of fine silver coins with a face value of $1,000, that will be sold as one lot.
Chapulis said it took 12 hours and 15 minutes to sell everything in Cabin Fever. “This will be the same thing,” he said, “a marathon – it might go ‘til midnight, maybe 1 o’clock in the morning. We’ll be selling wonderful merchandise until it’s all gone.” There are six major estates being liquidated.
To borrow a line from Sammy Davis, Jr. on TV's Laugh-In, “Here comes the judge!” The probable headliner of the auction will be the 1970 Pontiac GTO (“The Judge”), in part because it is a desirable muscle car from the era and in part because of its impeccable provenance. The car is from the original owner, who purchased it new in West Hartford for $4,400 in 1969. The light green “Pon-Pon,” with a dark green top, has been stored and garaged for the past 34-plus years.
Features of the car include matching VIN numbers, Hurst 4-speed transmission, a 400 cubic inch engine (rated at 366 horse power) and Quadrajet four-barrel carburetor. The interior is all-original. “We’re offering the car in ‘as-found’ condition, but the fact is it’s been stored in a nice dry garage for years,” Chapulis said. “We’ve estimated it will sell for $15,000-$25,000.”
Chapulis described the massive single-owner stamp collection as “one of the largest and most important collections we've ever sold,” adding, “It will probably end up being 200 lots or so, and it will appeal to just about any collector, with great U.S. and international examples.”
The coins, too, are certain to spark fierce bidding wars, for two reasons: many are highly collectible and the silver and gold content makes them desirable for the sheer weight alone. The aforementioned bag of silver coins has an estimated market value of around $25,000 (Chapulis said it would fetch $15,000-$25,000). And the gold coins, of course, will get paddles wagging.
Nearly 100 gold coins will come under the gavel, to include half-ounce Panda gold coins from 1983. In all, aroud 800 lots of coins will be sold, among
