# GreatCollections Coin Auction Scraper (`lulzasaur/greatcollections-scraper`) Actor

Scrape live coin and currency auctions from GreatCollections.com. Search by keyword or browse by denomination. Extracts title, grade, certification number, current bid, end date, images, and coin specs.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lulzasaur/greatcollections-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [lulz bot](https://apify.com/lulzasaur) (community)
- **Categories:** Other
- **Stats:** 6 total users, 1 monthly users, 98.5% runs succeeded, 1 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $10.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## GreatCollections Scraper - Coin & Currency Auctions

Scrape graded **coin and currency auctions** from [GreatCollections.com](https://www.greatcollections.com) — one of the largest certified coin auction houses, having sold over 1,000,000 PCGS, NGC, CACG, ANACS and PMG certified coins and paper money.

Perfect for numismatic price research, grading arbitrage ("is it worth grading?"), populating a coin price database, building deal alerts, or complementing PSA/NGC/PCGS population data with live auction and realized-price comps.

### What it does

Search GreatCollections and get clean, structured coin-lot data:

- **Keyword search** — e.g. `Morgan Dollar`, `1909-S VDB`, `PCGS MS-65`, `Gold Eagle`, `CAC`, `Toned`
- **Multiple queries** — pass an array; each is searched separately
- **Live auctions** — current bid, bid count, time left
- **Sold / realized prices** — closed lots return their realized sold price
- **Parsed attributes** — grade, grading service, year, proof flag, CAC approval pulled from each title
- **Optional detail pages** — certification number, denomination, series, mintage, mint location, composition, strike type and industry number

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `searchQueries` | array | Keywords to search. Each query is searched separately. |
| `maxResults` | integer | Max lots to scrape across all queries. `0` = unlimited. Default `50`. |
| `scrapeDetails` | boolean | Fetch each coin's detail page for cert number, denomination, series, mintage, etc. Slower but richer. Default `false`. |
| `sortBy` | enum | `newest`, `endingSoon`, `priceLow`, `priceHigh`. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | object | Optional proxy settings. |

### Output

Each coin lot returns (fields after `imageUrl` only present when `scrapeDetails` is on):

```json
{
    "itemId": "2174934",
    "title": "1878-S Morgan Silver Dollar PCGS AU-55 (Toned)",
    "gradingService": "PCGS",
    "grade": "AU-55",
    "year": 1878,
    "isProof": false,
    "cacApproved": false,
    "status": "live",
    "currentBid": 42,
    "soldPrice": null,
    "buyNowPrice": null,
    "bidCount": 6,
    "timeLeft": "4d, 5h",
    "listingUrl": "https://www.greatcollections.com/Coin/2174934/1878-S-Morgan-Silver-Dollar-PCGS-AU-55",
    "imageUrl": "https://photos.greatcollections.com/.../2174934-1.jpg",
    "certNumber": "25325814",
    "denomination": "$1",
    "country": "United States",
    "series": "Morgan Silver Dollar",
    "mintLocation": "San Francisco",
    "mintage": "9,774,000",
    "composition": "90% Silver, 10% Copper",
    "strikeType": "Business Strike",
    "industryNumber": "7080",
    "gradingServiceFull": "PCGS AU-55",
    "searchQuery": "Morgan Dollar",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-06-24T08:18:51.445Z"
}
```

### Field notes

- `status` — `live` (open auction), `sold` (realized price available), `closed`, or `buyNow`.
- `currentBid` is the live high bid; `soldPrice` is the realized price on closed lots.
- `gradingService`, `grade`, `year`, `isProof`, `cacApproved` are parsed from the title and best-effort.
- For guaranteed `certNumber` and full coin specs, enable `scrapeDetails`.

### Notes

- Fast Cheerio/HTTP scraper — no headless browser required.
- All prices are in U.S. Dollars.
- For very large runs, enable Apify Residential proxy in `proxyConfiguration`.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQueries` (type: `array`):

Keywords to search across GreatCollections coin & currency auctions (e.g. 'Morgan Dollar', '1909-S VDB', 'PCGS MS-65', 'Gold Eagle', 'CAC'). Each query is searched separately. Leave empty to browse current auctions broadly.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of coin lots to scrape (across all queries combined). Set to 0 for unlimited (all available results). Default is 50.

## `scrapeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch each coin's detail page for richer data: certification number, denomination, series, mint location, mintage, composition, strike type and industry number. Slower (one extra request per coin) but much more complete.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

How to sort search results.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Proxy settings. GreatCollections challenges most direct/residential traffic, so the Apify datacenter proxy is enabled by default and is recommended — leave this on. (Residential IPs are typically blocked by the site.)

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQueries": [
    "Morgan Dollar"
  ],
  "maxResults": 50,
  "scrapeDetails": false,
  "sortBy": "newest",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQueries": [
        "Morgan Dollar"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": true
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lulzasaur/greatcollections-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "searchQueries": ["Morgan Dollar"],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lulzasaur/greatcollections-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQueries": [
    "Morgan Dollar"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}' |
apify call lulzasaur/greatcollections-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=lulzasaur/greatcollections-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/hvMbZf5klbfIBQzrc/builds/hBpY9iK0jlCRy18Hd/openapi.json