auctioneering

Long time

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 20:07:21 GMT

So, it's been a goodly number of months since I posted anything to this blog. One reason is that I've hardly been doing the ebay grind as I've actually been holding live auctions. This, in my opinion, has been a very good thing, indeed.

After my first auction, I had quite a bit of leftover merchandise. The consignor didn't wish to take these items back (the house had been sold), so I made an offer to purchase them, myself, with the idea that I might use these things to sell on ebay through the winter. The first of these auction is going online as I type.

Currently I am listing six authentic piece of Edwardian gentleman's formal ware. I have high hopes for some of this stuff. Anyone want to follow along? Click here for the excitement!

So you can see (if you care to look) that all the items are starting at $19.99. Anyone care to venture a guess as to the final sales figure of the six items combined? Keep in mind that I offered these as a trunk-full of suits at two different auctions and got no interested bidders. Personally, I think people really missed the boat on this one.

Oh, and if anyone wants to buy one of these pieces, I'll offer you a 10% discount (just pay me 10% than the final bid) and I'll even deliver it locally for free.

At the auction last night

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 05:10:34 GMT

So, I went to another auction last night. This was the second batch of stuff this auctioneer had, the first batch of which was the auction I went to last Monday. The auctioneer had claimed last week that he just grabbed stuff as he saw it the previous week, and that each time he dipped into this well of stuff he'd be pulling out a mixed ag of the same quality. Well, that was him speaking with a bit of creative license, but auctioneers are known to stretch that sort of truth a bit. The stuff from last night wasn't bad, per se, but it did lack that higher-quality edge that existed the week before.

Having said all that, though, I did manage to spend more money this week than last. How? Well, with lower-quality merchandise comes less competition for what's there. The crowd was smaller, and there was less buzz about what was there. Besides...this week I bought a little sex.

Actually, what I bought was Sex that book Madonna made a few years ago. This set me back to the tune of $125 plus 15%. The quick research I'd done had that book selling for between $200 and $300 on ebay. Subsequent research has shown it selling for less, but those lower prices were found in the non-book categories. Sometimes it's all about merchandising.

I also bought an RS Poland hatpin holder filled with hatpins for $45 plus 15%. It turns out that the hatpin holder is likely to be a forgery. I didn't like the signature mark on it the night of the sale, and I like it less, now. It's crude and the quality of the china is thick and heavy. Reinhold Schleigelmilch (the titular RS) porcelains (there are marks for Poland, Germany, Prussia, Silesia, and Suhl) are fine and delicate. An actual RS Poland hatpin holder would have been worth around $150-225. As a knock-off, it's worth about $15. But, there are also ten hatpins. I believe these hatpins are worth between $5 and $25 apiece, so I don't anticipate losing money on this one.

I also bought a lot of chintz china. Chintz describes a family of English-made porcelains that are dense with flowers in the pattern. Chintz is a fairly popular sub-category of porcelain, so I hope to do well with these pieces. There is a butter dish I feel is worth about $45, and a creamer and sugar set that should be worth around $50-60. I paid $45 plus 15% for the lot.

One more speculative purchase I made was a set of dessert plates. More specifically, there are two sets. One set is worth maybe $20 and isn't anything special. The other set, though, is Royal Doulton. Royal Doulton can be deceiving. Sometimes there are pieces that can be common and, therefor, not terribly valuable. These plates, though, seem pretty exceptional. I presume, due to the quality, that they were expensive when new, and will hopefully retain their value. There are five plates which I hope will bring something on the order of $10-25 apiece. I need to find the pattern, though, which will help me substantiate their value. Research lies ahead. There are five Doulton plates and I spent a total of $40 plus 15%.

Just for grins, I bought a collection of thimbles for $12.50 plus 15%. There are about forty, total. It will be interesting to see if they're worth anything.

The last thing I bought is this shield thing. I thought maybe one of my Pennsic-bound (or otherwise SCAdian) friends might like a bit of decoration. If anyone knows someone who might need a great big Midieval shield thingy let me know. I am willing to part with it at cost, which was $22.50 plus 15%.

I currently have 55 items for sale at ebay. The link is on my user info page. Currently 15 have bids totaling $116.16. I fully expect that will increase fairly significantly by the end of the week.

Another auction attended, and more stuff for sale

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 20:37:07 GMT

Wow, this blogging thing can really fall by the way-side if you don't stay on top of it.

First off, I went to another auction this weekend. This was Saturday morning in Malden. I had, like, zero prep time. I'd been bummed about the lack of estate sales this weekend, and none of the auctions advertised in the Antiques & Arts Weekly for this weekend really jazzed me. Saturday morning I cracked open the laptop and surfed over to look in the collectibles section of Craigslist where I found an ad for an auction THAT DAY. Not only was the auction that day, but the preview started 20 minutes ago, and the auction starts in an hour and forty minutes. Yikes!

I hop into the shower, quick scrub, and I'm out the door. I spent about an hour previewing that sale. Mostly, it was a load of junk. There were, however, a few items I was interested in. One was an old Coca Cola menu board that was from about the 1940s or 50s. Another was a toy cap gun from The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in the original packaging. On both those items, I dropped out of the bidding early, though, with the Coke board selling for $60 (I bid to $50) and the cap gun going for $180 (I bid to $125). I did manage to stick around until the end, though, and picked up a few lots. Here's what I got:

Dionne Quintuplets Scrapbook $14.13
Depression Glass Rolling Pin $5.65
Slag Glass Shade $67.80
Asst Mixer Tray Lot $39.55
Asst Tray Lot (Fire King oven glass) $11.30
Three Carnival glass tumblers (Dahlia pattern) $23.90

If the prices seem weird, that's because they charge a bizarre 13% buyer's premium.

The rolling pin and the Fire King oven glass I may simply be keeping. I like Depression glass, and I've wanted a glass rolling pin for quite some time. I have a decent-sized collection of Fire King oven glass, already, and this was a good, cheap pick-up.

In this lot, though, there are some gems. The slag glass shade is part of a project lamp I am hoping to put together. I love 1930s lamps, and this is a cheap enough pick up. If I throw a good base with it, which might cost me another $75-125, I could wind up with a $400-600 lamp. Not too bad.

The Quints scrapbook was just a speculative buy and it was to do something to work out my bidding arm. I'd sat there for nearly two hours and hadn't bid on a thing. The most I can lose is $14.13, but someone will pay something for it. People love Dionne Quintuplets stuff.

The real find, though, was the carnival glass tumblers. These were the very last item in the auction. They were on a tray with some other stuff, all of which I paid 33.90 for. After I bought them, I approach the lady I'd been bidding against and told her all I wanted was the tumblers and asked if she wanted to make me an offer on what was left. She gave me ten bucks, and I was happy. After doing some research, I discovered that the tumbler pattern is called Dahlia. It's actually quite desirable. Ebay records have them selling for between $80 and $165 apiece. Yep, a pretty reasonable profit potential there.

And that, folks, is why I do this, and that's why I stay until the end of most sales. You just never know what you're going to find.

I have a bunch of stuff listed for sale, right now, including all those various candlesticks. An 18th century Scottish embroidery sampler, and a Jeep I have on consignment from my landlord. It's all right here.

Ok, I'm off to another auction!

Overdue update

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 02:07:43 GMT

So, I have been a busy bee, therefor, I've not been as timely with the updates as I'd have liked. I have quite a few things currently listed on ebay. I started the auctions on Thursday and I'm running them for a week, so they'll end their run next Thursday. Let's take a look at a selection of items:

A 1943 Wall Pocket Vase titled "Victory Baby" I paid $23.00 for this ($20 plus 15% buyers premium). Wall pockets are made today, but are much less in vogue. Wall pockets are just vases meant to hang on the wall rather than be placed on a flat surface. I like that this one is signed by the artist, and it's also a nice, patriotic theme (promoting victory in WWII), which should help its cross-collectibility. I anticipate $70-125 for this item.

A very nice art deco hooked rug. I paid $40.25 for this. Rugs can be a mixed bag on ebay. I haven't sold a rug since about 2000, but it's bee my experience that geometric designs sell much better than florals. Good folk art designs sell best, though, especially if they have an Americana feel to them. I feel like this is a strong design, though, and anticipated $65-100.

I bought two sets of bookends in one lot for a combined $34.50.The first set is a cut silhouette design. And the second is a painted silhouette. I prefer the first design, but others I've shown these to have liked the second, better. They're both from the 1930s, I believe. I have wanted to dabble in bookends, and these seemed a reasonably-priced way to dip my foot in the pool. I feel like the painted set is worth about $20-30, while the cut set is worth about $35-45.

Another bunched lot I bought was a group of Japanese-made porcelain. This was all made-for-export stuff from the 1930s and 1950s. Among the set I got a lusterware jam pot, a lusterware condiment set in the shape of a boat, a lusterware celery set (I originally misidentified this in my ad as a nut set. A fellow ebayer pointed out the error of my ways.), an Imari pattern condiment set (as opposed to actual Imari, which is a 19th century porcelain), and a cute but unmarked nut set decorated with cherries. I paid the princely sum of $17.25 for all these pieces. I already have bids in hand totaling $27 for all them, and I fully expect that I will exceed $100 on this lot, and perhaps get as high as $200. This lot was a very good purchase.

Another lot I purchased was a group of American Modern dinnerware by a company called Russell Wright. I bought this, primarily, because a friend of mine had started to collect it. He's since decided to put his collecting effort into other avenues, so I am parceling out this group. I only expect to more or less break even on the $63.25 I spent. There are six different lots for sale out of this grouping, and I am finding it too tedious to make all the links for it. If you go to my user info page, though, I am keeping a permanent link to all the items I have for sale on ebay at any given time.

More after dinner including another auction attended.

A quick auction recap

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 05:53:58 GMT

Well, it'd been a couple years since I'd attended a good, live auction. I really enjoyed things tonight. The auctioneer moved things along at a fairly brisk pace. The hall was kind of cramped, but I often feel that helps move things along. If the place is too comfortable, people relax and they move at a more languid pace.

As far as my hopes and dreams of purchases this evening, all of them were dashed on the rocky shoals of the competition. The Frankart lamp I hoped to get for $325? I stayed with the bidding up to $475 (gulp) but it actually sold for $1125 plus a 15% buyer's premium (All items sold at tonight's auction were subject to a 15% surcharge called a buyer's premium. Simply put, if something was hammered down for $100, the buy had to actually pay $115.) The Coke sign I wanted for $200? Sold for $225. The $100 I wanted to spend for the Hopalong Cassidy collection? Not even a shadow of the $350 final price.

So does this mean I got nothing? Hardly. Here's a dry list of what I bought and what I paid:

Trolley photograph $23.00
2 pair art deco bookends $34.50
lot of candlesticks $34.50
Russell Wright American Modern set $63.25
Noritake/Nippon Luster lot $17.25
Victory baby wall pocket $23.00
Art Deco hooked rug $40.25
2 toy Soviet tanks $17.25

Tomorrow, I'll be posting more detailed thoughts about these items and trying to get some stuff posted up for sale. I spent $253 total tonight, and I am largely happy with my purchases and initial research findings. I definitely predict a profitable end result of this auction. Juat how profitable will be determined soon.

Auction preview

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 14:58:58 GMT

So, yesterday I went to a preview of an auction that is being held today. As I'm sure most people can glean, a preview is an advanced viewing of the merchandise that will be up for auction. This give you an opportunity to see the condition of things, so you can make a reasonably informed purchase.

Now, this event was a little out of the ordinary. Generally speaking, auction previews immediately precede the auction, itself, thus making it a single-day event. For this particular auction, though, the auctioneer decided that he wanted to have a longer preview period. I imagine he did this because he knows there are other good auctions on Monday night, and he wants his customers to have the opportunity to come see his merchandise and perhaps leave some bids on things before going to other sales. Not a ad idea, if you think about it. This gives the customer a chance to be in two places at one time.

So what did I find? There were several things of interest to me, although not as much as I'd hoped. If you recall, in my original post about the auction, there was not a lot of detail given, just a hint of the tons of collectibles found from the basement to the attic, and everywhere in between. Well, there was a good amount of stuff there, I will grant you, but only a small-ish subset of it interested me.

One of the things I am most excited about is a lamp by a company called Frankart. This lamp was in reasonably good condition, in original paint, with the original glass shade. There is a similar lamp currently for sale on ebay. As you can see, the current selling price is nothing to be scoffed at. The condition is similar, in that there is a small chip on the shade of the lamp I am interested in, and a hairline crack on the ebay lamp. Both lamps have had some paint loss. I am setting a cap of $325 for my own bidding on this lamp.

Another piece I am pretty enthusiastic about is a Coca Cola advertising sign. It's definitely vintage, probably from the 1920s or 30s, but it's not a traditional logo piece. In other words, it lacks that cursive script logo that you think of when you think of Coca Cola advertising. The sign reads "Coke 5¢ At The Fountain". The sign is pretty big at about 32" x 12", and it largely intact. In the early days, well before "branding", it wasn't uncommon for these logo-free advertisements to exist. They can still have some real appeal. I haven't decided what my ceiling on the piece is, yet. I want to kind of take the temperature of the crowd and see how things are going. I don't want to make too-speculative an investment, but my feeling is that the sign is worth $500+.

There's a really beautiful glass teapot made by the H.C. Fry Glass Company in the 1920s. My research has it valued around $85, so I'd love to get it for less than $40.

I'm also interested in a group of Hopalong Cassidy toys. Hopalong Cassidy was a western movie star in the 40s and 50s, and there was just a ton of "Hoppy" merchandise manufactured (think Star Wars). Hopealong Cassidy collectibles are fairly desirable today, and there is a lot of about a dozen items that are coming up for auction tonight. My goal is to snag them in the $90-100 range.

On top of all this, there's a Juicy Fruit advertising poster ($25) from the 50s, a Lone Ranger tin lithographed shooting target from 1938 ($15), and a Weller pottery vase ($25) I wouldn't mind getting. I'll also, of course, be keeping my eyes peeled, in general, for some tasty deals. Hopefully I'll have some good news to report tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Saturday work day

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 19:18:33 GMT

So I needed to put in some time today. I had several ebay auctions that I got paid for yesterday, so I needed to prepare for shipping. I also was getting my storeroom in order. I had basically been using it to keep empty boxes and packing materials, while my office was drowning in merchandise. I also used my office as a shooting gallery.

I decided I wanted a more professional looking office, especially since I have my spiffy new sign hanging up, so I moved the majority of my inventory, my photography operation, and a bunch of detritous down to the storeroom, and hope to spend the next week getting my office in good shape.

I also took some pictures of my Friday purchases.

So, if anyone wants to bowler hat, I'd happily sell it for $10. It's a size 7 1/8 and I think it would look pretty dashing on dan4th. Any takers?

Today's tally and some initial research

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 04:31:30 GMT

So, for the take today I did pretty well:

$35.00 Great Expectations
$5.00 Set of six Classics Illustrated
$15.29 Five mixed DC Golden Age Comics
$5.00 Antique Boys' magazine
$45.00 1956 Time magazine w/ Marilyn Monroe cover
-------
$105.29 Total
-$30.00 Cost
-------
$75.29 profit, so far, with 15 magazine auctions still pending

As for initial research on today's purchases, I have discovered a few things:

The doll's head is probably worth somewhere around what I paid for it ($35). Things it has going for it include the fact that it's not cracked or chipped, and that it's an open mouth head with four teeth showing. On the down side, the hair is in rough shape and the eyelashes are missing. We'll see.

The return on the Aurora slot car kit seems promising. I paid $3 for it, and Jackie Stewart signature kits from the mid-70s (which this is) have sold on ebay for between $10.50 and $72.99. I need to see which track layout this one is to make a better determination, and I am also going to try setting it up and running it.

The Nancy Drew books turned out to not be Nancy Drew books at all. I saw the name Carolyn Keene, and jumped the gun. This is another series she did called the Dana Girls. I'll have to look into those.

So far so good

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 21:53:38 GMT

That Classics Illustrated wound up selling for $35. The same bidder also bought another lot of six more Classics Illustrated Comics for another $5. These included a couple of first editions and four later editions. They were all in rough shape, but they did have age working for them. To give a rough idea of the comparative values, the Great Expectations issue has a Near Mint (NM) book value of $675 (Comics are graded on a 100 point condition scale. NM is a 94 and only has one ever-so-slight flaw. These books I am selling are in 10-25 condition, which represents a significant drop-off in value. These books are basically the lowest possible condition grade a book can get while still complete. To grade lower, there would have to be pages missing.) The best NM book value of the set of six was only $80. The Great Expectations was really scarce.

Obsessive ebay checking

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 20:27:10 GMT

You can ask my girlfriend, when I am selling stuff on ebay, I check the current bids, like, once an hour, when I have computer and net access. I will not be posting updates nearly that frequently, but I am going to try including a vital statistics line with the current value of bids.

So, as of right now, I have bids on four items, all from that $30 box of magazines and comics I bought a week ago. Current value of those bids is $94.79. The Marilyn Monroe magazine is being a strong performer at $45 on its own, while the Classics Illustrated issue of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations is also doing well at $31.00.

What's really great, is that I have a second wave of items from this box that will be ending on Tuesday. Even if those magazines only hit their opening bids of $4.99 apiece, and the current items selling don't raise a penny, that will be nearly $175 out of that box. A nice return on a $30 investment in just a week. An investment, mind you, that I hemmed and hawed about making.

The haul

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 17:36:22 GMT

Ok, so I am back from my day at estate sales. Here's what I picked up:

$14 6 Editions of Nancy Drew Mysteries with purple bindings
$35 Armand Marseille Bisque doll head with sleepy eyes
$3 Aurora 1970s vintage slot racing set
$5 Vintage bowler hat with partial original hat box
$5 full carrying case of Matchbox cars
$10 Hickory-shaft golf club
$5 Gavel in the original box

So, as you can imagine, I am keeping the gavel. I hadn't, yet, bought one for myself, and this seemed like fate.

The golf club, the Matchbox cars, and the slot car set are all gambles. At a total investment of $18, though, they're worthwhile gambles. I need to go through the Matchbox cars and see if I have any rare editions in there. I doubt I have anything super-rare, but one never knows. There are subtle color variations that can make a huge difference in value. I've never delt in any slot cars, so I thought it would be a cheap way to motivate myself to do some research. The golf club has a St. Andrews mark (a golf course in Great Britain) and so I am curious about it.

The nancy Drew books are likely to go to my ex. She's a big Nancy Drew fan. If they turn out to be rare variations, though, which they might be, I know she'd understand if they went to market.

The bowler hat I just thought was neat. It's far too small for me, but I thought I'd check with my friends and see if anyone was interested before I tried selling it. It's a very nice hat.

Pictures soon.

Current ebay sales

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:42:18 GMT

A list of items I have currently for sale on ebay.

Estate Sale

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:40:21 GMT

It's 8:25 and I am in Rockport, MA. The estate sale was advertised in the Globe on Thursday. That's the day to get the Globe for the best estate sale ads. Sadly, with print space being at such a premium, it can e tough to know which sale to attend. There were three to choose from today: Needham, Nahant, and Rockport.

The Rockport ad had the least information: "Antiques, furn, much more!" was all the info I had. I rolled the dice on the town, and hope it will prove to be w owrthwhile gamble. Needham could have been a good sale, but I really didn't want to fight my way through the city traffic. I will probably hit the Nahant sale after this one, and figure things out from there.

This sale, as seems to e the norm around here, starts at 9am. You can arrive early, though, and get issued a number. The number simply states your arrival order, since they only let a limited number of buyers into the house at one time. Today, I am number 4.

Estate sales can be something of a mixed bag. They tend to be managed by people who have a reasonable amount of experience with antiques and collectibles. Because of that, margins can be a bit tight. The one thing going for them, though, is that they are designed to clear out everything. Because of that, prices tend to be somewhere around wholesale.

I went to an estate sale last week out in Winthrop. I bought a paperback book for myself for a buck, a gift for someone else, which was also a buck, and a mixed box of comic books and adolescent boys' magazines for $30. So far, out of that box, I managed to find a rare issue of Classics Illustrated, a few 1950s Superman comics, and a Marilyn Monroe-covered issue of Time magazine from 1956. Those items alone are currently selling for $66 on ebay and the boys' magazines are ending next week. Not too bad a pickup.

Today, ideally, I'd like to spend about $150-250. I figure if I do that, I will at least double my money. We'll see. Wish me luck.

Taxes

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:50:23 GMT

One question that came up, regarding the possible antiques investment fund, was about the possible tax implications. If I do go forward with this idea, I will be setting this up like any other investment fund you might buy in to. There will be contracts and everything that spell out my obligations, fees, and what reports I need to file for shareholders.

This will be, hopefully, a fun thing, but it will also be an investment as far as the government is concerned.

Welcome

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:37:11 GMT

So, as I said, this Sunday I'll be attending an auction in Medford. The auction is the liquidation of an estate in Newburyport.

This truly unbelievable estate auction will offer the jam packed contents of a fine Newburyport Estate,
4 floors loaded, 3 long days, 6 full truckloads, then there’s the summer house on Plum Island,
say what that’s right there is more, send 2 more trucks and we can’t fit it all, you’ll see!

There is so much stuff I don’t know where to begin. The attic was loaded floor to ceiling with packed away boxes, anybody’s guess?
Items at the top of boxes we could see, rose tapestry, hundreds of old silhouettes, art pottery, old toys, Art Deco items, jewelry, dolls, advertising,
trinkets, the list keeps going on and one, and its all top quality items, the furniture 10 piece banded inlaid Beacon Hill collection dining room set;
inlaid bedroom sets; Mission oak furniture; country pine furniture; Oriental rugs; over 100 fine porcelain German figurines.
This estate had everything imaginable. So preview is an absolute MUST. How many lots in this auction?
How many items, thousands and thousands. Seeing is believing.
It will take several auctions to sell it all (per executor).
Nobody offers it like Arthur, always fast paced estate fresh unreserved
No games, no gimmicks, just true exciting honest auction always!
See you Monday night. Just a peek! Don’t miss it!!!
This ad was in the Antiques & Arts Weekly, which is pretty much the auction bible for the Northeastern US. I first learned about the auction on Craigslist, (the collectibles section I obsessively check several times a day).

So at this auction, as almost always, I will be focusing on "smalls". "Smalls" is a general antique term which, in general, means anything you can fit into a box. When I first started dealing in antique with my then-wife, we started specializing in depression glass (glassware made during the depression era). We moved on to other areas of interest, such as porcelains, cast iron cookware, comic books, ephemera, and most anything we felt we could buy low and sell high. Since our primary markplaces for selling were flea markets and antique shows, and since we didn't have a big truck, we stuck to non-furniture items. As such, this is what I have the greatest amount of expertise about.

I've already done some preliminary market research on the "rose tapestry" mentioned. Rose tapestry isn't a tapestry at all, it's actually fine porcelain made by a German company called Royal Bayreuth. It's distinguished by a cloth-like, textured surface to the porcelain, very unlike the high-glazed finish you'd normally expect. In my experience, rose tapestry is pretty valuable and highly sought after. Sadly, though, the ebay market seems fairly depressed for this wonderful ware. Unusual pieces seem to be bringing about 70% of book value, whereas more utilitarian pieces are bringing more like 15% of book value. This is part of what is bad about ebay. The rare and unusual has become commonplace, and thus, the market has dipped. We'll see what pieces they have at the sale, though.

Anyway, I hope the blog is something worth reading. Keep those cards and letters coming.