Guys, really looking forward to learning from you on auctions, both as buyer and seller. I am selling off my childhood collection but as I go through it, I don't really see anything that is so premium that it would be auction house worthy (my cards are mostly 60s and early 70s). Are there some stereotypes of items that sell better? Is it more rare cards or rare grades or is memorabilia more what would be auction worthy? I did join one auction house as the baseball memorabilia seemed to be under bid but I was afraid of some of the authentication and then there is a significant buyer premium which can push the final sale over the market value. Any tips around finding deals would be great as well as the better auction houses in your opinion. TY!
Maybe Al or Ryan will chime in, but here's my quick take. If selling, the key is to figure out: what auction house (if any) sells the stuff you're looking to sell? If you look at VCP for example, where are those comps coming from?
If you have bulk 1960's mid grade HOF etc. it probably makes most sense to send to an eBay consignor, unless you have a lot that makes sense for an auction house. That stuff, cool as it is, is not really auction catalog worthy. That doesn't mean it's not valuable or desirable--just that an auction house is not the best venue.
When shopping for deals and steals I look for stuff that's not described well. Example, I was looking at a Cuban album one time and in the description the auction house (not LOTG or Cuban Baseball lol) listed "key cards": Dolph Luque, Andres Fleitas (?) and made no mention of HOF Martin Dihigo--the most valuable card in the set! Ha.
Another time I was in on a photo that was listed as "marked / written on"--with no mention that the writing and signature were of one of the (famous) players IN the picture!
Sometimes you can find lot deals and often not all cards / pictures are even included in the description.
And sometimes "regular vintage" flies under the radar in a big auction with many marquee lots.
Just some thoughts!
Thanks, Matt. Great advice and insight. Knowing simple common sense applies to auctions as well shouldn't surprise us. I mean, I wear out PSA and other sites for comps before buying/selling direct. Always appreciative of the experts here.
Hi Keith:
Thanks for being patient with me as I got the auction complete!
I definitely recommend registering to bid with an auction house. Most of us require bidder references, so the best way to get started is with a smaller auction house, perhaps using your eBay feedback as a reference. Then, familiarize yourself with the general process - all the auctions are slightly different from one another, but they're mostly similar. The process is different from eBay, though, and more akin to what you'd see in a live auction.
I think what you'll find is that auctions are not really all that intimidating once you get the hang of it. You'll also find that there are all different kinds of auction houses - some that specialize in lower-cost items in collector grades, some that specialize in more rare items that sometimes attain high prices, some that specialize in modern cards, some that specialize in prewar, etc.
As for selling your own material through an auction, chances are pretty good that there's an auction house out there for you. The thing to bear in mind is this: ALL of us who collect wind up with piles of low-value cards and memorabilia in our collections that are difficult to sell or trade. Generally, auction houses are no more interested in/able to sell that type of item than anyone else. Where a good auction house really shines is in curating a sale and presenting items in a cohesive kind of way that lets collectors see things all in one place, putting together a compelling presentation that encourages bidders - and also in bringing bidders to the table who might not otherwise know/trust/be interested in the item in question.
As far as tips for finding deals at auction is concerned, I would caution you to deal with trustworthy, reputable auction companies. There are a lot of sharks out there, and trying to find an awesome bargain can lead to issues. I just had a really good consignor and fairly knowledgeable guy call me up to tell me about a tiny auction house he found, which had some interesting autographed items. He spent about $10K with them, thinking he got a great deal, and every autograph he bought was a forgery. I see people shopping at no-name auction companies, estate sales, flea markets, antique malls, garage sales - and more often than not, if they stray outside their areas of knowledge, they wind up with something counterfeit, or doctored, or just not worth what they think. So my advice there would be to stay within your area of expertise, and be diligent - there are deals out there, but most of the time, the old adage applies - if it seems too good to be true, it probably is!
Good luck,
Al
Al Crisafulli
www.lotgauctions.com
