AH guys - ask me anything?

[Orioles1954]

I'll answer that one. We have 5 lines for auction night calls and we always have 2-3 going from 6 PM to Midnight and often have all 5 lines operating, especially when initial bids have to be in by 10....pretty non-stop. Most of the callers tend to be older.

[UKCardGuy]

Great idea for a thread. I have a question:

Do you have have specific theme for an auction and actively seek consignments for that theme or does a theme evolve from the consignments that you receive.

On a related note, do you take requests from buyers (e.g. when you have loads of buyers asking for an item, you tried to find consignments to meet the demand)?

[sb1]

I have not had a call in years. Last one I recall was the bidder was attending a game somewhere and had to place bids over the phone rather than online.

I also bid in about 100 auctions a year, and have not called one of them in over a decade, but certainly remember talking to Lew, Barry, Rob, Bill and everyone else in the wee hours of the morning. I don't believe it is really a factor in this era where nearly every bidder has a computer/phone/tablet of some type.

Scott

[sycks22]

For the auction house owners what's the "one that got away?". Have you been offered a T206 Wagner or something 100k+, but at the last minute they changed their minds.

[Snapolit1]

How often do you get a call or email after an auction closes of someone insisting he will pay more than the winning bid and begging you to take it?

[Touch'EmAll]

The last time I consigned to AH was years ago. Thought I did well with zero selling fees - got 100% the hammer price (before buyers premium).

Nowadays, with nice stuff can you negotiate/ask for, say, 110 % of the final bid before buyers 20% premium ?

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Touch'EmAll

The last time I consigned to AH was years ago. Thought I did well with zero selling fees - got 100% the hammer price (before buyers premium).

Nowadays, with nice stuff can you negotiate/ask for, say, 110 % of the final bid before buyers 20% premium ?

I doubt any AH person will comment on that, but the answer is yes depending on what the item is. If it's real premium, I suspect you'd find someone willing to give you 110% of hammer or something close to it fairly easily.