High Grade Ruth Rookie

[Lorewalker]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

I may have missed it but I did not see sports collectibles as one of their auction specialties. If that is the case, for an item like this which is a very expensive piece, I would expect to see more advertising. That said, they are a big well established house and they no doubt know what they are doing.

Um...they have been around since the 1800s, I believe. Not sure how much or if any advertising they do but clearly whatever they are doing, they do not need to change a thing.

[nolemmings]

FWIW, I saw the card promoted in Sports Collectors Daily back at the end of March, so they made some effort to get the word out. I am a little curious as to why the family has only the Ruth card, since grandpa obviously had at least 19 other subjects if not more, and if he/they got rid of others over the years you would think they would be a little more familiar with the market when choosing an auction house.

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by Lorewalker

Um...they have been around since the 1800s, I believe. Not sure how much or if any advertising they do but clearly whatever they are doing, they do not need to change a thing.

I respectfully have to disagree. Having potential bidders on a 6-7 figure item unaware of your auction leaves room for improvement.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

I respectfully have to disagree. Having potential bidders on a 6-7 figure item unaware of your auction is not in my mind doing things the right way.

+1. It's Nonsense to not advertise in the areas it will get the most interest. Without your post Jay, hundreds, if not thousands of collectors, wouldn't have had any idea, me included. (not that I can afford that card but still...)

.

[oldjudge]

Chase-I'm not disputing that Bonhams is a great auction house. I'm only saying that I believe that in this case more publicity would help the card achieve the best possible realization.

[MVSNYC]

Jay, good point...this is par for the course with Auction Houses (even some big ones) that aren't focused on sports...like Christie's and Sotheby's. They have, over the years, had some incredibly significant sports auctions and high-profile items, and they seem to happen under the radar, or certainly not well advertised here.

[JustinD]

Bonham's or Sotheby's are likely tied for second to Christie's in historical auction houses and I cannot imagine it is not top notch. I used to have a friend that was an auctioneer for the Bonham's Concourse auto auctions.

That said, using any of these for sports cards seems like a high dollar investor picking only name recognition and not expertise. The buyer's for this card will find it, but I would definitely agree it was not the best consignment decision.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by JustinD

Bonham's or Sotheby's are likely tied for second to Christie's in historical auction houses and I cannot imagine it is not top notch. I used to have a friend that was an auctioneer for the Bonham's Concourse auto auctions.

That said, using any of these for sports cards seems like a high dollar investor picking only name recognition and not expertise. The buyer's for this card will find it, but I would definitely agree it was not the best consignment decision.

the bigger issue is many potential bidders may not even know it is availabie so then they cannot bid on it and that could hurt the consignor from getting potentially more bids and higher sales results.
The last Christie auction had some amazing items and i did not find out about it until the day before

[Rhotchkiss]

Posting a link to the auction (from the earlier thread call "Live Auctioneers"

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/3037...delsohn-c1916/