Aquarian Sports Cards
10-20-2019, 09:02 AM
Hi Guys,
Hopefully at this point most of you know who I am, but I thought I'd share a little more about my company and I, in the wake of the last interesting year in the hobby.
I took over Birmingham Auctioneers in 2018. They were a LIVE ONLY sports card and memorabilia auction founded in 1983 (maybe the world's first sports auction house???) When I took over I tried to move the auction more towards the pre-war cards that I love and it was a bit of a disaster. My live auction excels in 1950's and up and now I know to focus on that.
But I couldn't just forego Pre-War cards so I started the online auction. As a long time online buyer I strove to correct the "mistakes" that I saw in other's auctions.
Starting Bids
We believe in letting an auction be an auction, not a retail sale masquerading as an auction. Our highest starting bid is only $25. Most items start at $1, $5 and $10. That T213 Cobb in our current auction? Started at $25.
Auction Closing
Our lots close individually. No staring blearily at your screen for the one item you have a bid on that hasn't seen any action for 4 hours hoping there are no bids coming. You must have a bid on an item before extended bidding begins to be eligible to bid on that item in extended bidding. If you are the only bidder on an item at 10pm on closing night that item is yours. If there are no bids for 15 minutes on a given item in extended bidding, that item closes.
Reserves
What are those? No stated reserves, no hidden reserves, no reserves
Seller Shenanigans
OK we all know it's impossible to stop a seller from getting his buddy to bid on an item. But sellers are not allowed to bid on their own item and if we get suspicious bidding activity we will act on it. We are also small enough to actually NOTICE suspicious bidding activity!
Auction House Shenanigans
We reserve the right to cheat, lie, misrepresent, doctor and otherwise be naughty, but it's OK because we tell you up front. OKAY just checking to see who was still reading. With everything that has gone on in the hobby recently we are painfully aware of the fact that the big sellers should be the ones leading the way in terms of ethics. I'm still less than tiny, but even though we have in the past (with disclosure of course) soaked cards and gently removed pencil markings we will no longer do so. This started with our current auction. We also will only sell altered cards that are already slabbed as such. We feel a duty to be a steward of the hobby and turning a blind eye to the consequences of our policies just doesn't feel right, so we made our policies tougher.
Now to the fun stuff. THE AUCTION!
over 300 lots of Pre-War goodness, most of which is consigned by the great members of Net54! Yes it's a lot of our typical lower grade items, but there's still awesome stuff.
T213-2 Cobb
https://birminghamauctioneersbid.com/images_items/thumbs/thumb_item_2804_1_8220.jpg
W517 Ruth Dark Green
https://birminghamauctioneersbid.com/images_items/thumbs/thumb_item_2817_1_8305.jpg
Stunning Connie Mack Single signed ball. The authenticator at PSA brought it back to me personally because he wanted to tell me it was the nicest one he had ever seen.
https://birminghamauctioneersbid.com/images_items/thumbs/thumb_item_2805_1_8894.jpg
1939 Pasadena Junior College Yearbook Featuring Jackie Robinson
https://birminghamauctioneersbid.com/images_items/thumbs/thumb_item_2812_1_8636.jpg
Amazing Large Glass Negative of Jack Johnson
https://birminghamauctioneersbid.com/images_items/thumbs/thumb_item_2824_1_8661.jpg
Tons of E90-1's with short prints and HOF'ers including Pink Keeler
Lots of T206's with HOF'ers
1908 Ogden Complete Set Break both series
A number of Abe Attell Items
TOUGH W554 HOF'ers
T207's including Joe Wood
and much more.
We close Sunday night the 27th so get those place holder bids in now! Still tons of items available for under $10!
Please post any questions or concerns you have to this thread so they can be answered publicly, and thanks to Leon, my consignors, bidders and supporters here on Net54. I hope I can continue to bring you auctions and service that are always improving!
Also check out:
Non-Sport Auction beginning Nov 6th Lots of Pre-War!
Oddball Odds & Ends Sports beginning December 2nd - Berk Ross, Wheaties, Kahn's, Arco, etc.
Scott
Hopefully at this point most of you know who I am, but I thought I'd share a little more about my company and I, in the wake of the last interesting year in the hobby.
I took over Birmingham Auctioneers in 2018. They were a LIVE ONLY sports card and memorabilia auction founded in 1983 (maybe the world's first sports auction house???) When I took over I tried to move the auction more towards the pre-war cards that I love and it was a bit of a disaster. My live auction excels in 1950's and up and now I know to focus on that.
But I couldn't just forego Pre-War cards so I started the online auction. As a long time online buyer I strove to correct the "mistakes" that I saw in other's auctions.
Starting Bids
We believe in letting an auction be an auction, not a retail sale masquerading as an auction. Our highest starting bid is only $25. Most items start at $1, $5 and $10. That T213 Cobb in our current auction? Started at $25.
Auction Closing
Our lots close individually. No staring blearily at your screen for the one item you have a bid on that hasn't seen any action for 4 hours hoping there are no bids coming. You must have a bid on an item before extended bidding begins to be eligible to bid on that item in extended bidding. If you are the only bidder on an item at 10pm on closing night that item is yours. If there are no bids for 15 minutes on a given item in extended bidding, that item closes.
Reserves
What are those? No stated reserves, no hidden reserves, no reserves
Seller Shenanigans
OK we all know it's impossible to stop a seller from getting his buddy to bid on an item. But sellers are not allowed to bid on their own item and if we get suspicious bidding activity we will act on it. We are also small enough to actually NOTICE suspicious bidding activity!
Auction House Shenanigans
We reserve the right to cheat, lie, misrepresent, doctor and otherwise be naughty, but it's OK because we tell you up front. OKAY just checking to see who was still reading. With everything that has gone on in the hobby recently we are painfully aware of the fact that the big sellers should be the ones leading the way in terms of ethics. I'm still less than tiny, but even though we have in the past (with disclosure of course) soaked cards and gently removed pencil markings we will no longer do so. This started with our current auction. We also will only sell altered cards that are already slabbed as such. We feel a duty to be a steward of the hobby and turning a blind eye to the consequences of our policies just doesn't feel right, so we made our policies tougher.
Now to the fun stuff. THE AUCTION!
over 300 lots of Pre-War goodness, most of which is consigned by the great members of Net54! Yes it's a lot of our typical lower grade items, but there's still awesome stuff.
T213-2 Cobb
https://birminghamauctioneersbid.com/images_items/thumbs/thumb_item_2804_1_8220.jpg
W517 Ruth Dark Green
https://birminghamauctioneersbid.com/images_items/thumbs/thumb_item_2817_1_8305.jpg
Stunning Connie Mack Single signed ball. The authenticator at PSA brought it back to me personally because he wanted to tell me it was the nicest one he had ever seen.
https://birminghamauctioneersbid.com/images_items/thumbs/thumb_item_2805_1_8894.jpg
1939 Pasadena Junior College Yearbook Featuring Jackie Robinson
https://birminghamauctioneersbid.com/images_items/thumbs/thumb_item_2812_1_8636.jpg
Amazing Large Glass Negative of Jack Johnson
https://birminghamauctioneersbid.com/images_items/thumbs/thumb_item_2824_1_8661.jpg
Tons of E90-1's with short prints and HOF'ers including Pink Keeler
Lots of T206's with HOF'ers
1908 Ogden Complete Set Break both series
A number of Abe Attell Items
TOUGH W554 HOF'ers
T207's including Joe Wood
and much more.
We close Sunday night the 27th so get those place holder bids in now! Still tons of items available for under $10!
Please post any questions or concerns you have to this thread so they can be answered publicly, and thanks to Leon, my consignors, bidders and supporters here on Net54. I hope I can continue to bring you auctions and service that are always improving!
Also check out:
Non-Sport Auction beginning Nov 6th Lots of Pre-War!
Oddball Odds & Ends Sports beginning December 2nd - Berk Ross, Wheaties, Kahn's, Arco, etc.
Scott