Quote:
Originally Posted by alexanderautographs
How sad. Much as I hate being tarred as one of those "greedy auctioneers"
Finally, I was privileged to have known Charles Hamilton, dean of autograph auctioneers and authentications. He wrote (paraphrased): "How boring this pursuit would be if not for the occasional fraud and forgery to add spice to the chase!"
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While I agree you have to be "Greedy" to be an auctioneer as you eat what you kill. That being said, when I consign things to auction, I personally feel it is obnoxious to have to pay a consignor fee to an auction fee that is already making 20% on the back-end. The variable costs to add my stuff is minimal and does not justify 20%, knowing that the item will sell for less than FMV as the buyer will consider the juice before making a bid.
I much rather buy and sell things here at close to FMV or consign to auction houses with minimal/no consignment fee.
As for Hamilton's quote, i think we are way past "occasional".