Posted By:
scgaynorI am glad that I started the thread, it is educational. I would have thought that the #1 concern would have been lotting and I am surprised by the emphasis on the catalog.
I think that the auction world is trending away from the catalog. 97% of the bids come online anyway and the prices for the internet only auction ( I am talking about the Lelands-Gaynor and not ebay ) are the same as a catalog auction. For the auction house it is going to be hard to justify the expense of the catalog when they are making the same or even more money without it. The catalog then just becomes an advertising tool and arguably the same result can be achieved with a postcard or pamphlet. Consignors and buyers like the catalog, but as Joe D can probably tell you, they are extremely expensive to produce. I always enjoy getting the catalogs and looking through them. I keep them as reference tools, but I find that it is much easier to simply go online and check the completed auction results with Heritage, Sothebys and Lelands to get an idea of value (it would be nice if Mastro had completed items archived as well). I am not saying that catalogs will go the way of the Dodo, but I think that there will be less emphasis on them.
The upside for the consignor is that they get the same money, and they get it faster. The upside for the buyer is that it keeps the buyers premium down.
Scott