Couple of thoughts on their auction. I got registered pretty easy and their credit line they gave me was very fair without doing any research on me. I was able to put in some absentee bids a week before it began. I was hoping they would let you know if you know if you was the high bidder going into the live auction part, but they do not.
I called a day before the auction to understand how reserves went. I was at first told that only some lots had a reserve on them and the auctioneer would tell us. Then another person jumped on the phone and said every lot has a reserve on it and it's anywhere between 60 percent of the low estimate all the way up to the low estimate.
I watched both days on my home computer and was pleasantly surprised how fast they were able to coordinate all the phone bids, Enet bids, room bids, against the absentee bids which the auctioneer had on podium. I enjoyed not listening to long auction descriptions and really enjoyed understanding what the auctioneer was saying unlike traditional auctioneers (Automobiles, Live stock, etc...).
I was texting a couple of friends during the auction who was in attendance in NY and watching back home as I was. It was nice hearing both perspectives on how they thought the auction was going.
What I don't think Christies did well was the photography of each lot. I wanted to see the backs of cabinets, postcards, and original photos. I was wondering why the Clarke Horner Photo went for more money than others... Answer it was in a complete Horner Cabinet mount but you would never know that from the description or picture. I too wanted to see the group of Old Judge Cabinets which included a Dogs Head. I wanted to see the other four punch cards in the group of 5.
My observation is that it's a tremendous advantage to be in attendance not only to view the actual items, but it seemed that bidders in the room always got their bids taken first which forced outside bidders to take the next increment up.
I like their format. Problem is I can tell it's no where close to their area of expertise. From images to descriptions and most of all the estimates. I feel they hurt many items with low estimates as many collectors/investors entering the hobby might put a lot of weight into what the printed price "should" be.
All and all It was a great expierence and had a lot of fun participating in it as I enjoyed the auctioneer mentioning where people were from when bidding online. I was Georgia and it seemed at times like it was an SEC battle as South Carolina was in almost every Cuban lot.. Well fought!
I snagged a couple of items and will look forward to their once a decade auction. I was hoping to snag the Joe Jackson Semi Pro 1908 team cabinet but ended up being the bridesmaid. I was glad they showed the entire cabinet!
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