| Archive |
05-16-2008 01:00 PM |
Barry Sloate Auctions Now Closed
Posted By: <b>davidcycleback</b><p>I suspect that for a number of very well healed collectors/investors, they simply won't buy on eBay and spend stritcly at Mastro et al auctions. These would be the types who spend $30,000 on a jersey or $100,000 on an autograph. This likely is because they don't trust eBay and that, for the amount on $$ they are spending, they only go through well known quantities. This would explain high prices on many high end items.<br /><br />Frankly, if I had $200,000 to spend on memorabilia I'd pick up a Mastro Auction and not even visit the local flea sale. At the least, it's a more efficient way to blow $200,000. This would mean the $200,000 would be infused into the Mastro Auction and not the flea sale. And, more than once, eBay has been referred to as a giant flea sale.<br /><br />It is likely that a lot of big time sports memorabilia money never enters eBay, as the money holders consider it a flea market and rather untrustworthy.<br /><br />I would imagine for someone looking to purchase a couple of Monet paintings for his den, plus or minus $10,000 is not as big a deal as it would be for you or I. That he could possibly get the same or similar item for $5,000 less may not compel him to drop the Sotheby's catalog and type 'Monet' into eBay. And, despite the likely higher prices and premiums and high shipping charges, it's safe to assume Sotheby's is a better place to look for your Monet paintings than eBay. <br /><br />When I was in college, my girlfriend worked one summer as part of those house-to-house cleaning crews for the wealthy (including a former NFL head coach). She said in one home that belonged to the president of a department store chain there was an original Renoir painting hung from a wall and protected by a custom laser security system. Forget the painting, I would guess the cost of the security system dwarfed the average eBayer's annual collecting budget.
|
