Thinking about consigning. Your experiences?
 

Hey guys. I've got an item that I'm thinking about searching out an auction house to consign to. I was hoping to hear some of your experiences with consignments and which auction houses left you with a great experience and which you didn't enjoy working with. Thanks.

Packs--

Maybe if you disclose what you are thinking about consigning you will get more accurate advice--alot depends on the type of item as to where best to go.

I'm just talking in general terms. Looking to hear about which houses are extremely friendly and efficient that people have had generally good experiences working with. The item I'm talking about is my 2 player tintype.

http://s107.photobucket.com/albums/m...ms/tintype.jpg

It seems like getting paid should be at the top of the list given what's happening these days.

No doubt. Getting paid is at the top of my concerns. I've read a lot about people consigning to auction houses and it taking months for a check to arrive. I was hoping some people could shed their experiences with that end of the consignment process as well.

You are too demanding

Rea.

That looks like a good piece for Sloate Auctions. :)

Also FYI, REA will NOT be having a 2nd offering this year.

B/S/T was a good choice for offering it but your asking price was somewhat high.

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=112446

Lelands might take it for one of their small auctions, but I would consider going with Leon, Barry or Seth.

Wesley,

Now that your post on this thread is here, I thought it would be appropriate to communicate the current situation related to the response owed to you from past post(s).

First and foremost, in thinking through all possibilities, I remain confident that all posts will be responded to. I am hopeful that based on free time available and head-space required, this would have been accomplished by the end of a month of my choosing. I am working diligently to compose such snarky comments in order to be in a position to remit the outstanding response you are due.

My inability to write a response in a timely fashion has been very unfortunate and I apologize for that. I ask for you to grin & bear with me as I continue to work through this very awkward situation.

Mildest regards,

three25hits

You cannot go wrong with Mr. Barry Sloate, he runs a helluva show and is a gentleman to boot.

For an anonymous tintype photo like that you'd probably do best on ebay, but if you are set on going the auction house route I'd go with Barry or Leon/Scott.

I think it is an item worth more than what the general eBay audience would bid. I don't think asking for a price in the $700 range is out of the question. Maybe it is?

Hunt Auctions seems to do well with this kind of item, though until they invest in a Web site that brings them into the 1990s, let alone post-2000, I'm hesitant to recommend them.

Rob - he was asking about auction houses.

What he said.

Thanks all for the kind words, but as many of you know I have no auctions planned for the foreseeable future.

Packs- I did alert a friend of mine a few weeks ago about the image but apparently he either didn't contact you or felt it was too expensive. My take is it is a $300-400 tintype. If you are able to price it close to that range you should be able to sell it and not have to pay a commission to do so. Just my three cents.

Hmmmm...you might be right about that as I often see some headscratching prices fetched in house auctions compared to ebay. I really don't think that tintype would bring more than $300...it's nifty, but without names or a place it's just another anonymous tintype.

I think Hunt Auctions is an auction house, which uses a Web site to conduct some of its auctions. No?

You might be right. This is my first experience with a tintype and don't know a ton about them. But how many anonymous tintypes can there be out there? Especially with this clarity and with the period frame. You really think I'm just looking at a $300 piece? I've seen some haggard metal-only tintypes go in that range, which is why I thought mine would be higher. Again, I probably don't know as much about them as you guys.

Rob
 

*** I believe last time Matt spoke with David Hunt he was told they are a sales venue and not necessarily an auction house. If I remember correctly it had to do with house bids, reserves etc.....Maybe Matt will 'splain what he was told....

Oh. OK.

There are lots of them out there, and there are many, many more anonymous tintypes than there are identified. I just don't see it as an auction house type of item unless you consign it to one of the smaller venues like 19th Century Only or Brockelman Luckey. Even then I don't see it getting as much money as you would on ebay. And on ebay you can always place a reserve and test the water. Good luck with it whatever you choose...it's a great photo.

Thanks. I appreciate the input a lot.

Lots of anonymous tintypes and paper frames are pretty common.

I have a couple of dozen of those cdv sized period paper frames waiting to house newly acquired tintypes.

The paper frames have no value, and while the tintype has a clear crisp image, and features two well dressed players, I would rate it as average to a little better than average. Even if you put it in an auction, it is still likely to go in that $300-400 range, and you will have to pay a commission. There are literally hundreds of baseball tintypes known, and the best ones are usually a larger plate size, or have an exceptionally posed photo.

David has said all along that Hunts is an auction house. He also said: "with a scant few exceptions over its nearly 20 year history, Hunt's has not offered "absolute auctions" if they did then whoever is willing to pay the most at the time would come away with the lot. They don't claim to do so and their TOS does not say that they do."

Matt
 

Thanks for the clarification.....I guess they are in fact, and have always been, an auction house. regards

It makes no difference
 

Either way Hunt's auction website format just plain sucks and really needs to be updated. It would be real nice to see a pictures of the auction items without having to click on each and every auction item. They are the only "auction house" that I know that does not have the ability to do that.

I've noticed on Hunt's if you do a search for a particular item it will then show pics of all of them on the search results...however if there are a lot of them the load time can be a burden on my old computer. I've always felt the clunkiness of their site has kept the prices down as a lot of people won't even bother.