Mears bests REA
 

A lot of members here mention and praise REA as THE auction of the year. And THE auction house. Well.......they don't always yield the best prices. Case in point:

The Buck Weaver Bat they had in their auction yesterday. Sold for $1700.

http://bid.robertedwardauctions.com/...x?itemid=22858

Same bat in Mears, only 1 year ago, $2900

http://www.mearsonlineauctions.com/L...px?lotid=23637

Consignor to REA took a bit of a bath. Morale of the story. REA not always better.

Thanks for rubbing it in!

Made most of it back with my other consignments and turned the $$ into a lot I can make some money on. But definately thought I would at least get my money back from the Weaver bat. Oh well. Live and learn.

Tom C

As a counterpoint, I can't believe the discrepancy between these two Max Carey/Barney Dreyfuss contracts in the HA and REA auctions.

http://sports.HA.com/c/item.zx?saleN...lotIdNo=140004

http://bid.robertedwardauctions.com/...x?itemid=22393

It's not the exact same item, but similar enough to not warrant such a big difference, unless I'm missing something, which is quite possible, so I do see your counter.

I agree REA is going to yield the higher prices a good percent of the time, but people here having a whole thread on when their REA catalog arrives, how they shake the mailman's hand who delivers it, how they get their catalogs encapsulated and graded. It's a bit much.

I like the Legendary, Heritage, SCP, etc catalogs just as much. I thought REA's 2012 auction was a bit overrated, for non-card guys anyway, they got bested by Legendary and Heritage this year.

I think you could probably pick out individual lots that favor one auction house over another in just about any auction, but I don't think that the results of 1 or 2 lots is in any way indicative of the overall quality or results of one catalog of offerings over another.

I saw 3 photos I had sold previously turn up in one of Henry Yee's auctions a year or so ago, and displayed a bit of a smirk when I compared results and found that I got more on 2 of the 3 photos. Did I consider my overall efforts to be of higher quality than Yee's though? HECK NO!! Any one of his auctions blows my offerings for the year out of the water!

It's fun to compare and contrast when we see the same items pop up under different sellers, but overall, the auction houses with the best reputations earned those reputations by consistently bringing "the good stuff" and getting good prices for it overall, even if a few lots dip below the average.

That is what happens when an auction house tries to censor comments in a public forum and bars those who make comments that are negative towards them :D:D.

Agreed.. Pretty simple concept... Well said.

Re: REA

I've got to tell you that I was REALLY happy with the realized prices that the two items that I consigned sold for.

No question, I would consign with them again in a NY minute, FWIW. :)

Here's another one to compare. Condition is not all that much different, but the prices realized were a whole lot different (nearly double, in favor of REA...)

http://bid.robertedwardauctions.com/...x?itemid=22665

http://sports.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=7051&lotNo=81282

So it definitely goes both ways. Often it's the luck of the draw and a matter of being in the right place/right time (or any other cliches you want to throw out there) :rolleyes:

It has nothing to do with which auction house is selling it, but everything to do with who is bidding. The addition or subtraction of even a single bidder can have a huge influence on the final price.

+1