Quote:
Originally Posted by CardPadre
Not putting this up for auction speaks volumes about the confidence in the valuation.
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Howard has said this before, and I agree with him that when it comes to obscure and unusual stuff, auctions are often not a great method to sell stuff. Basically you're getting 1 bid increment above what the underbidder is willing to pay. And even then, only for the bidders who are aware of the auction during the brief window that it's open, and who are in the market for this specific piece, and have the cash ready and available to make a move. The top bidder might have been willing to go 10x higher, but if the underbidder drops out, then the price stops right there.
Accordingly, while an auction is great for commonly found stuff with a wide and deep collecting base, when it comes to rare stuff, particularly if the number of bidders at this rarified air is thin, then a private sale is often a better option to garner the highest price.
In addition to pricing issues, there are also issues of control. As a seller, a private sale offers the utmost in control, in terms of when you sell, how much the item brings, and even who you sell to. With an auction, at least without a reserve, the seller loses control of all of those elements. You cross your fingers and hope for the best.
We can debate which method of selling is the most accurate price for determining value. As an accountant and amateur economist, there's no doubt that I love a good public auction. At the same time, the value of an item is whatever someone will pay for it, and a private sale shouldn't dictate that the price is somehow not the true value simply because it wasn't in an auction. Certainly to the buyer and to the seller in a private sale, the value determined by those parties is very real.
Naturally, we'll see what happens with this one at private sale. We know the price at which the seller has offered to let it go. I guess we'll find out at some point in the not too distant future whether there is a buyer at that price (or something reasonably close enough to tempt the seller to let it go). While I'm not that buyer, all it takes is one motivated Mantle collector who has to have the very best, with the means and desire to take it down, and who doesn't want to wait another 40 years for it to come back on the market again.