Posted By:
RhysI was not really surprised by the prices, irrespective of the economy. I thought people were crazy for thinking the Thorpe was a 100K item to begin with and the final price was probably right where it should have been (35K-50K). The Jackson will go higher than the Thorpe, but 60K sounds about right. Once you get into rarities like this, condition does not matter as much as simply finding one.
As for the fee, I bet he didn't pay anything. Other bigger auction houses will not only completely waive the consignors fee, but negotiate what percentage of the buyers fee you will also get for a large deal. If Mastro only gave a generous 10% rate and another auction house would give you 5% on the buyers end too, then nobody in their right mind would go with Mastro at an automatic 15% hike at the bottom line. If he paid anything on the sellers end than he should have weighed his options with one of the other companies first because he did himself a disservice.