Anyone participate in this Hunt Auction?

[daviddbreadman]

I am new to the concept of auction houses other than eBay which I have used for years. For the first time this year I have participated in REA auction and liked the experience. I have participated in this Hunt auction today but it seems to be different and though I have a couple of high bids it seems to be out of my hands in the hands of a live audience. Is this correct? Is anyone participating live or in the online prebid?

[prewarsports]

I was planning on bidding on many of the 19th century handwritten letters but had no idea of their possible background so I did not place any bids. I agree though, it seems that if you cant make the live auction it does not seem worth it.

[calvindog]

Guys, you can arrange a phone call from Hunt when your lot is up and bid live on the phone.

[Rob D.]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Guys, you can arrange a phone call from Hunt when your lot is up and bid live on the phone.

Purely anecdotal: I've tried twice to do this with Hunt and each time was unsuccessful. The first time their agent on the phone failed to place my bid because he didn't realize the hammer was about to drop, and then it was too late.

The second time, after confirming the day of the auction that I was set up to receive a call, I never received a call (or an explanation).

I'm sure their system has worked just fine for many people, but after an 0-for-2 effort on their part, I vowed not to try a third time.

[prewarsports]

I wanted to throw maybe 40-50 bids out there and see what happened but did not want to spend all day on the phone so to me this is not a good system. On the bright side, I wont have to worry about paying a large auction invoice.

[ksfarmboy]

Like Rob I placed a bid to be executed by phone and it never was. Lucky for me as I bought the same item a few years later for much less. I have won three lots by placing max bids online, each for under my max.

[Koufax]

Originally Posted by Rob D.

Purely anecdotal: I've tried twice to do this with Hunt and each time was unsuccessful. The first time their agent on the phone failed to place my bid because he didn't realize the hammer was about to drop, and then it was too late.

The second time, after confirming the day of the auction that I was set up to receive a call, I never received a call (or an explanation).

I'm sure their system has worked just fine for many people, but after an 0-for-2 effort on their part, I vowed not to try a third time.

Rob, it just happened to me today. I placed online bids on 2 lots before today's live auction. I called them yesterday and they said they'd call me today to be involved when those lots went up to bid. Never received a call. Both lots were sold $100 above my online ceiling bids.

I was willing to go higher on both, although my original ceiling bids were fairly strong to begin with. Do the sellers of the cards realize that Hunt is leaving money on the table? This is not only disappointing, but for you lawyers out there, is there a legal angle to this that should be looked at?
Yes, they're missing out on their own higher commissions, but what about missed opportunity for higher consignor payments? Do I just look the other way and never bid in their auctions again?

And sadly enough, I actually won a third lot at my ceiling bid that I now have no desire to pay Hunt one penny for given their negligence on the other lots.

[Rob D.]

Sorry to hear that, Sandy. Having been in your situation, I can appreciate the frustration.

The thing is, I'm sure that during a live auction, the logistics of placing all of those calls at the right time and coordinating phone bids with bids on the floor borders on being a nightmare. But the first time the system broke down for me was about nine years ago, and the second time was two years ago. And when I've related my experiences, on more than one instance other collectors have said that the same thing -- or something similar -- happened to them, too.

So given that Hunt Auctions apparently doesn't have the bugs worked out of its own system, it surprises me that they continue to offer this service -- such that it is.

[rubesman]

This last auction I tried to bid by phone, and, as with Rob D., the agent failed to place the bid. Someone (hopefully from the board) got the T204 T. Jones at a great price.

[rickybulldog50]

Has anyone heard anything or received an invoice from Hunt yet? Just curious.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by prewarsports

I was planning on bidding on many of the 19th century handwritten letters but had no idea of their possible background so I did not place any bids. I agree though, it seems that if you cant make the live auction it does not seem worth it.

I'm pretty sure the FBI either confiscated them or told Hunts they have to pull them...they are not in the auction now.

[T206Collector]

I won a lot of 8 autographed T206 cards at the Hunt Live Auction in Louisville, by participating by telephone. A few lots before the one I was interested in came up they called me (obviously, I had called and set this up beforehand). Some guy on the phone goes, "okay, you're up... the bid is $X, what do you want to do." I then bid and he said it was topped and I bid again and won. It was pretty cool and was all over in about 45 seconds.

Don't know if that helps any.......

[daviddbreadman]

thanks for replies. I basically put in a few bids on the pre-bidding online and have 3 still out there only one of which I think is possible to hold up. I was worried about the integrity of the ceiling price and whether or not I'm guaranteeing myself to pay my max price by putting that in there. I can't participate by phone so I just gave it a shot. we will see what happens this evening.

[slidekellyslide]

I don't think you have to worry about max bids in a Hunt's auction...I've won numerous items from them over the years and almost always under my max bid.

[Matt]

Just remember that you're not only bidding against other parties but Hunt places house bids as well.