What do consignors want from an auction house?

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I would consign to an auction house that realizes good prices, has a good reputation
(honesty, authenticity, etc), I feel is good at authentication and is well run. Likely,
it's an auction house I've won items in before and was a satisfied customer, including
with billing, shipping. If I feel an auction house is dishonest, in particular about
authenticity, I would not bid or consign. Bidder/consignor premium is not as important to me,
in that I would not consign to a worse auction house because the bidder premium is lower.

Also, I think most consignors look to a place that they feel will describe well the lot
and include quality pictures. For the consignor, I think it's good to include with the lot a
little write up-- highlights if it's a large group lot-- to help insure the lot doesn't
omit anything essential. If a consignor submits a 2,000 index card lot without written
highlights, the consignor can't complain that the auction house didn't notice that
card #557 was signed by Mickey Mantle.

Turnaround payment time is important. I don't count the days or even weeks,and
understand auction houses have to collect the $$ before they can pay the $$. But if it
were to take me 8 months between submission and payment, I would be hesitant to consign--
that is unless I'm consigning a T206 Honus Wagner or Ruth game used bat (neither of which
I plan on consigning-- or have).

I agree that there are areas of sports/non-sport crossover. As an autograph collector,
I like baseball and other sports signatures, but will also buy political, Hollywood, military,
historical and Nobel Prize scientists. I think other autograph collectors act similarly.
There's nothing icongruous about consigning Ty Cobb, Robert E. Lee and Max Plank and
autographs to the same sports auction house-- assuming the auction house normally has a nice
array of sports and non-sports autographs. There's a good chance multiple people will be
bidding on botht the Cobb and Lee lots.

My opinion is to not produce print catalogs and give half the cost of printing to me. This
way you will be saving 50 percent off the normal printing cost.