Any Reaction to Legendary Auction Prices

[T206Collector]

Make $200 on each lot x 70 = $14,000 profit.

[ibuysportsephemera]

They will saturate the market and will take forever to sell. JMO.

[David W]

Originally Posted by ibuysportsephemera

They will saturate the market and will take forever to sell. JMO.

Yes. I'm pretty sure anyone who wants Bob Gibson's autograph has one.

[drc]

I once won in a Mike Gutierrez auction a lot of 3000 checks consisting of six players-- minor, but circa 1950s-60s players. I sold them as singles, small and large groups, including with other types of autos ("100 autographs with index cards, cuts, photos and bank checks!"). Luckily for me, there were different players so I could do some mixing and matching ('Signed Baseball Bank checks-- six different players'). 3000 Milt Pappas checks might have been as easy to handle. How much of a deal was 3000 checks is dependent on how much you paid. I would imagine I paid less than $1 per check, so it worked out fine for me.

One thing about bank checks is they sell. There is a healthy market for them.

The best bulk lots have a variety of different items. Not only are they more fun to handle, but each item you list on eBay or wherever is a different item. I bought a monster lot of baseball news photos from MastroNet. Yes, they were all baseball photos, but they were all different photos.

[kenjrrice]

I placed the $20,000 bid actually more to just bid on it. It said "you are the high bidder but your bid did not meet the reserve" and upped the bid to $21,000. The auction ended at that price, reserve not met.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by kenjrrice

I placed the $20,000 bid actually more to just bid on it. It said "you are the high bidder but your bid did not meet the reserve" and upped the bid to $21,000. The auction ended at that price, reserve not met.

Is this new? I wasn't aware Mastro/Legendary had reserves...

[CTDean]

Originally Posted by kenjrrice

I placed the $20,000 bid actually more to just bid on it. It said "you are the high bidder but your bid did not meet the reserve" and upped the bid to $21,000. The auction ended at that price, reserve not met.

I checked my catalogue and lot 76 has no mention of a reserve. So what's the difference in an undisclosed reserve and shill bidding? Shouldn't the lot at least carry a "Reserve" notation?

[daviddbreadman]

The probably have to use reserves now as they probably have to protect what little capital they have. After all they are supposively a start-up company.
They probably have to go into the markets to buy inventory for consignments so that they have something to offer for sale on their auctions. Its not probable that anyone with any brains would consign something to them. They probably have to make sure any capital they probably spent on purchasing items would be recovered in their auctions. They are also probably wouldn't mention anything about these reserves up front because you probably wouldn't bother bidding.

[RichardSimon]

That is what happens when your organization is made up of so many good guys.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by daviddbreadman

The probably have to use reserves now as they probably have to protect what little capital they have. After all they are supposively a start-up company.
They probably have to go into the markets to buy inventory for consignments so that they have something to offer for sale on their auctions. Its not probable that anyone with any brains would consign something to them. They probably have to make sure any capital they probably spent on purchasing items would be recovered in their auctions. They are also probably wouldn't mention anything about these reserves up front because you probably wouldn't bother bidding.

I am not so sure about this statement. In today's economy and hobby I think reserves aren't a bad thing depending on how they are done. Ask any consignor that has taken a huge loss and they will agree. Sometimes it's better not to sell than to take that big of a hit. Personally, I like to know about reserves if there are any. I doubt they were doing reserves to protect things they might have owned anymore than they would do one with a consignors item(s). Just my opinion on that. As for offering things they might own it is no concern to me unless there is nefarious activity going on. I don't really care who owned an item I am buying unless it's a hobby pioneer and then the provenance is kind of neat. Knowing there is a reserve will sometimes prevent some bidding...so that is a potential explanation on that issue. regards

[Leon]

Originally Posted by kenjrrice

I placed the $20,000 bid actually more to just bid on it. It said "you are the high bidder but your bid did not meet the reserve" and upped the bid to $21,000. The auction ended at that price, reserve not met.

If we are going to lambaste a company lets at least get the facts straight. I got this message from Doug this morning

"A prominant dealer bid 21k and the reserve was met and it sold as detailed on the site."

thanks......

[HeroesOfSport]

I am new to this board, but want to get a few opinions. I'm in the process of putting my first auction together, and have had a few consignors who want to put reserves on items. I usually try to discourage reserves because I feel it actually hurts the bidding potential on a lot. However, some consignors won't consign unless they have a reserve to protect their investment.

Do you think it is better to have a reserve or high starting bid?

[sports-rings]

I feel minimums are bad and they are worse when you don't know if and when a minimum is hit. If the seller must have a minimum, I feel it should be the starting price. If the starting price is too high for some bidders than so be it, at least with this method, the bidders know where they stand are not in for disapointment after they think they won an auction.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Leon

If we are going to lambaste a company lets at least get the facts straight. I got this message from Doug this morning

"A prominant dealer bid 21k and the reserve was met and it sold as detailed on the site."

thanks......

Wait - so Ken was wrong about the message he received, but Doug did confirm there was a hidden reserve on the lot?

[CTDean]

Originally Posted by Leon

If we are going to lambaste a company lets at least get the facts straight. I got this message from Doug this morning

"A prominant dealer bid 21k and the reserve was met and it sold as detailed on the site."

thanks......

Leon, if in fact Ken bid $20,000 and received the message "reserve not met" and the bid advanced to $21,000, that $21,000 bid had to be the auction house bidding the reserve. In that case the lot would have to receive a $22,000 bid to sell.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by CTDean

Leon, if in fact Ken bid $20,000 and received the message "reserve not met" and the bid advanced to $21,000, that $21,000 bid had to be the auction house bidding the reserve. In that case the lot would have to receive a $22,000 bid to sell.

I wouldn't hypothesize too much. I have an email into Doug for clarification. He did go on to to say :

"In total 6 Gibson items and the Mantle glove were the only Sports lots with reserves. Every one of them sold."

I don't want to post the whole email as I think he was frustrated but the pertinent parts have now been posted. Make of it what you want, I guess.

And to Matt- His email seemingly intimated there was a reserve.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by CTDean

Leon, if in fact Ken bid $20,000 and received the message "reserve not met" and the bid advanced to $21,000, that $21,000 bid had to be the auction house bidding the reserve. In that case the lot would have to receive a $22,000 bid to sell.

I really don't know the answer to that. I am just the messenger of one email.

[Jacklitsch]

The man is still alive, isn't he?

[Rob D.]

Originally Posted by Jacklitsch

The man is still alive, isn't he?

Yes, but he uses only money orders these days.

[GaryPassamonte]

$12000 plus BP for the Wright CdV seems extremely high to me. Comments?

[barrysloate]

Didn't even realize that Gary but yes, it is way out of whack. It's never even sold for half that amount.

[rhettyeakley]

Gary, it does seem like a pretty high price on the Wright CDV, however, the George & Harry Wright Warren Studios CDV's recently sold together for nearly $40,000 in the Legendary Live auction. Maybe the buyer of those wanted the other Wright, too!
-Rhett