major auction houses a lesson to be learned

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Jeff- wouldn't you think that a company that wants to put out a professional auction catalog could spend a little time proofreading it...or find a college English major to look it over for a few bucks?

No. Flowery language gets the competitive juices flowing which causes insane, 8x the value prices. I never said the language had to make sense.

[rman444]

Jeff - I hope you realize that I have the term "flowery language" copyrighted. You will have to pay me a nickel every time you use it. I should have enough for a full sized BG Cobb in no time.

[Orioles1954]

When I first started to work at H&S, I was told to have my work read like the New York Times, not the New Yorker. We try to be technical and to the point, adding only pertinent details. Sure we have one-liners here and there, but have attempted to keep that to a minimum.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Orioles1954

When I first started to work at H&S, I was told to have my work read like the New York Times....

Just what we need, auction descriptions with a liberal bias.

edited to add smiley

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[calvindog]

In NYC, obsession with real estate abounds. My favorite descriptive term is "sun drenched."

As for auction catalogs sounding like the NY Times, I suppose that's a decent idea; anything but a Harlequin Romance novel would suit me fine.

[Rich Klein]

I could write most of these descriptions in my sleep and with real knowledge of the hobby and sports

Similar to Kyle; I'm a writer/copy editor for hire for these people

Rich

[Orioles1954]

As a collector and a writer in the industry, I get ALL of the auction catalogs. I will keep personal opinions to myself on this one, but when I see a description longer than a couple of paragraphs I will automatically skip over it.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Orioles1954

As a collector and a writer in the industry, I get ALL of the auction catalogs. I will keep personal opinions to myself on this one, but when I see a description longer than a couple of paragraphs I will automatically skip over it.

I skip over all auction descriptions unless it is something I'm interested in or bidding on. I really don't mind the descriptions at all...I can get past the flowery BS to find the facts. Usually though I am only interested in memorabilia and often times there is a story behind it that needs to be told....when it comes to cards just describe the condition, the issue and move along...I really don't need a Honus Wagner biography with every card depicting him offered.

[Orioles1954]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I skip over all auction descriptions unless it is something I'm interested in or bidding on. I really don't mind the descriptions at all...I can get past the flowery BS to find the facts. Usually though I am only interested in memorabilia and often times there is a story behind it that needs to be told....when it comes to cards just describe the condition, the issue and move along...I really don't need a Honus Wagner biography with every card depicting him offered.

That is 100% how we feel.

[barrysloate]

Jeff- my favorite real estate quote is "this property is waiting for your loving touch."

That usually means the foundation is cracked and not all the walls are present.

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I skip over all auction descriptions unless it is something I'm interested in or bidding on.

Comeon, Dan, are you telling me that some nice flowery language describing the 1962 Topps Homerun Kings card in PSA 8 wouldn't get you to bid 30x more than what the card sold for the previous (and subsequent) 21 times?

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Comeon, Dan, are you telling me that some nice flowery language describing the 1962 Topps Homerun Kings card in PSA 8 wouldn't get you to bid 30x more than what the card sold for the previous (and subsequent) 21 times?

That's exactly why I don't read them...I'm afraid I'll be hypnotized into spending 30x more than the card is worth.

[Leon]

As an auctioneer I like the long drawn out descriptions- not. I mean does it really take 3 paragraphs to describe a T206 Red Cobby in vg condition?

The auctions I like most are the ones that give big, clear, front and back scans of cards. Most of us, especially on this board, have a darn good idea of what we are looking at most of the times. And every time I hear the term "pop report" I just cringe. But I am not a pop report kind of collector (not that there is anything wrong with that, all collectors are good in my book).....I would rather hear how many are truly known about in existence. That number, such as an example (this might not be accurate but is for example only) of a PSA 7 Red Cobb.....maybe it has a pop of 8, or something. That is wonderful. The known population is probably 350 but only 8 have been graded a 7. And some of these might not even be trimmed.....

Memorabilia is another story and a nice description is needed for provenance, dating etc.....

[Orioles1954]

Originally Posted by Leon

As an auctioneer I like the long drawn out descriptions- not. I mean does it really take 3 paragraphs to describe a T206 Red Cobby in vg condition?

The auctions I like most are the ones that give big, clear, front and back scans of cards. Most of us, especially on this board, have a darn good idea of what we are looking at most of the times. And every time I hear the term "pop report" I just cringe. But I am not a pop report kind of collector (not that there is anything wrong with that, all collectors are good in my book).....I would rather hear how many are truly known about in existence. That number, such as an example (this might not be accurate but is for example only) of a PSA 7 Red Cobb.....maybe it has a pop of 8, or something. That is wonderful. The known population is probably 350 but only 8 have been graded a 7. And some of these might not even be trimmed.....

Memorabilia is another story and a nice description is needed for provenance, dating etc.....

With type cards I tend to give pop reports as it often paints a picture, and bidders usually appreciate that kind of information. It's a somewhat tangible tidbit of information for certain lots. As far as needlessly long descriptions with flowery language, I envision a kid just out of college who is trying to regurgitate everything they googled in order to fulfill a word count. Not impressive.