Poll: Which auction house would you go with for this estate lot?

[cjedmonton]

After careful thought, I've decided to forgo Ebay and consign an estate lot I've recently acquired with a major auction house.

Only one question remains...which one?

Please help me decide who would likely maximize the value of this lot. Commission is important, but not the be all end all.

In no particular order, I'm mostly concerned with:

1. Effective and accurate descriptions
2. Reputation
3. Provides TPA for signed items
4. Prompt payment after the auction ends
5. Overall success with bidders who pay for the items they win
6. Frequent opportunities to consign throughout the year. I don't have any problem waiting a month or two to submit, but I'd rather not wait a full year for annual auctions like REA, no matter how incredible their listings are.

Here are the items I will be submitting. The programs are the main draw, and as such, should be the focal point when helping me decide who to go through.

Thanks.

Inventory

1948 World Series Pennant

1951 Dodgers Silk Scarf

1951 World Series Program (unsigned)

1951 World Series Program (signed by Horace Stoneham, Chub Feeney, Leo Durocher, Edward Brannick, Freddie Fitzsimmons)

1951 World Series Program (signed by Douglas MacArthur)

1951 World Series Program (signed by Larry Goetz)

9 1953 World Series Programs (unsigned)

2 1954 All-Star Programs (unsigned)

1954 Harry Dichter Baseball in Music & Song Sheet Music (set of 14 reprints)

6 1955 World Series Programs (unsigned)

3 1956 World Series Programs (unsigned)

1956 World Series Game 5 Perfect Game Program (signed by Larry Goetz, Don Larsen, Billy Martin)

1956 World Series Game 5 Perfect Game Program (signed Larry Goetz & Don Larsen)

1956 World Series Program (signed by Larry Goetz)

2 1959 World Series Programs (unsigned)

1959 World Series Program (signed by Ford Frick)

1962 Wrigley Field All-Star Program (signed by Ford Frick)

1967 St. Louis Cardinals World Series button

3 1971 American League Programs

1971 NLCS Program

4 1971 World Series Programs

1976 American League pocket schedule

1979 World Series Program

Dizzy Dean & Paul Dean autographed Lowe & Campbell baseball

1940's/1950's Luke Appling Model A2310 Glove

1950's Milwaukee Braves Pennant

1950's Salesman's sample/stadium souvenir mini catcher's mitt

2 Stan Musial personalized autographed 8x10 photos

[perezfan]

For this type of stuff, I suggested Legendary. I have had good success with them as of late, and they are easy to work with.

Also... on the 2 Pennants, feel free to shoot me an email or PM. I pay top-dollar for vintage pennants, and you can avoid the sellers' commission (along with a long wait to be paid). Even if you squeezed into Legendary's August event, you're looking at October for compensation.

This timeline is true of any auction house, except maybe Mears, who seems have the highest frequency of events (and seems to pay the fastest). In terms of prices realized and considering the nature of your goods, however I would go with Legendary or SCP (who you didn't list).

Hope this helps,
Mark

[Leon]

I would go with any one of our advertisers . You want your customers to see your stuff. You are here, right? Good luck with it which ever way you go.

[Mr. Zipper]

I'd send them to RR.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a consultant for RR.

[MGHPro]

I'd stick them on ebay... only problem would be no TPA. but there are not a lot of signatures I would be worried about..

[murphusa]

Auction houses would "bundle" alot of the items together so you may want to take that into consideration.

[cjedmonton]

Originally Posted by murphusa

Auction houses would "bundle" alot of the items together so you may want to take that into consideration.

Good point. That's one in favor if Clean Sweep. I just discussed this with Steve and he said that he'd split some of the higher end items into their own listing.

[cjedmonton]

For those who voted "other", who might that be?

[Lordstan]

First as a disclaimer, there is nothing in your lot that fits into my collecting focus.

For the majority of that stuff I still think ebay would do fine. Perhaps even listing them on the BST as a first line of sales would be good as well.

Pretty much all of the auctions houses listed above will likely do a fine job. Personally, I think it's a crap shoot for which one would get you the most. All you need is two people who really want the same item to bid against each other. You just never know if they are going to be watching that specific auction.
I think you could also consider Henry Yee who auctions on ebay. His next one is December, but his prices are strong.

Good Luck selling.

Best,
Mark

[drc]

The ones that got lots of votes are good, but they WILL bundle some of the lots together. Count on it. I do see see some items that I think are worthy as single item lots-- if in good condition, the Deans ball and MacArthur program for sure, perhaps the Frick programs. I'm not sure of the rarity/value of some of the individual memorabilia item.

Lelands does not get TPAs for their autographs (they're old school), but they're well known and respected in the autograph field and that would not be a value or authentication issue.

Legendary and Huggins and Scott do frequent auctions.

Bundling isn't an issue if you a good price for the lot. Sure there can be 'bulk discounts' but some group lots in the big auctions get good price per item anyway. If they bundle together autographed WS programs signed by Ford Frick and General McArthur etc, the lot will probably get a good price even though (or perhaps because of) they come in one lot. My friend bids on real expensive group lots in the big auctions and sometimes comment that the prices go up to or over fair market value per item.

Ask they auction how they would bundle the lots, which ones would be single,-- though knowing they might not be able to give you a final answer until they see them in person, assess condition etc.

I have my pick, but left it in my anonymous vote, as I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. But there are a number of auction houses there I think are good, including the three I mentioned.

[Hankphenom]

This poll would be more useful if it was anonymous, IMO, for the reason David cited.

[Johnw67]

You should consider paragon auctions, they do not charge a buyers premium. You wind up keeping all of the money!! I think they have an auction coming up in September 2012. You do not have to worry about the bundling because you are buying the page, you can do it any way that you choose.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Johnw67

You should consider paragon auctions, they do not charge a buyers premium. You wind up keeping all of the money!! I think they have an auction coming up in September 2012. You do not have to worry about the bundling because you are buying the page, you can do it any way that you choose.

I am just curious. Are you affiliated with Paragon in any way? I see you and they are both from NJ.

And I should mention I picked Lelands for a specific reason. All of the companies listed would do a good job though.

[Johnw67]

I am not associated with paragon in any way, I am just an educated buyer and seller and see no reason to pay fees on either end. Paragon does not charge buyers premium or sellers fees, just the flat fee.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Johnw67

I am not associated with paragon in any way, I am just an educated buyer and seller and see no reason to pay fees on either end. Paragon does not charge buyers premium or sellers fees, just the flat fee.

Paragon is a good company, (and has even been a valued advertiser here) and certainly nothing against them. I would suspect that, as an educated buyer and seller, you will go where you will net the most money in your pocket. That is the only thing to consider when selling something as the OP has posted.

If a company charges $1000 to sell your item and you get $10000 for it, that is great. But it would be better if a company charged 20% and got you $15000..... Like I say, I think all of the companies listed would do a good job with those items.

[drc]

I'm from Washington State and am not associated with Microsoft.

I've never met Jay Buhner either.

Though I did once date a woman who once sang in a grunge band. So I will refrain from making musical recommendations in this thread. I won't even hum as I type.

[travrosty]

Mears is good.

[bobbyw8469]

I based my vote according to what the items are. I am sure all the auctions are fine, but based upon what your particular items are, I would go with Hunt.

[cjedmonton]

I have no problems with bundling certain items, so long as it is done strategically (read: logically). To me, lumping WS programs together simply because they are WS programs makes no sense. Sure, there might be the odd collector looking to fill gaps in a run of years, but in my opinion, that is generally a lazy move and one that would probably dilute the overall value more than I'd like than if they had been properly listed.

So long as there's a "method to the madness" (an entire run of scored programs from one WS, one program from each stadium in the WS, etc...), I'm fine.

In the grand scheme of lots we see on this board, I'll be the first to admit that this one is certainly on the lower end. However, I'm no different from most everyone else in that I'd like to maximize my return. I'm only in it for an even grand, but I see enough upside to at least double that.

[drc]

Logically bundling lots to maximum the auction price is good for both you and them. Their take is a percentage of the final prices.

[travrosty]

consign one item to each auction house to spread it around and give everyone a chance.

[cjedmonton]

haha, I love it! I do have nine '53 programs, so that would be a cool experiment.

[Gradedcardman]

Legendary

[drc]

I have to admit Legendary was my vote, in part because it met the posted criteria of TPAs and frequent auctions.

But, as I said, there are other auction houses on the list which would also be fine.

[vintagechris]

I agree with Bobby. Based on the items, I think Hunts would be the way to go. They seem to sell a lot of this same stuff so they must have a good following with it.

[cjedmonton]

Don't mean to resurrect a 100 day old thread, but I opted for Huggins & Scott's auction starting Oct 1st.

So far, it's been a positive experience dealing with them (communication, forthcoming, good descriptions, reasonable fees, etc...).

I'm confident I"ll at least break even. Now if I can only resist refreshing their page every few hours....


Lot # Title
255 1953 World Series Complete Run of (6) Programs
256 1951 World Series Program Lot of (4) With Durocher Autograph
257 1955 World Series Program Lot of (4)
258 1956 World Series Program Lot of (4)
259 1954 and 1962 All-Star Game Programs
260 1953-1971 Post Season and All-Star Game Program Lot of (10)
815 1940s-1960s Baseball Memorabilia Group of (9) Pieces with Brooklyn Dodgers Silk Scarf
838 Dual Signed Baseball with “Dizzy” Dean & Paul Dean-Full JSA
859 1984 Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers Multi-Signed Book with (79) Autographs including Koufax—Full JSA
867 (117) Southpaw Pitchers Signed 8x10 Photographs with Koufax & Hubbell
874 1951 World Series Game 3 Program Signed by General Douglas MacArthur-Full JSA
875 1956 World Series Game 5 Program “Larson’s Perfect Game” Signed by (3) with Larson & B. Martin

[LEHR]

Deleted. Didn't read whole thread before I posted.