Auctions - Worth Visiting?

About six years ago after moving to a new area, a neighbor mentioned a local auction house as a must-see. After a few visits I wished I had known earlier before we had bought some of our furniture! The deals I saw sometimes were jaw-dropping! One time I saw an 8-piece sectional sofa/loveseat/ottoman piece unused and still with Bloomingdales tags go for $85!!! Another time, a gorgeous kitchen table with inlaid woods for $2!!! I've seen plenty of beautiful items go for way less than what you might pay at retail. I've found unusual items that you wouldn't have even known existed. And antique machines/items that would make nice collectibles/displays...

But auctions have their own ups-and-downs, in-and-outs. Within the same location, some weeks might have a treasure trove of items and other weeks not so much of interest (since they're subject to whatever is consigned them for auction). Prices are always subject to who else is bidding. Still, I'd say they are definitely worth checking out, and there are plenty of ways to use them to your advantage. Here are some things I learned along the way:

The first thing is obviously to find out if there are local auction houses in your area. You can check newspaper classifieds, because in at least some places, auctions are required to place a posting for upcoming sales. You can certainly check the yellow pages, but also talk to neighbors, maybe a tourism office in your area, etc.

Once you've found one, you may want to attend some auctions to get its feel, get information on any buyer fees etc. When I started visiting my nearby auctioneer, buyers did not have fees added to purchases (only sellers paid a commission fee on what was sold). Since then they added buyer fees of 10% so when you bid you have to keep that in mind.

Find out when they have pre-auction inspection where you can look at items closely, examine them for cracks or chips, look for names/brands, etc. This way you know if you're bidding on a quality item or something that has some flaws. Pay attention to the size of crowds, what kinds of items draw interest, whether bidding is brisk or slow, whether auctioneers are quick to say "sold" or leave plenty of time for bidders to jump in, whether auctioneers start close to the final selling price, etc. Each auction house will have its own rhythm and probably each auctioneer too.

There'll probably be some antique dealers there as well, looking for inventory for their own stores. After a few visits you may recognize many of them. While having dealers may seem daunting, it can also help provide a good gauge if you see an item you like. If there is a piece of furniture you think would make a nice addition and want to purchase, here's how a dealer can be a resource:

First off, if the dealer has been bidding on other good-quality pieces and he/she is bidding on the same one you are, it carries some assurance that the piece has some value as a quality item.

Secondly, if you and the dealer are the last two bidding, the dealer has to drop out at the point he/she thinks they can't resell it for a good profit. They obviously can't be in business if they pay close to the price at which they'll be able to sell a piece. I would gather that they bid about 1/3 to 1/2 what they would price the item in their stores (depending on traffic, the demand for the item, their customer base etc.). But if the piece is an ideal fit for you, and you are the winning bidder over an antique dealer then you can be fairly sure you would have paid double or triple for the same piece if you found it in an antique store.

My own observation is that antique dealers don't generally bid as high for stuffed furniture like sofas as they would for wood furniture pieces. The size of the furniture can be a constraint for them, which is why a big wood kitchen table might slip through at a bargain price.

Auction houses often seem to have a wide variety of articles in different ranges of price/quality etc. At a main table they may be auctioning high-quality items of greater value and collectible interest. Elsewhere they may have boxes filled with items of more general interest, where the quality may vary or where the items may just not warrant individual auctioning at the main table. This also can be a source for great bargains.

Here it takes a bit more elbow grease, going through the boxes and looking to see if anything within a grouping jumps out at you. The advantage is that as the auctioneer is working on the boxes at one side of the room, you can still be looking through boxes he hasn't gotten to yet -- you don't only get that chance during previews, as with the better items.

By looking at some of the "lesser" items, I've found an old 1940s console radio that just didn't seem to draw attention that week and bought it for $1!!! I've found Hess Toy Trucks from the early 1990s for under $5 that fetched much higher on ebay. I bought an antique dental drill for $7 when it seemed to get overlooked -- another ebay winner... there are too many great finds to mention. It always depends on who else is looking and how high they're willing to pay -- but to be fair, I've also sometimes paid more than I should. Usually one of two reasons: either I got caught up in the auction hype and made it about me-vs.-the-other-bidder, or because I didn't examine the item during preview and wasn't aware of a blemish or flaw.

I've also found the auction visit a lot of fun. One of the local auctioneers will give some details about what he is selling, and I'll sometimes be amazed at what people invented or built to meet a need at some time in the past (one week I was tickled to see a mailer to send eggs through the postal system!). In modern times, it's nice to be reminded how things were accomplished in simpler times.

There's so much more to know about auctions, way more than I can cover in one blog entry, so I will discuss auctions again in a future entry. In the meantime I wish you fun and adventure if you decide to visit an auction house for a taste!