Another Year Of Auctions….

off to a pretty good start!

Our first sale of 2011, and it certainly got off to a good start!  The January sales are some of our biggest and best, and this one certainly met the criteria! This was our largest sale so far since we moved to the Pottageville Hall.  175 people registered and we sold 535 lots.  Now that is a big sale by most standards, but last year in the much smaller Bond Head location, we sold over 700 lots and had 190 registered bidders!  Over 150 pieces of furniture, plus 100’s of smalls and all those people crowded into the small Bond Head hall. Makes me so glad we are now in Pottageville! Of course there were highlights and some lows in this past auction.  Most notable highlight was the signed Napoleon letter selling for $1000.  The letter could not be authenticated and we sold it under those conditions, and there was a nice round of applause for the winning bidder.  Naturally I followed that with some goofy comment that brought a bid laugh from the crowd, but that is just what I do. On the low end of the auction, we sold a nice 1929 walnut 9 piece dining room suite for a mere $200.  No round of applause from the crowd on this one…just a small groan from me.  When it comes to dining room suites I just wonder how low can they go?  It is going to get to the point where I may no longer take them into the auction, unless we can break up the set and sell them separately Overall, furniture prices were fair, and a few pieces exceeded expectations. Always seems to be good money on the unusual small items.  Rookwood vase sold for $400, and the primitives and country items were strong as usual. People might think the overall economy is responsible for low prices on some items,, and I don’t really agree.  We can sell a good small item for $1000, but a dining room suite for $200 ?  That is not the economy, it is more a matter of changing tastes, and that is something that is pretty hard to change. I am going to make this entry a short one, because I have a lot of work to do right now.  I will update a little later, but now I have hours of paperwork from the last auction to do, plus getting ready for the upcoming weekend auction, and also pickups all this week for the Feb 19 auction…so I have to get to work! Rob IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS ABOUT THIS OR ANY OTHER ARTICLE, FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AT rob@robsageauctions.com  ALWAYS NICE TO HEAR FROM YOU!