depends on who you talk to!

As part of my business I am constantly being asked…”what’s it worth?”  And that is a question I expect to be asked, and I do my best to answer. So, how can you determine “what’s it worth”? My standard answer is, “I can tell you what I think an auction value is” If you watch  Antiques Roadshow, you will notice most of the time they appraise an item, based on auction value. An auction value is the price I see people paying on a consistent basis for an item, as opposed to an “asking price”.  I constantly check the free on-line advertising sites, and what people are asking, is sometimes a far cry from what I think they will ever get for the item.  The advertising is free, so they can put whatever price they want on something and see if anyone bites. I recently saw a scrub board advertised for sale.  As you probably know, there is rarely an auction that doesn’t have at least one, and they usually sell from $10 to $25.  This person was asking $125 for his!  I have seen wooden ironing boards advertised for $150.  We usually sell them between $15 and $35 dollars. In short I have seen some pretty wild asking prices, and you can take them with a grain of salt.  Perhaps they do get lucky and someone will pay the price, but for the most part I think they just give up and stop running the ads.  Or at least, come to their senses. In the course of an average year I will sell approx 6000 lots of assorted antiques including over 1200 pieces of furniture.  Now multiply that by the 15 years I have been in business and that is over 90,000 lots. Combine that with the number of items I have seen sold through other auctions I have attended or worked at over the last 30 years, and believe it or not, it totals over one million items! So when I look at an item, I base my opinion on the one million items I have seen sold. Sometimes people will determine their asking price, based on the highest price they have seen in an antique store.  And of course their item is always much better, so add a little more to that. Even if you see the piece in an antique shop or antique mall, it is still only an asking price.  It is basically one person’s opinion as to value, and it may never sell at that price.  I have seen some pretty wild asking prices in antique malls and shops, and they may very well sell the piece for that price.  I know of one piece of furniture that sat for several years in an antique mall with an asking price of over $10,000.  Apparently it has sold, but for what price I don’t know.  However, if it takes years to sell the piece for that price, and 1000’s of people have seen it and didn’t purchase it, does that make your similar piece worth the same amount of money? Having said that, most dealers I know price their items in line with current market value.  You don’t last long in the antique business, if you are not willing to sell. So the point I am making is, if you are interested in seriously selling your items, check out the auction market.  See what is actually selling, and what people are really paying. Check out the general antique consignment auctions, like ours, rather than the on-site estate auctions.  Remember the scrub board anecdote I earlier made?  Well I was at an on-site estate auction for a very well known lady in a small town.  Prices were wild!  Two scrub boards sold for $75 each.  I am sure the lady who bought them had never attended an auction before, and she was determined to have them, just because of who they once belonged to. The same goes for family members, neighbours and friends who are just buying up “keepsakes”, and creating artificially high prices for that one auction only. If you really want to know what your items may be worth you can check out my auction highlights and results pages on this website, or phone, or better still email me a photo and I will give you my opinion. After all, it’s what I do. Have fun on the auction trail! 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!

but is still no match for our auction goers!

Mother nature did provide some challenges to our Feb 19 auction, but Mother Nature may not understand the nature of auction goers! Yes we had almost blizzard conditions Saturday morning, especially north of Pottageville.  I live in Barrie and it was a slow drive to the hall at 7:00 am sale morning.  And it seemed to get worse to the north and west of us, but fortunately conditions were not too bad in Pottageville. Over the last 15 years I have been very lucky when it came to auctions and winter weather.  Really have never had a problem.  Although this did look bad Saturday morning, believe it or not, I really was not worried. I know auction people, and I know some blowing snow is not going to keep them away! A full scale blizzard could be disastrous, but Saturday’s weather was not going to do it! The crowd was a little slower getting in.  Usually we have people there before preview time starts, but Saturday only one person made it before the preview started. However, by the time the auction started, we had about 90 people registered. Usually we have 100 to start the auction, so we were not down by much.  By 11:00 we had a full house again, with 138 people registered by sales end. Once again I had a large auction, and we finally wrapped it up at 5:45.  Almost an 8 hour auction! We had some very good items and prices were pretty good throughout the auction. We got into some good pieces early in the sale, and from noon to 2:00 were the power hours!  That’s when I try and put all the major pieces through, and then gradually taper off to the lower end pieces by about 3:30 or 4:00. The hard core buyers were still there at the very end, even though we were selling mostly low end smalls and tray and box lots.  However, I had decided I was going to do my best to clean up a back log of low end items, and this was going to be the sale to do it.  Having accomplished that, I can now focus on making the sales the way I really want them.! I think I have a pretty good idea of what items people want, and from here on in the focus is going to be on bringing only those items into the sale.  Not that everything is going to be expensive.  I just want to make sure the items in our auction are going to be in demand.  We do well with good furniture, good glass and china, good lighting,  good primitives…well I think you get the point!  I have been following though on a plan I started with last September, and now I have finally got it to the point I had originally planned for! So now I have to keep the ball rolling, and it looks like that is not going to be a problem.  The phone keeps ringing and the good merchandise keeps coming in, and that’s really all I can ask for! Time now to start work on the next auction.  Already there are loads to be picked up, consignors to be paid, and lots of paper work over the next day or two!  (the paperwork is maybe the only part of this business that does not appeal to me, but I make sure it is done promptly after each auction) Have fun on the auction trail! 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!

remembering The Silver Fox

Seems like reality TV has now discovered the auction business, the antique business, the pawn shop business, the storage locker business…almost anything to do with buying and selling! One of my favourites is American Pickers, and it reminds me on a personal note of a very interesting picker from my past. When I owned my antique store from 1984-94, I had the pleasure of meeting and dealing with a truly interesting person.  His name was Bob Jergens AKA “The Silver Fox”, and he was an old time picker. He was in his early 60’s, had a somewhat colourful past, but had mellowed considerably by the time he decided to buy and sell almost “whatever”, for a full time living.  He drove an old van that he paid I think around $500 for, and he was on the road with that van 6 or 7 days a week. He bought privately, through lawn sales, auctions, and believe it not, from dealer to dealer. I think he had this uncanny knack of knowing which dealer needed some cash, and which dealer needed some inventory.  He could buy from one dealer and run it down the road and sell to another. His favourite term for a piece he considered “difficult” to sell was “sausage”.  “I bought this piece through an auction, didn’t look and what a sausage it was!”  I still like to use that term, even though there is only one other person in the business I know, who actually knows what the term means! Bob was a chameleon of sorts.  He could adjust his personality in order to be comfortable with the person he was dealing with.  He could sit down and have tea and pie with an elderly female dealer, or be out wheeling and dealing with a crusty ol scrap dealer.  He was not insincere, he just knew how to read people and deal with people.  I don’t think I ever heard him swear, he did not drink or smoke, yet he could adapt to most people. We never discussed how much money he made, but I think he turned it into a rather comfortable living.  All deals were cash, and if you are on the road 6 or 7 days a week, and making a few hundred dollars a day, it all ads up.  And this was in the 1980’s. I was only in my late 20’s when I met Bob, and rather new to the business, but I never felt he took advantage of me.  Yes there were a few pieces I bought that didn’t turn out very profitable, but that all goes with the business. The last time I saw Bob he dropped into the store, and he really didn’t look very well. I thought he had a rather pale look,, and he told me he wasn’t feeling well.  Instead of me making some dumb joke, I told him he didn’t look well, and maybe he should go home and relax.  That’s exactly what he said he was going to do, and that was the last time I saw him alive. A day or so later, I got a phone call informing me Bob had passed away.  He was moving a big desk out of a basement, and it appeared he had a heart attack.  He was in the hospital for a day or so, but in true Bob fashion, he checked himself out and went home.  He then suffered another heart attack and this time it was fatal. I went to the funeral, and I was a little early, so I got to spend a few minutes alone with Bob before the family and friends entered the room.  It was nice to have those few minutes to reflect. As they loaded his casket into the hearse, I thought it would have seemed so appropriate if they used his old van instead of a hearse.  I think he would have liked that. This business is full of interesting characters, and Bob Jergens “The Silver Fox” is one I will always remember. 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!

…seems to come around again!

I have a couple of stories today illustrating how pieces in this business can travel about and eventually come full circle. In our Jan 22 auction we sold a very nice hall mirror.  It had come to us from a home in Orillia. A week or so after the auction, I received a rather interesting email from the new owner. “We owned the same mirror ten or fifteen years ago believe it or not.  It hung above a hall table in the old house for several years, and we sold it after we bought a hall stand to replace it. Now here in the new house, we have one of a kind 1/4 cut oak hall bench, and of course we wanted a mirror to go over it. We tried several different ones and none of them were just right…and we commented on several  different occasions that we needed to find one like the one we owned all those years ago. Imagine my surprise when I saw it on your website!  There couldn’t have been two the same, and sure enough when we got a chance to see the back, we knew it was our old one as we used to mark everything we sold.  As we hoped, it looks wonderful in the hall above the bench. The size, style and colour are very compatible and you would think they were made for each other!!!” So I called the consignor, and sure enough he had purchased it through the same auction the new owners had sold it through so many years ago.  So it all connected, and the mirror went back to one of the original owners, after a ten of fifteen year stay in Orillia. The consignor was delighted it went back to the appreciative original owners, and as you can read, the original owners were happy to have it back again! Now another one for you.  In November I helped auctioneer Bob Severn with a very large on-site auction in Alliston.  We were selling in two rings due to the size of the sale.  I was selling outside, and eventually went into the garage and sold some furniture stored in there.  I sold a large sideboard to one of my regular auction customers. When he attended our Jan22 auction, he handed me an old business card he found in the piece of furniture.  It was a card from my old antique store, and on it I had proudly written that this piece was the 3,578th  piece of furniture sold through Rob’s Place Antiques!  I operated that store from 1984-94, and in 2010, without realizing it, I sold the piece again! So yes, it is a small world, especially in the world of antiques. As they say, what goes around, comes around…but in this case I mean in a positive way! 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!

good way to start 2011!

Thanks once again to all who attended the Sat. Jan 29 auction. This was a smaller auction than the Jan 22 auction, and a little different atmosphere. The sale was organized by Raymond and Cecile Bates, and it is always a pleasure to do the sale for them.  When you are selling for one person, there is a little less pressure, and more opportunity to have fun with the sale.  A couple of times Mom said to me while she was clerking…”what’s gotten into you today?”  There were a lot of things that were striking me as amusing, and I just had to pass that along to the crowd.   The mood of the sale was fast and funny….keep things moving and wherever possible try and make it entertaining! That doesn’t always happen, but I do try whenever I can.  Sometimes it is only Carol Beasley who gets my jokes, but that’s ok.  At least there are two of us amused. Years ago I used to attend the auctions of a certain auctioneer who I always thought had a pretty good sense of humour.  To this day I can still think of some of the things he said, and I still smile.  But I also noticed that when he was doing a large antique auction, it seemed to be much more serious. He was at his best when he was doing small on-site evening household auctions.  It just seemed like he was having fun, because there wasn’t a lot of pressure. Now I understand that.  Not to say the big consignment auctions we do are a lot of pressure, but they are a little more demanding.  Most  of our auctions have 15-20 consignors and I always have to make sure the right items are getting up at the right time.  I  don’t want someone’s good items selling at the end of the sale, and then again you don’t want someone’s good items selling right at the beginning, so you always have to strive to keep a balance to the sale. Not only am I thinking about what I am selling, but also about what will be selling next, and trying to keep a direction and focus to the sale.  There are times when there is so much going on, that you may forget to work a little humour into the auction.  I think I always get a good number of laughs from the crowd at any auction, but I have to admit, the smaller sales give me a little more opportunity to have some fun! January was a busy month for us, with two good sales back to back.  I did have some concern about doing them so close together, but I didn’t have much choice. However, both sales went well, and you still get a different crowd from sale to sale.   Of course there are our much cherished regulars, but always new faces in the crowd, and that is very encouraging. We had one couple who where there from the beginning to the very end and buying throughout the auction.  After the sale they told me how much fun they had and how enjoyable the auction was for them.  That is the kind of comment I love to hear!  When someone comes to the sale for the first time, I want to make them a regular customer. So that is it for now.  They are predicting a major snowstorm in the next few days, so I will gather up food and supplies, and then spend the snowstorm at home getting photos ready for the upcoming auction! 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!

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!

and I think that is a good thing!

First let me say we have another great auction coming up Jan22.  Our Jan auctions are some of the best and this one certainly is no exception, so please check it out! Another interesting thing I would like to address is the proliferation of reality TV shows based on the antique or auction business.  American Pickers, and there is soon to be a Canadian version, Auction Kings, Pawn Stars, Hard Core Pawn, and of course the perennial favorite, Antiques Roadshow, and I am sure there are a few others. The favorite of mine is Antiques Roadshow, but for the most part, they are dealing with items most of us will never see in our travels.  American Pickers and Auction Kings, are a better reflection of the kinds of items I see and deal with. Just the other day, I was fuelling up my Dodge Sprinter, which is the same type of vehicle they drive on American Pickers, and the person next to me came over and said, “do you do what they do on American Pickers?”  I explained I am a little different, in that most people come to me, rather than me cold calling on people looking for items, and of course I run an auction business.  We talked about antiques for a bit, and then he asked for my card, so hopefully he and his wife will make it to one of our auctions. Later in the day, I was doing a house call, and the owner asked about American Pickers and Auction Kings…wow these shows must have  great ratings! Personally I find it encouraging to see the re-newed  interest in this aspect of the auction/antique business.  They refer to it as “Mantiques”.   Things that traditionally interest men more than woman, and it is the dirty, gritty side of the business.  Digging through barns and sheds to find old advertising, car parts etc.  American Pickers focuses more on that aspect, rather than glass, china or fine furniture. I like Auction Kings as well, because I think it presents a pretty accurate depiction of the auction business.  It shows consignors winning on some items, losing on others, good auctions, bad auctions…exactly what we go through! I am very comfortable with the way the business is portrayed in that show.  I want a reality show!!!   Now one other thing I want to mention.  I bought my Dodge Sprinter months before the American Pickers premiered on TV…and I had to pay for mine! So it is nice to see this new interest in auctions and antiques.  Might bring even more people out to the auctions.  However, I think you should really think twice if you think you can hop in your truck and head out picking.  That is a tough thing to do, and I only know a couple of people now who have been doing it successfully. If you want to open an auction hall, and make lots of fast, easy money….well, we will have to talk about that! 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!

have the years been shortened to ten months now?

Happy New Year! Almost all of us will say we can’t believe another year has gone by so quickly, and yes it is true.  I find time seems to go by very quickly in this business, because you are always planning one or two months ahead.  It is only the end of December and I am trying to plan the May sales! 2010 was a good year for our business, and I certainly hope 2011 brings more of the same. The antique business is changing and therefore the auction business changes. There has been a huge fluctuation in prices, and the overall consensus is, the antique business is not what it was 10 or 15 years ago. It has been an excellent time to buy antique furniture, but of course a hard time for many antique dealers. I know many dealers who are finding it difficult to change with the times, and I am afraid the upcoming years will not bode well for them.  As one dealer told me just the other day, there is a new pricing for most antiques now, and you have to live with that.  If you buy at the new price, you can sell at the new price, and still make money. This past year we have seen a good supply of quality items coming through our auctions, and for the most part, prices are fair for both buyer and seller.  The crowds are good, the prices are fair, so that keeps the good consignments coming. The auction business is still very viable, and of course we auctioneers have to adjust and change with the times.  Sometimes it is a case of having to sell more items to make the sales profitable, but that works.  You just have to work harder. As and auctioneer, I feel it is my responsibility to fill the sales with the items people want to buy. That seems pretty obvious, but not all auctioneers think that way.  It is not up to me to tell people what they should buy and what they should pay.  Just because something sold for $300 five years ago, and it now is selling for $200, doesn’t mean the buyers are wrong.  If the demand drops, the prices drop, and that becomes the new value for that item.  Prices are not carved in stone,, and demand increases or decreases for certain items, and that is what we live with.  I can come up with a whole list of items that used to bring decent money, but now I don’t even want them in the auctions!  I am also considering some items for the auctions that I would not have given a second look at just a few years ago.  Vintage stereo equipment and retro furniture for example. Also I have noticed an interesting trend on TV this past year.  New shows such as American Pickers, Auction Kings, Pawn Stars and a few others dealing with the antique and auction business.  There seems to be a renewed interest in the business of buying and selling antiques and collectables.  I have even heard the phrase “Mantiques” in describing primitives and collectable items usually of interest to men.  This is a good thing…I would love to have a reality TV show!  Can you imagine what it would have been like if a camera crew had been following me around when I got the news about the last minute cancellation of the first sale in Pottageville?  There would have been a lot of editing, but it would have made for interesting TV! So once again I am looking forward to another interesting new year.  I am pleased with our move to Pottageville, and now my friend and associate Dave Beasley will be conducting sales there as well for the winter months.  Between the two of us, we are going to make Pottageville a very busy place for auctions! So I wish you all the best in 2011, and hope to see you at as many of our auctions as you can possibly attend. Have fun on the auction trail in 2011! 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!