and one way or another will continue!

The month of July is always a month of reflection for me.  It’s my auction anniversary month, and this year marks my 15th anniversary.  I have a sale July 16 and July 18 and the July 18th auction will also be our 200th auction. It is hard to believe it has been 15 years already!  I know some of you will assume I must have starting auctioneering when I was just 20 years old, but I was actually substantially older than that! I  had just closed my antique business after ten successful years.  The property was sold, so I really didn’t have much choice.  However, I was looking for a change, so I started working with a local auctioneer doing sale setup, handling, and a little bit of selling.  The auctioneering part seemed to be coming easily to me, so in July of 1996 I decided to take the plunge, and do my own auction. Didn’t take an auctioneering course, but I had attended or worked at over 1500 auctions, so I felt the time was right. First sale was held in the Bond Head Community Centre.  Most of the items belonged to me or family members and friends, because I didn’t feel I was ready to accept consignments, and I also wanted to make sure I had the quantity and quality of items I needed to make sure the first sale went well. Yes I was nervous, and as sale day drew closer, I was hoping there could be some way I could get out of it! However, I went through with it, and it all worked out fine.  The one comment I received from those working with me, was I seemed so serious throughout the sale!  For those who know me now, that may seem hard to believe, but it does take a few times to get comfortable in front of the crowd.  The “chant” gradually improves, and the joking slips into the sale a little more. For the first sales, David Beasley, Mom, Dad and myself, set up the auction.  Carol Beasley soon took over the registration and cashiering duties, and my brother Brian was a handler right from the beginning. Mom has clerked every auction except for one.  My sister Kris and brother-in-law Gerry have looked after the food booth right from the first auction. Within a couple of years Don Garner joined us, and about 5 years ago, Charlie McAteer came on board.  Dad helped with the setups until he passed away in 2007. So how have things changed in 15 years?  Since  day one, we have always done large auctions.  Usually 500 or more lots.  So not much has changed in that regard. I think the addition of this website in 2007 has been one of the biggest changes.  In fact the internet in general. When I first started, I typed out the advertising and drove around to the local papers to drop off the copy.  Then I started faxing some of the copy, and now all of the advertising is done on-line.  I have dealt for years with some of the same people in the newspaper advertising department, yet have never met them.  The wonderful staff at the Woodbridge Advertiser, often lament that they never see most of the auctioneers in person anymore.  Of course when I drop by the office they are understandably excited…or at least pretend to be. When I first started, I went to the house, made a list of the items, brought them back to the storage, and then transported them to the hall.  Sent the copy to the various newspapers, and that was pretty well it. Now, most of the items must be photographed, and this is of great benefit to potential buyers, but it is very time consuming to do it the way I do it.  However, there are also great benefits to my business, so I will continue to put the effort into making our on-line presence, one of the best. Prices have also changed a great deal over the years.  About 80% of the antique business is “decor driven”.  Styles, tastes and demand changes for certain items.  That of course affects the price. The average age of many auction goers is now older, and the young couples are not as strong in the marketplace, so furniture prices fluctuate.  Dining room suites and bedroom suites are generally at a 15 year low as far as price goes.  Retro items that at one time were almost giveaway, can now be strong in price.  Glass and china is mostly flat, but primitives and country can be strong.  And the list goes on. I have seen many dealers, auctioneers and customers come and go over the years, but also I am pleased that we have a number of dealers, customers and consignors who have been with us for ten years or more.  And of course there are always new faces at the auction, which is  something I work very hard at.  You have to keep new people showing up at the sales, and I must admit, the on-line advertising does that. I am also very proud of the fact that we have pretty well the same staff that I started out with.  We have worked together for years, and when I pick up the phone to ask them to work another auction, they always reply yes!  I guess I am doing something right, but I have always said I have one of the best, if not the best, auction staff in the business! As I enter our 15th year in the business, there is some uncertainty hanging over our business.   I am not sure if we will be able to continue to do auctions in Pottageville, as the future use of that hall is up in the air.  We will not know until September if the hall is still going to be available to us.  I may be running all my auctions back if Bond Head if Pottageville is not available, and if for some reason we cannot do our sales in Bond Head….then I really don’t know what I am going to do!  However, I will cross that bridge when I come to it. So I thank you all for your patronage over the years, and for those of you new to our auctions, I hope you will be a regular for many years to come! Regardless of what happens over the next few months, I am an auctioneer…I love this business, and one way or another I am going to be doing this for many more years to come! News Flash!!!! July 13…I was just informed THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO CONTINUE  doing our auctions at Pottageville for the foreseeable future! This is a huge relief for myself and the other auctioneers using the hall!  So it is full steam ahead for at least ( I hope), the next year!  We now return to News & Views. 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!  

…making a few changes!

I have been a little negligent in updating this posting, but like most of you, it gets busy! Lots of work outside, plus of course doing the auctions, but now I am taking a moment to update you on what we are up to for the summer. First change, and I guess the biggest, is the Saturday night auctions. It gets very busy during the summer months, and it is much harder to fill the auction halls on a Saturday.  We do some Friday night auctions, and will have an upcoming Monday night auction in Bond Head on July 18th, but I wanted to do something different for Pottageville in the summer months. My idea is to do a Saturday night auction.  Now that is not traditional for the auction business.  There have been a few auctioneers running successful Saturday night auctions, but most stick to the traditional daytime or weeknight sales. I think Saturday night will have a special feel to it.  People have all day Saturday to do the lawn work, lawn sales, other auctions, whatever. Saturday night they can make the auction a night out.  A social thing.  Maybe call a few friends and invite them along as well. For the majority of people, auctions are a day or night out.   It is fun and interesting, and can be something a little different for them.   The social part of an auction is very important.  It is a chance to meet up with friends, connect with other dealers and collectors, and for some people, just a good excuse to get out of the house. I have selected items I think will fit a Saturday night atmosphere.  Lots of primitive and country items, good furniture and of course a nice selection of quality smalls, for the more serious collectors. We always try and make our auctions fun and interesting, so I think they will lend themselves well to a Saturday night auctions. Sunday sales are good, but somehow we just don’t seem like a Sunday auction. Some hopefully you can join us for our first Saturday night auction on June 25th. I am looking forward to it! Make a night of it! Rob

and I now breathe a sigh of relief!

Thanks  to everyone who came out to our Sat May 21 auction…the first time I have done an auction on the Saturday of the Victoria Day weekend. I was somewhat anxious about doing this sale.  Originally I had the hall booked for May 28, but about a month ago was informed there had been a mistake in the bookings, and I would have to re-schedule my auction! So this was the only weekend available, and I certainly had mixed feelings. I was told it was the worst weekend of the year to do an auction, and then others thought it was a good time to do one, so opinions obviously were mixed. The key would be the weather.  If we were going to have a rainy weekend, then the crowds should be good because people then would have time on their hands instead of doing yard work. So it rains for 5 days before the auction, and the only day without rain forecast was my auction day!  Even worse, two days of rain forecast for the remainder of the weekend, so the nicest day to be outside was auction day….just my luck! We had a lot of good  smaller items…lamp parts, china, primitives, artwork etc., and I was hoping if I had the right quality, they would come regardless of the beautiful sunny weather…and they did! Certainly not the largest crowd we have had, but exactly the right number of people I hoped we would have to make the sale work. The sale lasted for 7 hours and the serious buyers were there until the end.  Approx 560 lots sold, and even though there was a fair bit to pack up after the sale, I was pleased with the results. We didnt have the quantity of furniture I normally have….approx half the amount, but that was the way I wanted it.  Not the sale to be trying to sell 150 pieces of furniture…the 75 pieces we had was about right. Having said that, there were some very good deals on the furniture…two piece flat to the wall selling for $400 was the one that stuck in my mind, but the furniture market is very volatile right now, and that is something we just have to live with.  10 piece walnut dining set sells for $500….yet 75 pieces of sterling cutlery sell for $1550 dollars, a crock for $400…Hornyanksi prints for $270 each.   The money is there for the right pieces, but if the piece isn’t right, it just does not bring the money! So overall I was pleased with this sale.  I don’t think I would do another one on the long weekend, but I have a full year to decide that! Next auction I do will be for Raymond and Cecile Bates, and that will be June 10th on a Friday night, and after that will be June 25th which is a Saturday night. We have been doing Friday night sales for years now, and they always worked out well, so hopefully that will happen again in Pottageville. I want to try Saturday nights for my general antique consignment auctions, because I would like to try something a little different for the summer months. I like the idea of a summer time Saturday night auction.  It gives people time to do whatever they have to do during the day on a Saturday, and then have a night out at the auction.  I think it is going to be fun, and I look forward to making the change for the summer months! So, as always, lots of good stuff coming your way…have fun on the auction trail! Rob

so it has to be at least 200 years old!

I recently went on a house call to look at some furniture.  There was one piece the owner told me was at least 250 years old and she could prove it. How?  Well the piece belonged to her father who would have been 106 years old and it was passed on to him from his grandfather, so when you add the ages of the three generations, it dates the piece to over 250 years old. Lets apply this logic to a piece I own.  I have a transistor radio that belonged to my grandmother.  She died in 1971 at age 84.  That was 40 years ago.  That should make that transistor radio at least 124 years old?  But wait.  My grandmother purchased that radio in the mid-1960’s brand new.  So now my grandmother’s  124 year old transistor radio is less than 50 years old? I think you can see where I am going with this.  You can’t assume your relatives purchased everything they owned the day they were born and didn’t buy anything again throughout their life!  Even though your grandfather may have lived to be 100, it is quite possible he purchased items in the last few years of his life, so that doesn’t make those items 100 years old! In the case of the 250 year old piece of furniture, since it was passed down to the current owner’s father, and he was born in 1905, it is possible that the piece was purchased by his grandfather in the 1880’s or 90’s.  That is the time frame I would date the piece of furniture from.  Technically an antique, but not 250 years old. I have encountered this method of “dating” a piece, many times over the years, and in most cases, it just isn’t accurate. I once looked at an old electric refrigerator, and the owner seriously told me…in fact repeated it twice…that the refrigerator was 200 years old!  That would make it a very rare refrigerator.  It was a General Electric…the owner seemed it think it was a General Washington! So be careful when you are using the family tree to date a piece.  To carry that analogy a little further….what you think is a 200 year old oak tree, may be closer to a sapling! Rob

…lots of good things happening!

I haven’t been able to update this blog lately, simply because I have just been too busy! Been working on three auctions this month, and when you post over 150 photos per auction, there is a lot of time spent on the computer!  However, judging from your comments, it is well worth the time and effort. Monday April 18th I helped launch a new auction venue in the Orangeville area.  Basically I supplied the auction services and staff, but the consignments were the responsibility of the owner of the hall. I was surprised and pleased to see the number of regular customers who made the trip!  It is 45 minutes west of Pottageville, so I knew there would be some regulars because they live in the area, but I didn’t expect 2/3’s of the crowd to be familiar faces! As expected the crowd was smaller than what we  usually have in Pottageville,, and of course the over-all quality of the sale was not what we do in Pottageville, but I think we made it very clear it is a work in progress, and there is still a lot of work to do to get it to the level we would all like.  At this point, plans are for more renovations to the building and a bigger and better sale sometime in the next few months. So now, plans for the summer months.  This year I will not be going back to Cookstown.  We did some huge and wonderful sales there over the last three years, but they are making renovations to the building that will now allow us to do auctions there anymore.  It appears the old concrete floor will be replaced with a sand or styrofoam  covering, so obviously you cannot hold an auction on that kind of surface! I was unsure if I was going to go back to Cookstown anyway.  The sales in Pottageville have been doing very well, so I was reluctant to leave it for the summer months. I have Saturday sales booked for April 30 and May 21, but after that I am considering going to a Saturday night sale.  Things get very busy on a Saturday during the summer, and I like the idea of doing a Saturday night auction.  It would seem more like a night out!  Maybe have a barbeque food booth…perhaps sell outside for a bit…not sure exactly what to do, so if you have any input I would certainly welcome it! I will be doing some sales on a Friday evening.  The sales for Raymond and Cecile Bates are a little smaller than our regular consignment sales, so we could set them up on  a Friday and do them Friday evening.  (the hall is not available for us to set up on Thursday, or any other time during the week except for Friday). My regular consignment auctions are too large to set up on one day and do the sale the same evening, so that’s why Saturday night could work for me.  I could also do Sunday sales, but I just don’t see us as a Sunday auction.  Too big and too much energy for a Sunday! So things continue to be extremely busy and I will be making some changes to accommodate, and that is what makes the business so interesting! 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!

one for our record books!

Wow…what can I say about the March 26 auction?…Well there is a lot to say actually! Our biggest crowd since we moved to Pottageville and one of our largest crowds ever!  Of course it was one of our best sales ever! Usually if we have 100 bidders registered by the time the sale starts, I know we will have a pretty decent crowd.  This sale we had almost 200 register by sale time and a total of 218 registered for the day! At the beginning it was wall to wall people sitting and standing, and we did our best to show off the items so everyone can see, but it is not easy when it is that crowded.  I expected a large crowd because we had some pretty good items once again, but I did not expect that many people! Of course the crowd thins out a little after a few hours, and I am sure some people may have found it too crowded and perhaps left early, but the crowd was there almost to the end. Prices were strong overall throughout the auction, and I was pleased with the sale overall.  Naturally there are some disappointments, but I think all consignors involved in this auction will be pleased.  Usually in every consignment there are a few items that fall below what we expected, but hopefully that is off-set by the pieces that bring more than expected.  As I’ve said many times,  you have to look at the overall picture, and average it out. This sale I had to sell a little faster than usual, because we had a time restriction.  Because of other commitments, we had to have the sale over by 4:00 pm at the latest.  I think we finished about 4:10, so everything worked out ok.  However, it is tough when you start the sale with the clock running! So it seems like we have some strong momentum going with the Pottageville sales, and of course we still are planning some fine tuning and tweaking, but I have to admit, I am very pleased with the results in Pottageville.  Also the phone has been ringing steadily with good consignments coming in, so the next few sales are filling up already. April is going to be a very busy month.  Two auctions in Pottageville and also I am part of a new auction venue opening on Highway 10 between Orangeville and Shelburne, on April 18. I am working with the owner of “The Emporium” in launching an auction facility in that building.  I will be doing the auctioneering and promotion, and using our staff as well.  Bill, the owner of The Emporium, is lining up the consignments, renovating the building etc. We agreed there is a need for a regular antique consignment auction in that area, and we all will be giving it our best shot to make it work.  We would like to see regular monthly antique consignments auctions, and perhaps general household auctions, running from that facility. It is going to take a lot of work and some time, but I have a pretty good feeling about this. So a very busy time ahead, and lots of work to do.  At this time I have six large pickups to organize, and of course lots of paperwork, so time to get back to work! 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!

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!