Two Auctions In One Weekend…..

that’s keeping me busy!

Thanks to everyone who attended our Friday June25 night auction and the Sunday rug/antique auction. 170 people registered for the Friday night auction, and with two rings running for most of the evening, we sold over 850 lots! Of course prices are always up and down, and some items went disappointingly low, while others went surprisingly high.  The fact is you look at the bottom line when you consign to an auction, and hope it all averages out. Our “primitives’ section was much stronger than the May auction, and I noticed there was a good crowd following that ring all night long, and that was reflected in the prices. Most of the items in that section came from the estates, and there is always a good demand for original, untouched pieces! In the main ring, I felt the prices on some of the refinished furniture were a little soft, but prices on good small items strong.  Dark furniture selling a little stronger than light furniture.  However, that was the case in this sale…next month could be totally different! I spoke to one long time dealer before the auction, and he does mostly shows, so his observations are always interesting.  Basically he told me he doesn’t see a trend….it changes from week to week, show to show.  A little hard for the dealers when they don’t know what to buy, because they are just not sure what is going to sell! In our May auction, we had several items that did not sell…could not even get a reasonable opening bid on them.  All of those items went into the past Friday night auction, and this time, collectively they all sold for over $800 total!  That is the nature of auctions, and that’s what keeps it interesting! Sunday we had the Rug/Antique auction in conjunction we Clarkson Auctions, and it was a big success as well.  Tom Clarkson usually holds specialty rug auctions, and they are only rugs for auction.  This time Tom decided to include some antique furniture, good used furniture, artwork and some new items.  The end result?  We had over double the number of people attending than what we would have at a regular specialty rug auction. So it worked out well for all involved. I announced a couple of times during our Friday night auction, that I would be making some changes in the next few months.  These are changes I think will be positive for all.  I really think I have to scale down the Cookstown auctions….almost 200 pieces of furniture and over 800 lots total….it is turning into a huge effort to do these types of auctions.  The setup is long and at times difficult, and the preparation is taking all my time (and then some).  I would like to keep them at about 500 lots, and focus on maintaining quality.  Too much effort is spent handling items that end up going out the door for so little money, that it was not worth the effort.  As I said before, we have no problem finding or selling quality items…it’s the very low end pieces that create the most work, and of course the smallest return.  If people don’t want to buy them, they won’t miss them if they are no longer part of the auctions!  It is going to take another sale or two to include the low end pieces in with the better pieces, but after that, I hope to have the back log cleared out, and the focus then will shift to the direction I want to go in the future.  And don’t worry, I am not trying to go all “fancy schmancy” on you….  it will be the same type of auctions, but without the items you don’t seem to want anyway! Finally come the fall, some major changes will happen concerning location.  However, until that is 100% confirmed, I will have to lay low concerning any public announcements, but let’s just say…I think you will be pleased! Rob IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS ABOUT THIS OR ANY OTHER PAST BLOGS, PLEASE EMAIL ME AT rob@robsageauctions.com (click on the link).  I AM ALWAYS INTERESTED IN YOUR FEEDBACK!