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Reyne Haines & Martin Willis Auction Strategies, Part I

Reyne Haines & Martin Willis Auction Strategies, Part I

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The following is from a blog: Picking With Reyne.

Part II will be up next week.

Who says you can only pick door to door? There are plenty of picking opportunities that arise at auction. I know I’ve bought tons of box lots over the years – gave away the dreck and sold the diamonds!

Recently I spoke with my good friend, Martin Willis. Martin is a second generation auctioneer, with 35 years of auction and antique experience under his belt. And he just happens to be a bit of a picker as well. We had a great conversation about one’s ability to make some serious cash picking at auction and it went a little something like this…

Reyne: Martin, you’ve worked for auctions and also had your own auction – is there really money to be made there or does stuff always sell for a retail price?

Martin: First of all, I want to say that I truly believe that there is at least one or many more bargains at every single auction, no exception. I had a client that used to sit in all the New York “big house” auctions back in the 1990s. The focus at these sales were the big-ticket items and he would often buy mid range paintings for a good deal and put them in my auctions and make a very good profit. I would spotlight them versus less attention in the previous sale it was in. For instance, he bought a Polish painting for $500, which I sold for $12,000.

Actually, I have done the same thing. Bid on mid to low tier paintings at Sotheby’s and Christie’s only to sell them at Butterfields for a nice profit. Most people think deals are never found at the big New York houses but that is so not true.

Reyne: What are some strategies you can share that would make my experience a good one?

Martin: The number one rule in buying well at auction is patience coupled with perseverance. Attending in person is the safest way to find a deal. First of all, if you have knowledge in a particular item and have an interest in buying, look around and see if you can find it. For example, say I collect art pottery. Now I will scour the auction for the pottery, catalog in hand. If I find a piece, I make sure it is described and estimated properly. I should say that it usually does not matter how something is estimated, if enough people are aware of the piece, it will seek the correct price. On the other hand, if it is misidentified, you have a chance. There are mistakes in all auction houses; it simply cannot be avoided with the vast amount of property handled.

Good points. You can’t know it all and even with catalogs now hosted online for all the world to see, plenty of things slip through the cracks.

Martin: Next, check out group lots, they are a great way to buy. A piece placed in a group, generally means the cataloger did not think it could stand on its own. If you can find that nice piece of pottery in a group lot, you have a great chance of getting a good deal.

If it is a long auction and your item is coming up toward the end, wait it out. The crowd will trickle down and there will be less competition. When I mentioned before that there is always a deal at an auction, while you wait for your item(s) to come up, you are liable to see a bargain, so be on the lookout. A word of caution, speaking from experience, do not bid on something unless you have looked at it. I have owned a lot of white elephants that looked good from 50 feet away.

I have certainly done that a time or two. You know the artist, you know it’s right but you didn’t personally inspect it to see the 5” crack running down the side….

Reyne: What are other strategies that work?

Martin: My close friend and former partner was hired to bid at an auction house in Illinois on a major period American secretary. Once he carefully inspected it and gave his client a condition report, he had the authority to bid as high as $350,000 on it. Before the auction, he spoke with the auctioneer and said he wanted to bid on the piece, but did not want anyone to know he was bidding. Often people will bid higher on something when a noted expert such as him bids on a piece. He told the auctioneer to look at him when the piece comes up and if his arms are folded, to take his bid. Once he was to drop his arms to his side, he was out. The bidding started at $50,000 and went slowly up to $220,000; my friend was the winning bidder. He said it caused a bit of a stir as everyone else bidding was watching him and wondering who was bidding. They also wondered how whoever it was could be bidding, as they saw nothing going on in the direction the auctioneer was looking in. When the auctioneer said sold, my friend held up his bidder number and there was a bit of grumbling. Now, I am not sure if he got it for less then if he was openly bidding, but I assume he probably did.

I have experienced this too. That’s why I sit at the back of the room, or I leave an absentee bid on things I really want. Then if it goes for more than the bid I left, I can still jump back in and bid more.

Reyne: What is the best strategy you have seen people using at an auction?

Martin: This one may be hard to swallow for a lot of people, but I have seen it work many times. I will just use an example: You are a Tiffany lamp collector and you attend an auction where there is an acorn shade Tiffany lamp. Your maximum bid will be $9,000. When you get there you see everyone you know that will buy the lamp for the same price. Auctioneers generally start something for around half the low estimate, sometimes lower, sometimes higher. Let’s say the auction estimate is $8,000 to high $12,000. The auctioneer asks for an opening bid of $4,000. This is when you hold your card up and shout $7,000! Everyone turns and looks and the auctioneer may stumble and ask for the next increment of $7,250. At this point, often times no one will bid because it throws the whole thing off. If someone bids the $7,250 the auctioneer turns to you asking $7,500 you shout, $8,000! Often times it will be yours at this bid. By doing this, people will know you are serious, and often may think you are a bit nuts, so they will not bid again. I have seen this done with success dozens of times over the years.

Hahaha, I’ve seen people do this and I too thought they were nuts, or the auctioneer was just moving a bit slow and they wanted to hurry up and get to a “real” price.

Reyne: Do you think this negatively affects the sale?

Martin: I don’t think so in my opinion. It would not happen enough at any given sale to cause a problem. However, I did watch quite a phenomenon happen at one time. Back in the day when I used own Seaboard Auction Gallery in Maine, I rented it out to specialty auctioneers when I was not having a sale. There was an auction of painted country antique collectibles such as baskets, Shaker pieces and the like. Attending the auction was the foremost dealer in country pieces sitting in the front row. Right off the bat she bid on the first 30 or so lots of the auction. She just held her card up until she owned each and every item, no matter how high it would go for. I watched dealer after dealer exit the sale in frustration. I don’t know if it was her intention, but she cleared out most of the dealers at the auction and bought a large portion for a very good price. This is a case where I would say the auction was hurt.

Another phenomenon to note: Bargains at auctions often stem from a physiological situation. For instance, a nice piece may come up, well worth all the money and for some unknown reason, no one bids right away; this makes people wonder why no one is bidding, so no one will bid on it at all. If you are sure about the piece, don’t second guess it; throw in a bid just before you think it may pass. You may start everyone bidding, or you may get a great buy.

Reyne: What strategies to buy at auction would you give to the novice?

WAIT WAIT WAIT right there….tune in next week when I post the answers to this question, and several more I had for Martin!

Antique Trader

Antique Trader

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Since we started our podcast, we have been looking for ways to spread the word about what we are doing. Our first priority has always been to make our podcasts fun and informational. We hope to spark more interest in this great business. I have learned a lot while recording the podcasts and hope that our listeners can learn as well.

The antique and auction business has taken some real hits with the economy like every other business. But more importantly, it was looking like less and less young people had an interest in our beloved antiques.

Continue here: I was seeing this on a daily basis, as people were bringing in silver and china for sale. Over and over I heard the story that their children or grandchildren had no interest in their antiques.

Late in 2009, I sent emails to dozens online antique trade related websites or magazines and told them about what we are attempting to do here. Only one responded and that was Eric Bradley editor of the Antique Trader.

Eric is on the young side and is a great asset for that company in many ways. He put our podcast link in the Trader blog, and has been promoting us ever since. He is responsible for many of our great guests as well. Our podcast posts on  iTunes and about 40 other podcast hosting websites, yet we are only able to document the traffic to this website. I noticed right away with Eric’s help, that our traffic seemed to pick up on a daily basis and still is. We started getting emails from all around the country from people who found us through that blog.

After dozens of emails between Eric and I, it was obvious that we had alike passions for the business and both saw that there was new technology that may attract the younger generation. Podcasting is one, blogs, and all kinds of social medias. I have a very small part in this, but greatly enjoy doing what I can do. On the other hand, Eric is constantly looking for ways to keep this business strong and alive by using all kinds of different avenues. He is open minded and keeping up with what is happening and this is refreshing. Myself, being in the business forever, can tell you that change is not an easy thing as we can get stuck in our ways.

I am hoping you take the time to listen to the podcast that Reyne Haines and I did with Eric here.

If you love the business, whether a dealer, auctioneer or collector, I believe you will find that Eric is a dynamic person, an asset to the antique and auction world and will be for decades to come. Thank you for reading.     Sincerely, Martin Willis

Eric Bradley, Antique Trader

On Thomas Jefferson

On Thomas Jefferson

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In Episode 53. Professor Burstein talks about the timeless way of writing that Jefferson had as one of his many gifts. After all, he did write the Declaration of Independence.

While Jefferson was serving as the US Minister to France, it is speculated that he fell in love for the last time with an unavailable Maria Cosway.  She was an intelligent, beautiful & spirited Anglo-Italian artist & musician. She was versed in many languages (and unhappily married). The two met close to the French Revolution and enjoyed a wonderful month together, exploring the countryside by carriage and entertaining at each others homes. They spent many hours enjoying each other’s company visiting art exhibits and developing a romantic relationship that was soon to end by her leaving for England.

The following is an excerpt Professor Burstein quoted from Jefferson’s Head/Heart letter to Maria in 1786 when they parted for the last time:

“Let the gloomy monk sequestered from the world, seek unsocial pleasures in the bottom of his cell. Let the sublimated philosopher grasp visionary happiness while pursuing phantoms dressed in the garb of truth. Their supreme wisdom is supreme folly & they mistake for happiness the mere absence of pain. Had they ever felt the solid pleasure of one generous spasm of the heart, they would exchange for it all the frigid speculations of their lives.” Now that is moving, isn’t it?

Text of the letter is online: HERE

A portrait miniature of the beautiful Maria Cosway by her husband Richard

My opinion of Thomas Jefferson is that he is one of the most important if not THE most important Founding Father. A sophisticated and highly intelligent man, who was soft spoken and very sensitive. At six years old he was pouring over his father’s books, already studying Greek & Latin and he soon learned how to play the violin. Prodigy comes to mind. In his adult life, he lost almost all that mattered to him, yet he remained an optimist and believed in the future. He answered Adam’s letter that he would indeed live his 73 years over again from the cradle and thought life gave more good then bad. This is after he lost his wife (early on) and all of his children except Patsy (Martha). Thank goodness he had Patsy by his side to the end. Speaking of the end, he died the same day as John Adams, July 4th, 1826, exactly 50 years to the day that his Declaration of Independence was signed, what an uncanny event.

I am not saying Jefferson was perfect, the slavery issue will always follow him. He was born into a world where it was the norm, but he knew it was wrong and that all men are created equal. He had some failed attempts to pass emancipation related bills that were heavily defeated. He thought it was important to keep his legacy in the founding of our American Republic and let the next generation deal with the issue. There is no easy answer as to why he did not free his own slaves as other did. Perhaps part of his rational was his comfortable life and what would change if he did. Another issue was that he died in a large amount of debt, $100,000 or so. That translates to $2,240,000 GPI today. It was a sad situation in January 1827 when the personal property was sold in a five day auction.  It was especially sad as the slaves were sold as well. A newspaper clipping auction ad. here. So though the man had his flaws not to be forgotten. His overall legacy is that he changed our world and help create our independent nation.

People from our past like Thomas Jefferson & Abraham Lincoln gave of themselves to make our world a better place. Since Abraham Lincoln is another favorite, I hope to bring a Lincoln historian to our podcast within the year. I was lucky enough in my career to handle and hold in my hands, the second to last letter Lincoln ever wrote. It was just a note he wrote on his knee in the White House stairway on the evening of April 14, 1865, just before he left for Ford’s Theater. It is a moving experience for me to hold something that the great man held in his hands and wrote. I feel that way when I hold and read letters by Thomas Jefferson and others  as well.

My friend auctioneer John McInnis in Massachusetts had a six page George Washington letter in an auction a few years ago. Washington’s hand writing is not as easy to read as Jefferson’s. It took a good deal of time to transcribe, but what I found was: I had to use the dictionary several times as there were words I had never seen before. Secondly, in six pages of writing, there was not a single misspelling.

I had handled a major auction back in 1989 of one of the Signers of The Declaration, Josiah Bartlett. I am going to do a podcast on that in 2011. For now, and old press release is HERE. A video clip on that auction is HERE.

I want to end by posing a question for your pondering. What do you think our world would be like if Thomas Jefferson was never born?

I want to thank our guests sincerely, Professor Andrew Burstein and Monticello Curator Susan Stein for taking time out of their busy schedules to share with us. If you have not listened to the Jefferson podcasts yet, they are Episodes: 53, 55 & 58. They are all cross linked together as well.

CDs are always available for any of our podcasts at $3.00 each with free shipping in Continental US.

I hope you enjoy our podcasts on history as much as I do making them.

Warmly,

Martin Willis