Please list some of your better "Auction" finds.

[SEANO]

I'll start.

A local auction house does a typical "Early Bird Auction" They usually let you pick out items for separate bids at a min $10-$20 start, and then sell the rest in table/pile lots. Generally, there is too much crap for me, or just not enough meat to make a buck, but occasionally there are some nice early bird finds to be had.

Recently, a collection of 1970's vintage NIB (New In Box) electronics and speakers came up at the early bird. There were two tables stacked, so three rows of items, the tables are approx. 10ft. The top table came up and two bidders went to $1500. Now this is an early bird auction where tables rarely go for more than $50. The middle section came up, and I see the two bidders in hot conversation, so I bid $40 and get it for $60. The earlier bidders were asking when the next row is going up... GONE.
Long story short I have scored a great find, $2K and still much more to sell. After the Early Bird auction finished, I spoke with the guy who bought the top row and he expected to make sales of $14K. I saw just one set of his NIB speakers he was expecting $1000 sell for $2500, and he had 4 more set, plus many other items.

Story #2: A couple years back at another local auction house, I bought an inside table lot at the end of the auction (gotta clear-out for more weekly items). There were no more the 8-10 people left to bid, I paid $90. The items were mostly early Nautical items. Ended up slowly selling them for over $3500.

Let us know your Auction Stories and bottom-line, don't overlook the auction houses.

 

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[bazinga]

One fun one that comes to mind is also the most expensive single item I've ever sold on eBay. Years ago I used to work for an auction house and were cleaning out a house to bring stuff to the auction house and the seller had a very large Bob Ross oil painting.

At the time, I basically had no money in my bank account. I was around 20 years old (10 years ago), still in school, and just happy to have beer money. I ended up getting it for $500 at the auction without having any real idea what I could get for it. I knew they were rare, but back then not many were being listed on ebay. Smaller ones were selling in the $300-600 range.

I sold this one for $1525. The buyer was ecstatic and could remember the exact episode that the painting had been painted in. It appears now they sell for much more on eBay. If only I had had unlimited funds and could have held it until now.


I'll post more auction stories as this thread goes on.

 

[arapahoscout]

I once bought a closet full of 45 rpm and 78 rpm records for $200 from a closed restaurant that had a jukebox in their bar for many years. There had to be 40,000 records total. I sorted all of them by condition, threw out all of the scratched and damaged ones and sold the valuable ones individually. I made over $8000 off of the valuable ones, then put the remaining lots on eBay by genre for another $1800 total sales. Then, from all of the damaged 45's I had thousands of sleeves left over. I sold those in 2 lb lots for another $800 total sales. It took days on days on top of weeks of work and research, but in the end it was well worth it!

 

[tennessee digger]

I bought a WWII German helmet for $5 and ended up selling it for $850 to a collector. And over the years we have picked up a lot of good buys. Bought a suitcase for $2 and was told that whatever was inside that we could have. There was a bunch of maps for countries in South America, some junk, but a pair of Oakley Sunglasses and an antique Tiffany money clip which we sold on e-bay for over $90. Just 2 weeks ago my wife bought a "costume ring" that the lady said was glass and fake stones for 20 cents. It looked real and so she took it and had it checked out. Turns out it has real diamonds and a natural saffire that they said was worth around $700. It don't always happen but every now and then we do find some real deals! Tennessee digger

 

[bazinga]

Was at an auction last summer. Was buying up the scrap silver and gold when the bidding didn't get too crazy. There was a sterling Tiffany bracelet there. I don't know a whole lot about Tiffany and I didn't even see it until right before they were holding it up for sale, so I had no time to research it. But I figured retail had to be at least $100 and it felt pretty hefty, so I thought I would go up to $50 and at least make sure nobody got it for under scrap. I got it for $40, and at the time there had only been one of those recently sold and it had gone for a little over $300 in auction format. I still have it, but I have no clue where it is at the moment.

And like the poster above, I too got an old Tiffany money clip. It was in a misc lot of jewelry that I paid maybe $8 or $9 for since I was trying to get the sterling that was in there. It's a dark auction house, so I didn't know what I had until I got home. It's a bronze 1904 St Louis Worlds Fair money clip. I think it might have an eagle on it or something like that. It's packed away somewhere.

Hungover from last night... I'll post more stories about Tiffany finds later.

 

[diggummup]

I always do well with Tiffany jewelry. I got a ss necklace on right now that I got for scrap at a yard sale ($1 a gram). As for auctions, my experience is pretty limited with no real great finds other than pm's for scrap prices or less.

 

[bazinga]

5+ years ago I went to the local Sunday auction. There were 3 or 4 auctions needed to clear out one particular estate. It was gigantic, and everything in it was just cool, old stuff. In the first flat of choice jewelry/misc to start the auction there was a Bronze turn of the century Tiffany Studios pen tray. There are a couple of guys there that are high end dealers, so I just assumed they had seen it. I saw it late and had no time to look it up. First choice went for over $100. They wanted some jewelry. I won next choice at $20. I haven't looked them up recently, but in the past they were in the $500-$900 range on ebay.

Next weekend, same estate. I spotted another piece from this desk set mixed into a misc junk box full of scrap brass. It was a notepad holder. I gutted it out and stayed the entire auction and made sure not to put it up at the front of the auction as a request. So at the end, they go around to each table and you bid on choice flat from that table. I won the flat for $22.50. Last time I looked it up, it was about the same price range as the pen tray.

For those not familiar with auctions, a flat is the cardboard base that they deliver beer in to the liquor store.

diggum.... Yeah, most auctions you just can't touch gold/silver for under scrap around here. I just get randomly lucky sometimes at random auctions. They are few and far between, though. Too many gold buyers these days.

 

[SEANO]

"diggum.... Yeah, most auctions you just can't touch gold/silver for under scrap around here. I just get randomly lucky sometimes at random auctions. They are few and far between, though. Too many gold buyers these days."

Same here!!!

 

[iceman0xh]

I try to go to a auction house down the street once a month(they have weekly auctions). Last time I went I bought a flat full of NASA photos for $40. I sold a music box out of it for $50, sold an autographed astronaut photo for $300, and the rest of the photos at $10 a piece for an additional $400. Not a bad haul for the cost.

 

[drbecker]

A few years ago one of the local auction houses had a big sale that included a larger gun collection. In it was a lot of documented stuff from Bouganville which I did not get. I bought a box of misc for $20 and it had two muzzle covers for a Japanese type 96 LMG in it. Got $250 for the rusty one and $550 for the real nice one. Also bought a lot of 2 boxes of misc gun parts that had 2 Japanese sniper scopes in it. One went for $350 in poor condition one $1000 with lens missing since it was a rare prototype. I paid $300 for the boxes and there was a lot of other great stuff in them as well.

 

[creeper71]

Was at an auction last summer. Was buying up the scrap silver and gold when the bidding didn't get too crazy. There was a sterling Tiffany bracelet there. I don't know a whole lot about Tiffany and I didn't even see it until right before they were holding it up for sale, so I had no time to research it. But I figured retail had to be at least $100 and it felt pretty hefty, so I thought I would go up to $50 and at least make sure nobody got it for under scrap. I got it for $40, and at the time there had only been one of those recently sold and it had gone for a little over $300 in auction format. I still have it, but I have no clue where it is at the moment.

And like the poster above, I too got an old Tiffany money clip. It was in a misc lot of jewelry that I paid maybe $8 or $9 for since I was trying to get the sterling that was in there. It's a dark auction house, so I didn't know what I had until I got home. It's a bronze 1904 St Louis Worlds Fair money clip. I think it might have an eagle on it or something like that. It's packed away somewhere.

Hungover from last night... I'll post more stories about Tiffany finds later.

I justed wanted to put a warning out to the people who may not know. China is sending Knock off Tiffany Braclets that come with a knock off bag an serial numbers. The Bracelets are marked 925 but if you know what real sterling looks like you will be able to spot the knock off peices pretty quickly

 

[diggummup]

Yeah, The Tiffany necklace I just sold had a "Tiffany" bracelet with it when I purchased the necklace from the lady. The bracelet was fake, but the necklace was real. I knew the bracelet wasn't real, it was hollow, too shiny, no T & CO ® symbol and overall chintzy looking.

 

[Digs68]

I've made many nice auction finds over the years. Nothing with a "thousands of dollars" turn around, unfortunately, but an occasional decent score nonetheless. I enjoy the auctions. Sometimes you really have to tough it out to get the good stuff.
I once purchased an old canvas tool bag containing firearms odds and ends for $2.00. It contained an old Weaver rifle scope in near perfect condition. It sold on ebay for around $150 or so. The bag also contained several pairs of various pistol grips that brought another $50-60. Another time I bought a small box of miscellaneous for $9.00. In it I found a rare Clambroth marble which sold on ebay for around $100. In the past few weeks I purchased an antique air pistol (Webley Mark I from 1920's - early 30's) for $20. Haven't realized the value of it yet, but it's really neat! I've also recently purchased a large navigating compass for a boat for $2.00. Valued somewhere around $250 new. We'll see what it brings. Also a very nice Queen Steel (#46) folding knife for $9.00 (It may find it's way on ebay soon). There have been more finds over the years, but my mind fails to remember them all.
Great stories everyone! I'm really enjoying the read!

 

[bazinga]

I justed wanted to put a warning out to the people who may not know. China is sending Knock off Tiffany Braclets that come with a knock off bag an serial numbers. The Bracelets are marked 925 but if you know what real sterling looks like you will be able to spot the knock off peices pretty quickly

Yeah, just to add to this, there are also a lot of fake Tiffany sterling rings as well that come with bags. I've seen those at yard sales around here in the past.

 

[LCrebel]

Not a auction but I traded a younger kid off Craig's list some car stereo equipment amp and speakers for a WWII German Luftwaffe paratrooper helmet that turned out to be very rare. Still had the dirty bird decal intact. Bought a huge box of old comics from late 60's early 70's at a yard sale for $5 sold most of the rare Spiderman and x men for $6500 and a few others still have half of them I'm saving for my son. I tend to keep most of my finds. Wife hates it when I buy junk as she calls it! Until she sees the profits!