SEANO
Sr. Member
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.
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.