What Is A Major Auction Like?

First of all, I hope I have the opportunity to attend a major auction in person. The excitement in the room must heighten the experience exponentially. I would love to hear any stories.

That being said, in my years of collecting revenues, yesterday, thanks to the availability of live online bidding, was the first time I participated in a major revenue auction – The Curtis Collection, U.S. Revenues, Part 1. After hearing about the auction here on SCF, I studied the Siegel e-catalog for the past few weeks and picked out 7 or 8 stamps, one or two of which I thought I might be able to afford. I starred 2 stamps as top priorities. When the first one came up, it immediately shot up to almost three times catalog, which was already beyond my budget. By that time it was obvious that for stamps without flaws, there were not going to be any bargains. I realized that my hopes of winning some of these stamps could be a naïve pipe dream. This was a prominent auction of a famous collection that undoubtedly attracted virtually every major revenue collector and dealer, almost all of whom probably had more to spend than me. So I decided to simply enjoy the experience of watching the competition for 200-300 great revenue lots instead of focusing on acquiring something for myself.

I did end up bidding on two lots. On one, I tied for the high bid but lost to an earlier mail bid of the same amount. I was already way over my allotted budget on this stamp and couldn't go any higher. Then I actually won a lot at what might have been the lowest price realized the whole day. But it's a part perforate stamp that I didn't have at all, it's an uncancelled stamp described as having "original gum" instead of "part o.g." (meaning it might actually be unused), and it comes with a 2014 P.F. certificate. Plus, now I can say that one of the items in my collection is ex-Curtis! It was a fun day. Here's my Curtis auction souvenir:

Auctions are happening all the time - go to Stamp Auction Network and have a look. For the last several years I have stuck to "stupid bids" - i.e. bidding far below auction estimate - and sometimes I'm lucky. Only very very rarely are items unique - so if you don't get it that time - maybe the next time.

For high-grade revenues at high profile auctions, you'd better bring a hefty wallet these days. The competition is fierce and there are players just throwing gobs of money at items. The only "bargains" generally are on items with faults or flaws, or esoteric items that have a very narrow collector base.

The high quality singles went high, but some of the multiples went for less than I expected... unfortunately (or fortunately) I'm not a multiples collector.

Lots of note (IMO):

211. R11a is now into unachievable territory. I still need one, but (1) believable examples come around VERY rarely, and (2) when they do there's a feeding frenzy. I think we'll see the SCV go from $1,500 to $3,000+ based on this auction.

215. Too much money at 5x Scott. These are findable in XF condition, granted sans graded cert.

217. Typo in the catalog value. 35x Scott for this is nuts. XF jumbos are findable.

223. Comparatively cheap for a sound example.

230. Very attractive example at a reasonable price.

247. If I would have had the money, this is a great looking stamp despite any flaws.

292. Nice looking stamp at a reasonable stamp.

296. R51b is now also unobtainable for a convincing example.

298. Insane price.

299. Don't trust it.

300. A lot I was considering bidding on, but went too high and I don't like the perfs at bottom.

305. This would have been an excellent spacefiller for the price. They normally don't come as attractive at that money.

387. Not a bad price considering the block contains the short transfer.

393. A comparative steal.

411. The Scott catalog needs to be updated to reflect that imperf vertically exists. I have several imperf vertically singles that are convincing, but the pair validates it.

415. It's not an R69b. It's an EFO misperf of a late state printing.

452. Somewhat of a bargain at $300 per stamp.

473. Moon money.

480. Not a bad looking stamp. I like it better than the one above it that cost $1,000 more.

rustyc:

Most live stamp auctions are pretty tame (d-u-l-l) affairs.

When I first attended IRL auctions, back in the 1960s, there would be quite a crowd.

These days, even for the Major Auction Houses in NYC, six (yes, 6) people is a crowd.

The reason, of course, is that the ease of web-based pre-bidding - not to mention web-based real-time bidding - has reduced the need to be in the room. Most items have reached most of their selling price before the lot is opened.

Moreover, about half of the attendees are professional buying agents; these folks know their customers, know their market, know their stamps, and know each other. They don't get excited; not when they are bidding, winning, losing, eating, or leaving.

Hearing "75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 95, 95?, 95!" gets old pretty quick.

Sitting, some weeks later, with a catalog, and a list of prices realized, also gets old pretty quick.

But I have enjoyed guessing what the final price of the next lot is going to be, which is pretty much an in-person, real-time, kinda thing. And fun, whether the items on offer are stamps, photographs, paintings, furniture ... if you like watching Antiques Roadshow, you can like guessing final prices at an IRL auction.

But 'exciting'?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Thanks, ikey. I guess I based my perception/imagination on too many movies, TV shows, and an IRL local auction that I attended about 25-30 years ago.

Especially now with live online bidding (complete with streaming audio from the auction room) you can pretty much get the experience from the comfort of home. I watched the Siegel auction of the George Kramer US domestic mails material on Monday...some strong prices there too (Siegel frequently gets above-estimate or even multiples of estimate realizations). No winnings there but I did get a couple items from last week's Rumsey sale.

Rusty - major public auctions are loads of fun, simultaneously pretty nerve-shattering to a certain extent as well.
Never have attended a Siegel or Rumsey auction in person but have had wonderful coverage by my agent. His job is not simple but is always done flawlessly. Just secured a dandy "it's now or never" item in the Siegel sale; received the agent's news within an hour of the sale; received the invoice the next morning; it is on its way by FedEx.
Didn't enjoy traveling to Manhattan, sitting there in person, happily perspiring and quivering as my adversaries, invisible and in person, threatened me. I guess I would rather not do that.
Regarding selling prices as earlier posters have detailed: there is often little rational pricing in the minds of many bidders. Scarce items sell for "what the hell, I'll get it no matter what and those other *()(&s won't have a chance" prices. Those competitors scare me, so occasionally I become one of them. It just has to be done sometime.
But of course the real beauty of participating in a major auction is either securing a unique item at an appropriate price or, even better, getting a very nice item at a howling bargain.
Auctions can get one's blood pressure up to stratospheric levels, at least in my experience. Just part of the business.
Have fun.
Bill

Also, it's important to not get caught up in "the heat of the moment", especially if you are on limited income. It's easy to become part of the fervor and wind up spending more than you expected.... which can be dangerous. The little devil on your shoulder chirping "just one more increment!" needs to be banished. ;)

Thanks Dan for the comments of Curtis collection lots. It's great to get opinions like yours, putting the prices realized in context.

Apparently I won the lot that I thought I had lost on a tie-breaker. I'm sure I paid too much but it was one of the ones I really wanted.

Only MY context though. Opinions will frequently differ as to what is a good deal vs. what isn't, also as to which lots are notable and which aren't.




It all depends on what you collect. If you collect revenue plate blocks, plate singles, or margin imprint singles, and it's an item that you need or want, that's all that matters. I wouldn't have paid that much for it, but then again it's not in my collecting area per se. I'm sure many would feel the same about some of the sums I've shelled out for cancels. At the end of the day, it's only your opinion that means anything.

Sometimes it's only in retrospect that you ultimately see the value in having "stretched" for something, and had you passed it by you would regret it in the long run. There are more than a few collectors here that are obsessed with percentages of Scott, and say things like "I would never pay more than XX% of Scott for ANYTHING!" or "75% of Scott is a RIPOFF!". Those collectors fail to realize that sometimes, if you want the truly scarce or the truly superb, you have to go beyond the boundaries of Scott, and more importantly certain collecting areas are not based on the Scott catalog values...

The funny thing is that I don't really collect any of those things per se, although I do have an assortment of margin imprint singles and pairs and some non-plate blocks and strips. But it appealed to me. I liked the way it looked. I could visualize it on a page by itself in my collection. At the time of the auction when I thought it was a tie, I had a chance to bid one more time but didn't. And, just like you said, I was already regretting not "stretching" to take advantage of that opportunity. I was thinking, "This is one of those things I'm going to remember ruefully forever." So I was stunned in a good way when I found that I had won it after all, and I paid for it right away before the stamp gods changed their minds.

I am fond of different formulations of 'you will remember how you felt long after you forget what you paid'.

Q/ Is there *anything* in any of your albums for which you would really rather have back the cash you paid?

Let's not count areas in which you have lost interest altogether, as in 'whatever led me to collect UN FDCs?'

And, of course, let's not count outright robbery, fraud, and misrepresentation.

My guess is that very few of us have very few items that we have soured on solely because we overpaid for them.

My new policy is to never look at an auction lot until I've forgotten (or no longer care) what I paid for it, but that's me.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

The only things I'm sour about in my collection are the empty spaces...

Revenue Collector,

Thanks again for your contribution to another fantastic, informative thread. I agree with almost all of your observations and, IMHO, that plate number multiple rustyc purchased is a fantastic value at the price paid. I hope that it gives him years of enjoyment. Many of multiples in this auction haven't been seen in almost 20 years. Some more. Very scarce and often times unique stuff. When uniqueness is the criteria, beauty is truly in eye of the beholder.

I have been an active participant in auctions over the years and have bid via pretty much in every way... by the mail, on the phone, in person and now more recently online vs StampAuctionNetwork. SAN is a fantastic resource that allows me to participate, sort of live, without making a bunch of trips. I must admit that I have missed some lots because my bids have not been recognized due to an electronic glitch, but this inconvenience is relatively minor in the context of the resource. Thank you Tom Droege!

Your analysis of the lots was really interesting. No doubt that others might have a slightly different spin vis a vis your specific analysis, but that is what makes a horse race! My question would be, do you have a feel for how much of the sale went to actual end collectors(either directly or through agents) vs material purchased by dealers for future(hopefully) resale? It looks like most of the lots sold and I would think that the depth of the real collector bid is much more indicative of a strong market rather than speculative bids, which if not resold, will just reappear back in the auction market within a short while.

Thanks again for all of your informative posts.

Bob

I believe Eric Jackson was at the auction in person; don't know how much he actually bought though. Many of the lots that sold to Internet buyers went to only a few players, one of which may have been Richard Friedberg.