Live Stamp Auction Etiquette

I would point out for the auctions at the show, it is not even possible for an auction house to rent a bigger space - they are given a room and that's it, no choice of a bigger room.

So then let the auctioneer simply limit who can come in. Whatever the auctioneer wants to do is fine with me -- it's THEIR auction. I never said that the ONLY option the auctioneer has is to get a bigger space and don't understand at all the fixation on this. In fact, I listed many other options that I'm certain all auctioneers are aware of. Anyway, I think it's clear we have different viewpoints on this, and I can respect that. So I'll end my part of the discussion and just read.

The Javits Center is huge, and the auction rooms are not on the show level. I am sure there will be plenty of room for all.

Since my reference to "public library" was too oblique for some, let me say it another way:
The rules of etiquette at a public philatelic auction are more like the rules of etiquette at a classy jewelry store than at the public library.
Does that help?

I'm a regular Siegel customer, but none of the sales they are doing at this show has anything I am after, thank goodness. By the time my wife and I get to the show the Siegel Rarities sale will be over. Good luck to those of you anticipating your first up-close-and-personal with some high class material! Some of my fondest philatelic memories are from when I attended my first US International - Interphil, 1976. I was blown away by the large gold Bank Note exhibit of Rudolph Wunderlich, of which I took many photographs.

It simply boils down to if the auctioneer wants to rectstrict attendeees in some capacity they will. If they want as many people to attend, there'll be no restrictions.

A person may have no intention of collecting, or a collector has no intention to expand to another area of interest - but seeing what's being offered at the auction might pique one enough to start or expand collecting. Such starts or expansions might not occur right then or there, but the collector will always recall "the first time" - including the auction house.

And remembering an auction house is what the auctioneer wants in the end.

Waazwi

Okay, so you are one of N customers in a classy jewelry store being attended to by N clerks.

You are sightseeing, and have no intention to purchase.

In walks a couple to pick wedding rings.

Q/ Do you surrender your seat? Or insist on your 'rights'?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

The etiquette is similar, but the items are not. It's unlikely that anyone will be walking into a stamp auction thinking it is a major life-changing event (unless they are thinking of committing fraud). There will be plenty of time and space and possibly an area set aside for preferred customers as well.

What are all you chaps doing in classy jewellery stores? Shouldn't you be wasting your money on printed ephemera?

They are talking about scheduling a viewing visit to their office before the auction, not at a show site. In the case of this big show, the auction houses are only being given the viewing room for 1 day before the auction.

An auction is nothing like a public library.

First the auction house is a business.

Second, with a library book the book will be available for borrowing for years to come. For an auction the item can only be viwewd by potential buyers during a limited period of time.

How much viewing time is available depends on which auction one is discussing. For example the Siegel Rarities sale will have 3 1/2 days to view.

Is the Siegel auction itself only one day or multiple days?

I only said a single viewing day because that is what I heard was offered to one auction house, but perhaps there was an option to pay more to have more viewing time.

If the auction house has a booth at the show there should be viewing every day before the auction at the booth, the rooms downstairs are a different matter.

there are two Siegel auctions, on two different days. Sunday then Tuesday.

2? I count 4 (on two days) during Stamp Show, and three more later in June:

•Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, Inc. -
The William H. Gross Collection: Hawaii - May 29, 2016
The Steven Walske Collection of US-France Transatlantic Mail, Pt2 - May 29, 2016
Inverted Jenny Position 58, Graded XF-Superb 95 - May 31, 2016
2016 Rarities of the World - May 31, 2016

Worldwide Stamps and Postal History - June 14-15, 2016
The Grant Inman Collection, Part I: Newspapers and Periodicals - June 21, 2016
Confederate States and the Civil War - June 22, 2016

That's 7 auctions within a 30 day period. For a major house that is something amazing.