How Do You Feel During Auctions?

I've bid in auctions for about 10-15 years - but most of that as a collector. Now that I'm buying for inventory for my store, I have to put a lot more at risk and compete with some big bidders. It is definitely attention-getting. I always enjoy watching auctions in general though - even when I'm not bidding. Especially fun to watch big-ticket items way above my credit limit.

By the way, was there no sound for this collections auction? I never got it to work.

I prefer live auctions........! I belong to 4 Stamp Clubs, including 2 which have monthly auctions, so I have options. Online auctions just dont appeal to me. Granted the items offered are better quality, I am sure...! I just prefer in person for some reason. Thats one reason I quit playing roulette.....no more live dealers (there are exceptions), everything is electronic!!

Such an interesting topic. There have been a lot of studies done regarding auction psychology and when read they hit close to home. We are all so different and yet so alike in our responses to stimuli.

The danger of getting too emotional and bidding without rational restraint may be obvious when one is calmly preparing for an auction, but in the heat of the action, the urge to win a lot can become overpowering and discipline can disintegrate. Some years ago, I was watching a Siegel auction in which two bidders got into a bidding war over a couple of nice, but certainly not unique or particularly valuable early U.S. stamps. It looked like a test of wills between the two who simultaneously threw caution to the wind with each determined to beat the other and win the lot. After one bid reached a multiple of CV value, Scott Trepel actually quickly hammered the bidding to a close and moved on to the next lot after making a comment like, "well that got beyond reason."

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I worked hard all summer in the heat pushing a asphalt crew and now you think your going to out bid me for that lot ,hey that is my winter entertaiment your looking at .

I got to meet Larry Lyons while viewing lots for the recent Kelleher auction. Nice to put a face to a name on so many certs and on my books of locals. In the era of internet sales, it is one of the few places we can meet each other these days.

I was at WESTPEX 2022 during the Rumsey auction. A fellow Hawaiian Philatelic Society (HPS) member that I was sitting next to bought a couple of missionary stamps and other items, with his total sales over $100K, before commissions. He was very relaxed and won most of the lots he bidded on. (i.e. $24K, $32.5K). I am far from his level but my stomach turned, if it was my money! For auctions I've won, I do have limits and strongly believe that if I did not win it, then it was not meant to be. If the same paddle number keeps winning and is also bidding on the same lot # I'm bidding on, they obviously have deeper pockets than me. I may not win it, but I may "bump it up" .

To turn this on it's head how do you feel during auctions of your material?

For me the emotions are more intense than buying. You never know what the room is like and if the right two or more bidders are in it. I have watched bidders pummel each other to my benefit and also sat there going "come on, come on, COME ON….somebody BIDDDDDD. Always a lot of tension and poor breathing technique.

When watching an item up for auction that I have little or no interest in, I can dispassionately observe the action. I do get excited and a little anxious when any of the items I bid on are up though. Normally, I have a limit that I set for each item and stick with it. Sometimes, I have become emotionally attached to some items and have bid over what I set as a limit. I reconcile this thinking that I'm building one single collection and want the best material available within the condition parameters I've set for myself. So far, I think I've built a pretty nice collection and will continue to work toward the impossible goal of completing it some day.

I love auctions, I love to be part of it buying and selling, waiting for the right momment to place a bid, I always tell myself not to go crazy bidding, but sometimes it simply just happens the winner then will be the seller :-)

The only time during an auction when I feel the various orifices in my body tighten up is when I'm the high bidder and the auctioneer says "last call," especially when a bargain is at hand.

I have been thinking about this topic and remembered an experience that encapsulates for me the emotional roller coaster of bidding.

I had my eyes on a US Scott 292 Columbian in a Siegel sale. It was a high-grade example with I believe an SMQ value around $5000. I sat through the auction and picked up a couple things but the 292 was what I wanted. So, the lot opens, and I am bidding live on SAN with sound. Scott is calling the auction. Every lot up until this one had moved at a lightning clip with Trepel hammering with abandon. He flew through the lots. Not this one as it turned out. I was the first bidder at a low opening advance. A bit of time went by (maybe 20 seconds) and Scott did not close quickly this time. Somebody else bid and so I bid. They bid again a couple of times, and I responded in kind. Everyone else stopped bidding and I was winning, still at about half of SMQ. Holding my breath now. Scott does not hammer. In fact, for the first time in the sale he starts prodding the floor bidders. They don't respond and so he keeps going at it until they start bidding. I bid back for a few increments and am still winning...again. Not good enough. Scott asks the floor for more bids and waits....and waits. Finally, someone jumps the bid to above SMQ and I am out and very ticked off. I realize that fully 5 plus minutes had been spent on this lot. The rest of the auction goes back to lightning speed closing. I always wondered what the story was with that lot and why it was treated differently. It left a bad taste in my mouth whether right or wrong. It still irks me when I think of it.

Rog, I can definitely relate to your experience! You have to laugh it off or it will drive you nuts. It is hard to believe but a minute and a few more seconds can seem like a lifetime in that moment.
BTW, just for accuracy Scott 292 is the $1 Trans-Miss; perhaps you meant 242, the $2 Columbian?

Hi Rhett - Nice to know someone else has felt the same way. Yes, it was a 292. I believe it was a MNH 85. Looked like a 95.

Rog - I recently had a similar experience lately, but in reverse. It was the most recent Longley Auction and a large lot of Tonga that I had my eye on. Throughout the auction up to this lot, the auctioneer called the auction at a relatively leisurely rate. When the Tonga lot came up, in the background there were some words spoken that I couldn't make out, a bid was made, and I didn't barely have enough time to move my cursor to the bid button before the lot was sold to the first bidder. Although I clicked my bid in, and the SAN system told me I was the high bidder, a message from the auction floor advised something to the effect of 'sorry, but your bid was too late.' To this day, under 'My Bids' on SAN, I'm still listed as the high bidder/winner. It left me with the feeling that the other winner of the lot was a preferred customer, a friend of the auctioneer, or something along those lines. With the auction moving on to the next lot, it was back to the original, leisurely tempo. I felt robbed. Fortunately, I won two other large lots which took the edge off, but still...