My New Catalogues And A First Foray Into Stamp Auctions

Just wanted to share a couple of additions to my book collection, 2 vintage and 1 from 1999. Also, I have bid on a lot at Rasdale Stamp Auctions. This would be my first foray into stamp auctions other than ebay. I hope it turns out good as I have a maximum bid in mind and hope I can win the lot.

First is the US Stamp Facts 19th Century
I got this book because I am interested in engraving, plate #'s, and production sizes. The details also include the amount of stamps known to be left in sheets and blocks. An interesting book.


Second is The New American Stamp Catalog 1956 Edition. I bought this book to hopefully gather more information on stamps other than what is included in the Scott catalogues. After looking through it I have found it to have tables of perforations, history of images and other cool data.


Third is the American Stampless Cover Catalog. I am interested in stampless covers and, I don't know much about covers, I figured this book might give me a little insight. The catalogued items have dollar amounts next to them, so I figure maybe it would be a starting point for covers I want to acquire. An interesting point is there is a Smithsonian Library Stamp on the cover page. Maybe another philatelist used this book as a reference.

Out of curiosity is there a reason you left a bid with Rasdale as opposed to bidding live?

There are later editions of the Stampless Cover Catalog (which is one of the most important resources in my library). The last edition is available in digital form on the US Philatelic Classics Society website.

Rogdcam

I really didn't know what I was doing. After I bid, I realized I could have waited for the live auction. So, I learned a little bit from my mistake.

paperhistory

Thank you for the website information. I'm sure I will check it out. The book I bought was only $5.

Joanne

You can withdraw your bid and participate in the live auction. You may end up saving a lot of money. Just a thought.

Why would you save a lot of money? Your maximum bid or a lower amount thereunder wins or doesn't.

Because the process is in the dark. You have no insight as to whether or not you could have gotten Lot X for $50 in a live auction because you left a bid for $100 and wonder of wonders you won the lot for $100. You also have no idea if the "other" book bids are real. I have experience with this and won't leave bids anymore. Not all Houses are corrupt, but they are not all honest either.

This has been discussed at great length here over the years.

Here is one thread, for example.
https://goscf.com/t/80265

If the opening bid is $50 and the estimate or suggested bid is $100, and you submit a bid of $100 (in advance), then you might end up paying $100, even if there were no other bids. But at the live auction, if it opens at $50, you could get it at $50, or whatever ends up as one increment past the next highest bid.

Not all auctions follow this policy with bids below the suggested bid. Read the Terms and Conditions. Some (most?) auctions and you may end up winning the auction at $50 even if you bid $100 in advance.

SAN "Unattended Live bidding" is a feature (with a 1% fee for the service) that bids "live" for you automatically, without revealing your top bid to the auction house in advance. I use that feature on days that I have to work and cannot bid live.

Zebra - I completely forgot about the SAN service which I too have used when I was more active buying. Love it and never had any issues. It also allows you to jump in if you are still attending the auction virtually and outbid yourself! I did that more than once and should have left well enough alone. LOL

A couple of the auction houses with which I bid don't have internet live bidding, so it would mean a journey to the venue or use of an agent, neither justifiable for my purchases. A third does, and I sometimes glance at the live stream. If I do win, it's rare for my top commission bid to be required.

The estimated value of the lot I bid on was $200 with a starting bid of $110 for the preauction. I looked at the photos and determined that $110 would be a reasonable opening bid, which is why I bid on it. Then I looked at the live auction dates and realized I could participate at that time. So what your saying is that I could retract my bid and try to get it for a value lower than the determined opening bid? My interpretation was that the minimum preauction bid would be the opening bid. Regardless the preauction ends on November 14, and the live auction starts on the 15th.

My point is that you have no way of knowing what numbers are real if you rely solely on the auction house's internal numbers. If it is opening at $110 and your max bid is $110 you may as well leave it if you are comfortable with potentially not winning it. If on the other hand you are leaving a max bid of $130, $150, $200 etc. above the published current bid it may open at your max bid, and you will never know if you could have gotten it at say $120 when live bidding. Different Houses have different bidding structures but leaving bids before the auction often times only serves to pump up the opening. You never know if there really are other bidders on the book. I used to leave bids all of the time and would watch the opening increase as I entered my bids assuming that there were other bids that were causing mine to jump to my max. Were there really other bidders? My crystal ball is broken.

"Regardless the preauction ends on November 14, and the live auction starts on the 15th"
Are you confusing this with the last date the auction firm will accept pre-auction bids? I've never heard of "preauction".
At the day the auction starts, the firm has to get everything into "the book", up to date. That takes time so usually a last chance to "prebid" date is set. Bid retractions are "time-limited" as well for obvious reasons.

Usually the opening bid at the auction is one bid below the highest bid.
The first starting bid might be set to be more complicated if the consigner sets a minimum price for the lot, or the auction firm sets a reasonable start price if no bids come in for the lot.

Technically your $110 example could have no bids at all. Then a live auction bidder could make a last minute $5 bid and win. However that is not going to be accepted, hence the "bottom barrier" starting bid.
However, some auction firms will accept a 10% offer below the starting bid if no bidders are around at the auction - often when they know the bidder is a current or past regular customer.

The company I am using is Rasdale Stamp Company and they have a link to "preauctions". The preauctions end on November 14th at 6pm and the live auction starts on November 15th at 10am.
Does anyone have experience with this particular company?

In my experience, it's been rare for my maximum commission bid to be the sale price. The last time it was, I didn't win, as another bidder had put in the same commission bid earlier.

If there are no commission bids, I'd expect a UK auctioneer to open up at the reserve (not visible to the prospective buyer at that point). Most will have a minimum percentage of the estimate for commission bids to be accepted.

The bottom line is that there are no advantages to showing the House your hand ahead of time unless you absolutely cannot bid live and you absolutely cannot go without the lot(s).