- Joined
- Feb 23, 2013
- Location
- East Texas
Overall, I agree that it was a satisfactory experience and one I'd certainly recommend, with the reservations I noted in my thread. Eventually, they will probably receive more of my collection when I can no longer care for or display it.If I may, concerning the use of auction firms to market Civil War collectibles, state that my experience with them has been very good. I used a well known firm to market a few items several years back and am completely satisfied with the results.
I met with the principal of the firm and let him choose the items I wanted to sell and he was very straightforward about what he believed would sell and what wouldn't. I released the items with no minimum bid requirements, in essence, gambling that I would make some profit--the transaction worked out well for me in the end.
I received an advance copy of the auction program and was pleasantly surprised with how the items were described and displayed in the slick promotional piece--thousands of items were up for bid and yet my items were well described as to content and condition. As a matter of fact, a large group of letters from a Union soldier were presented in such a professional manner, so well researched, it was obvious that someone from that auction house had, in a very short period of time, expertly produced a description that revealed the true essence of those letters and the soldier that wrote them. All of the items that I had submitted sold for well over twice the amount that I had paid and the letters went for six times my cost!
As I recall the fees for this sale were moderate and the transaction was very professional from start to finish and I felt the auction house was primarily responsible for maximizing my gain from these items. Thus, based on my positive experience, I would definitely recommend the use of professional auction firms but also would recommend that any seller do some research on those "houses" so as to choose vendor with some care. This was my only experience so I am certainly no expert but in my limited use of such firms, this was a winner.
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