Auction house contents ?

Ausernamenotinuse

Dear All

. Apologies about my daft username but after 10 attempts at not wanting to use my real name and trying various other names I thought I'd call myself "a username not in use" however this question can be public domain and I hope somebody will reply to me.

I discovered this string because the word auction was mentioned.

Over the past 20 years for various reasons I've tried to auction contents of my house. Twice I've been seriously ripped off by the auctioneers

One was a company in Lymington, Hampshire who took a load of stuff from my house including several rare framed banknotes and when I got the results of the auction -- the three rare banknotes had been sold at 50p and actually wrote on the bill of exchange "picture frame 50p " ( ironically I could have taken them to the bank and cash them at their face value )

When I complained about this the auction house said - well it wasn't worth it was it ? I said - they were rare banknotes worth hundreds of pounds !! Just fobbing me off - I couldn't do anything or have any proof

Another time I tried another auctioneer in Andover they came and spent a day clearing a lot of objets d'art purchases that we'd acquired. Some rare antiques worth hundreds of pounds . They sold them and when I got the list back there was a about hundred items all listed and sold between 2 & 4 pounds each !

Now you may say a fool & his money are soon parted and I have been monumentally naive and yes I have been duped. I don't want it to happen again

So my question in short can anybody recommend

a genuinely honest UK auction house that I can trust ?

Where I can ask " This is what I want removing from my house. ( We are retiring I live in a large country house and we need to de-clutter - I don't believe the objets d'art are all rubbish ) I will happily accept the auction house decision if it is catalogued and professionally auctioned


It would be impractical to sell this stuff via a local auction from the house, eBay or gumtree

I look forward to hearing from anybody with any suggestions :-) Mike

AdrianC

Have you ever been to an auction...?

There are invariably quite a few people present who know EXACTLY what is what, and if something is going to be selling for less than the value, they will be bidding - so the price will rise. It's very rare something genuinely valuable will sell for 50p.

I presume these were things that you intended them to take and auction, rather than them taking items they shouldn't have? Did you not request reserves on these valuable lots?

TBagpuss

I think you need to talk to the auction house in advance about your expectations, and about putting a reserve on your items.
It's also sensible to do s bit of research about whether the items you want to sell fit with the type of auction.

Before picking an auctioneer, check out their website, read their catalogues to get a feel for the type of description they provide.

My local auctioneers will provide free verbal appraisals for things which you can take in, so you could check whether your local auctioneers do something similar, and then take in some of your items to get an idea of their value. The auctioneers would also no doubt be able to come out to value larger items, but likely at a cost.

In relation to your previous experiences, unless you were selling your banknotes in a specialist sale, then it may well be that the people at the auction were interested in the frames and not the notes - it's a fairly specialist area of interest.

G_M

AdrianC wrote: »

Have you ever been to an auction...?

There are invariably quite a few people present who know EXACTLY what is what, and if something is going to be selling for less than the value, they will be bidding - so the price will rise. It's very rare something genuinely valuable will sell for 50p.

Yes, but if the auction house described them as 'picture frames' and stuck them in the 'house clearance' section, the savvy people may not have looked once, let alone twice.

Whereas if they were described as rare bank notes, and put in the 'collectables' section, then yes, they'd be spotted and bid up.

So depends on the auction house....

AdrianC

G_M wrote: »

Yes, but if the auction house described them as 'picture frames' and stuck them in the 'house clearance' section, the savvy people may not have looked once, let alone twice.

I guess the auctions I've been to have been unusual... There's been people looking through all SORTS of boxes stuffed with obvious tat, just in case there's the odd un-noticed gem.

Bank notes in a frame would have the Jeweller's Loups twitching from 100m away.

wwl

For specific, valuables, especially small, light things like banknotes, Ebay has to be a far better option than a bricks & mortar place.

StumpyPumpy

AdrianC wrote: »

I guess the auctions I've been to have been unusual... There's been people looking through all SORTS of boxes stuffed with obvious tat, just in case there's the odd un-noticed gem.

Bank notes in a frame would have the Jeweller's Loups twitching from 100m away.

That's my experience too. Whilst I haven't been to many B&M auctions for many years, my Mother is a retired antiques dealer and I virtually grew up in them. I doubt much got past her beady eye or that of the other dealers there. All drawers were opened, all vases checked inside for hidden goodies, I can still spot the silver tablespoon in a cutlery tray of junk at 20 paces.

She once discovered a curtain in a pile of tat that, after some careful prising, revealed that the curtain weights were half-sovereigns. After waiting all day for them to be auctioned she was outbid by a gaggle of other dealers who had all discovered them too. I don't think the very confused auctioneer ever found out what the fuss was about.

SP

getmore4less

Depends where you live and how much stuff for it to be worth transporting

The first thing you do is review your cataloged items with the estimates

Then turn up on the day early and check everything is there.

Before deciding who to use go to a few of their Auctions, or review the catalogs as a min check
Remember they are shifting 1000s of items(it's all about turnover) your stuff just get thrown to the crowd unless something special.

The two that I know both seem good(buying and selling used both), have good reputations and people that know their stuff as well as loads of real dealers for decent stuff.

Tring Market Auctions and Keys(Aylsham, Norfolk)

Both do top end and house clearance tat.

Seen what looked like pile of wood to me, go for a few hundred to furniture dealer after a competitive bit of bidding and some very decent stuff that cost £100s new go for a few £ (seen similar stuff in charity shops priced higher).

AdrianC

getmore4less wrote: »

Seen ... some very decent stuff that cost £100s new go for a few £ (seen similar stuff in charity shops priced higher).

Of course, the very fact you saw it in the charity shop says that nobody had already bought it...

gwynlas

you are unlikely to get an out of area auctioneer interested unless you have obvious valuables to sell. I have attended auctions where furniture sells much cheaper than local Hospice shop. Check auction prsonally and also what similar items reaching on ebay.Another option is advertising on Gumtree.

Ausernamenotinuse

Thank you for all your comments. My experience with auctioneers was pre-eBay days, I agree that would be the best place to sell individual items such as rare bank notes. I just feel dreadfully cheated with these particular items because they were in a frame as you would have in a museum with an explanation underneath- explaining what they were, why they were so rare and the history behind them. I simply believe the rare bank notes were stolen, leaving empty frames .Hence 50p. On the other occasion every item, regardless of what it was, sold between 2 and 4 pounds ! My big mistake was to say to the auctioneers just take this stuff - auction it and give me the proceeds- no reserves just trusting them. Rather naive of me. It won't happen again. I will do some serious research. The reason I posted here as I thought there may be a famous trustworthy auction house ? My objective is to declutter 40 years of acquisitions and downsize property. The research will continue Thank you