By Anson Brown

As an auction professional, there is nothing worse in this business than disappointing consignors. It would seem, there is nothing we can say or do to really prepare a consignor for what to expect at auction. Disappointment happens when you bring your treasures to auction that you think are valuable only to find that 200 bidders sitting in a room think your stuff is worth much less than you do. Hopefully, the wise seller will do a little due diligence online prior to send all her possessions to auction and have realistic expectations.

With the Baby Boomers retiring in mass, the United States is about to see the biggest transfer of wealth in history. This means downsizing, liquidating a lifetime of acquired durable goods and moving to The Villages in Florida. If this sounds like you or someone you know, read on and learn what to expect.

Rule #1: Auction is a Gamble

The sooner you understand this the easier it will be to put things into their proper perspective before you send your stuff to auction. A good auction house does two things: 1) supplies bidders for your merchandise; 2) appropriately markets your items. It is almost completely up to the bidders to supply the price. These two auction house functions have never been easier with the advent of the computer age. With as much as a photograph on the internet, any auction house can get your fair market value for your goods. Today an auction house in Ohio can compete with an auction house in New York, because people are looking online for items world wide. In fact, the 3rd largest auction house in the world is Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas and is strong competition for world leaders Sotheby’s and Christie’s. Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s are well over 100 years old while Heritage was founded in 1976 and is doing nearly $1 billion in business annually.

Expect to get Fair Market Value

Now when we say fair market value in the auction business, we do not mean retail value. When you walk into a gallery to buy an original painting, they may charge you thousands of dollars. Years later, you try to resell the painting at auction only to find that it’s worth a mere hundreds. Why the disparity? Much like the stock market, your durable goods are subject to the laws of supply and demand. Demand being the most important factor, if what you bring to sell is not in high demand and short supply today you will only get a fraction of what it was once worth. The way we explain these key factors to perspective consignors is desirability; what do people want to buy NOW? For example, for antique furniture Victorian and Rococo are out of style and not highly desirable. You would be giving these away at auction for next to nothing. Conversely, Danish Modern and Federal Style are en vogue and will bring a much greater price. The vast majority of items sold at auction will sell for 10-20% of retail value. So, if you look up your artist print being sold by a gallery and find a retail value at $1000, you can typically expect it to bring $200-400 at auction and sometimes less. If you want to avoid sticker shock, the best thing you can so is research auction values by looking at sales records for your items on a live auction site, such as LiveAuctioneers.com. The account is free!

Don’t send anything to auction unless you are ready to let it go!

This scenario happens all too often. A seller out of necessity is liquidating assets will send 50 items to auction that they really don’t care about, and the one thing that they hold dear. This could be something with strong sentimental value, that has been in the family a long time or has been thought to be very valuable for years. The 50 items may do as expected at auction, but the 1 item you really thought was great sells for next to nothing and you’re incredibly upset. What’s worse, there is no getting it back. Don’t bring anything to auction unless you’re ready to see it go! When you sell at auction, you are agreeing to sell to the highest bidder, not necessarily at a set price. Most auction houses will allow you to place a reserve on items which is a set price which an item must achieve if it is to be sold. Usually, reserves have to be approved by the auctioneer and carry a fee in the event of non-sale. The auctioneer gets paid either way, so it behooves the seller to find a realistic price prior to setting a reserve.

Gold is where you find it…

I had a lady with a Thomas Kinkade “painting” that she purchased for in excess of $1600. It graced her home for some years, but would not fit the decor of her new condo in Florida. She wanted to sell it. I informed her that it was not actually an original painting, but a print on canvas which is what Kinkade does to make his art available to the masses. Although a gallery may sell it for $1600, at auction you can buy them all day long for under $200. She refused to believe me and insisted I try to sell. I couldn’t offer her a reserve on this item because bidders and other auction houses would think me mad. Even after telling her my estimate, ($100-200), showing her comparable auction data she went ahead and demanded I sell it for her affirming that I was completely wrong and that I would be surprised. Conversely, she had a box of old pre-Civil War Virginia currency, many uncut notes. She thought this box was worthless. Long story short, her Kinkade painting sold for $180 while her box of currency sold for $6500. Lesson here, be receptive to the reality of the market and leave your preconceived notions at home. You may have something in your collection that you never realized was valuable. Don’t place too much emotional stock and expectation in things that are widely available. And when in doubt, keep it!

In Conclusion

Those of us in the auction industry want to make your selling experience a good one; this is our responsibility. Often times, we are putting a price on emotions and memories which are always priceless to their possessor. As a seller it behooves you to approach auction with understanding of the process and realistic expectations of the market. Understanding is the best remedy to make parting with your treasures a positive memory. And if you don’t like what things are selling for at auction, you can always buy! In today’s down economy, it is after all a buyer’s market!

Encyclopedia  Britannica is Out of Print

I still remember when my parents bought our family encyclopedia set form the door to door salesman in 1990. Who knew that just a few years later the company would layoff their entire sales force in 1996? After 244 years, Encyclopedia Britannica is no longer issuing its printed version at all. Hearing this news is somewhat disconcerting as a rare book auction seller. I can just see it now: Scores of consignors lining up to get my opinion of value for their Britannica sets and then arguing with me over the bad news that it’s still worthless at auction and in fact should be pulped immediately and made into books people actually want to read. It’s going to be the worst rush of junk books since our marketing guy placed the $30,000 Johnson’s Dictionary in a national ad and we got calls from everyone with a dictionary from coast to coast, none of them worth anything.  So, now that it’s gone, the big question is what’s it worth?

Honestly, I just can’t give modern encyclopedia sets away and anything later than 18th century is 99 out of 100 times recycle/trash. I used to be able to sell the 11th edition on India paper for around $50, when I first started in this business in 2006, but even that market has evaporated. Some people will find this set having sold recently for $300-600 at auction online. If these accounts are in fact true, then I recommend they find that auctioneer and take their encyclopedias there because I have never had that kind of luck. There are some other editions including the 9th, or 1st which also bring money, but these are exceedingly scarce.

Here are a couple rules to determine if your encyclopedia is valuable or should be sent to Africa where they are still used (no joke).

• 21st century: It’s just a used book at this point, good luck finding a buyer knowing Britannica couldn’t…
• 20th century encyclopedia, it’s probably trash.
• 19th century encyclopedia, should be looked at by a pro or looked up online, but don’t be surprised if it’s garbage (1800′s is not old for a book).
• 18th century and illustrated, probably worth some money, generally low value with few exceptions that will sell for real money. Basically you have a 50/50 shot.

A new set of Encyclopedia Britannica retails for around $1400 with about 4000 copies unsold from its last run in 2010. Before you rush out to buy your “collector’s item” consider this: It’s probably not going to appreciate in value for another 244 years. Otherwise, using the rules above, or send your set to a developing country where they are truly in demand for books over digital technology.

LiveAuctioneers v. ArtFact/Invaluable/AuctionZip

In a head to head comparison, posting the same two auctions across these platforms, LiveAuctioneers is the winner for auctioneers hands down. This is bad news for auctioneers who post live auctions through ArtFact’s three bidding interfaces exclusively, but good news for bidders who find auctions only posted through ArtFact. These bidders will face less competition, that is, unless there is a LiveAuctioneers bidding applet in the room. AuctionZip which has been long established in the industry does have redeeming qualities, but not as a live bidding platform. Here are actual session results from two recent auctions:

Auction of Rare Books, Antique Maps, Historical Autographs & Manuscripts

• LiveAuctioneers: Registered bidders = 211; Total online sales = $20,450
• AuctionZip Live: Registered Bidders = 53; Total online sales = $625

This auction was posted only on the two platforms. There are several other sales statistics each platform offer, but total exposure and the bottom line are the important ones for those of us in the business. Page views, watchers, absentee and consul bids, were exponentially higher on LiveAuctioneers as well.

Auction of Fine Art, Decorative Art, Antiques and Asian Arts

• LiveAuctioneers: Registered bidders = 682; Total online sales = $106,390
• ArtFact/AuctionZip/Invaluable: Registered bidders = 128; Total online sales = $3,205

This was a much bigger option so we opted for maximum exposure, posting to LiveAuctioneers and all three of ArtFact’s platforms. Hopeful for a better result across all three, we just didn’t see it at all.

AuctionZip Pros

AuctionZip is still the go to place for people to find an auction nearby and for auction houses to post free or paid classifieds and get a tremendous amount of exposure. Every one of our auctions makes it on Zip in some way, usually a free classified post with many images. As far as a live online bidding platform, Zip still has a ways to go. Zip’s live bidding platform as it is today is a result of merging with ArtFact & Invaluable with the ability to post the same auction through all three sites simultaneously. Unfortunately, the results speak for themselves.

‘White-headed sea eagle or bald eagle,’ one of 500 illustrations contained in a complete 1840 octavo edition of John James Audubon’s ‘The Birds of America,’ est. $40,000-$60,000.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. – The premier attraction of Waverly’s March 1 Fine and Rare Books, Maps & Manuscripts auction is an 1840 first edition of John James Audubon’s The Birds of America. It comes with provenance from the Washington, DC-area collection of Charles Truitt and is estimated at $40,000-$60,000.

Known as an “octavo” edition, the 9-inch-tall book is especially desirable because it is complete, with all 500 illustrations present.

“Usually Audubon editions of this type are pilfered for their famous and decorative illustrations, which people frame and display. This one is special because it is 100 percent complete,” said Waverly’s specialist Anson Brown.

The consignor of the Audubon book is Charles Truitt’s son, who has kept and cared for the important book from his father’s collection for many years. He has also consigned to auction an edition of John James Audubon and John Bachman’s The Quadrapeds of North America. It is estimated at $3,000-$6,000.

Another highlight of the 215-lot sale is a circa-1900 fully leather-bound edition of The Life of Napoleon, which came to Waverly’s from a couple in Winchester, Va., who had it on a bookshelf for 38 years.

Circa-1794 letter signed by Gen. Napoleon Bonaparte that was tucked inside a circa-1900 leather-bound edition of ‘The Life of Napoleon.'

“The gentleman knew that it probably had value, as he noticed that it was an edition of 1 of 26 volumes issued by the publisher. Upon examining the set at Waverly’s, we found that it contained a letter signed around 1794 by Napoleon Bonaparte, when he was a general,” said Brown.

The letter was likely dictated by Napoleon, penned by his secretary, marked “personal” and signed by Napoleon, according to Brown. “What is most remarkable is that, after 38 years of ownership, the couple never even knew the letter was there,” Brown said. “They were pleasantly surprised when I told them the auction estimate would be $4,000-$6,000.”

Other noteworthy items in the March 1 sale include a certificate of membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, signed by President George Washington, estimate $2,000-$3,000; and Andrew Ellicott’s map titled “Plan of the City of Washington in the Territory of Columbia,” estimate $1,000-$3,000.

Certificate of membership in the Society of the Cincinnati, signed by President George Washington, est. $2,000-$3,000.

“This is probably the strongest auction we’ve had in the last couple of years,” said Brown. “In addition to connoisseur’s items like the Audubon Birds of America edition, we also have a number of pieces that aren’t particularly rare but still quite sought after by collectors,” said Brown.

Waverly’s March 1 Fine and Rare Books, Maps & Manuscripts auction will commence at 6:30 p.m. at Quinn’s & Waverly’s galleries located at 360 S. Washington St., Falls Church, VA 22046. For information on any item in the upcoming auction, call 703-532-5632 or e-mail info@quinnsauction.com. Visit Quinn’s & Waverly’s website at www.quinnsauction.com.

A Great Find by Anson Brown

People often ask me if my job is like the Antiques Roadshow. Mostly not, as 98% of the time, I give people bad news on how their treasures are basically worthless, low value or at least not worth thousands of dollars. It’s a common complaint I’ve heard from people in the industry: “People are watching Roadshow, Pawn Stars and American Pickers and they all think they have something.” Today was one of these exceptions where it was actually like Antiques Roadshow!

My cataloger had set up an appointment for me to meet with an elderly couple who had a 22 volume “nice set” of the Life of Napoleon. My cataloger figured it would be worth about $2K based on the consignor’s description of the work in an email. When I sat down with the couple, I asked them why they brought the book to us. They told me that a book dealer had quoted us it much lower and when the consignor was disappointed, the dealer recommended Waverly. Therefore “since [we] really think [we] can get that much” they decided to give us a try.

I frequently trust my cataloger’s assessment, but I always like to double check his work and have him double check my work. This occasion was no different, especially because we were dealing with something thought to be worth thousands of dollars. As is my custom, I began with volume 1 in the set. This set had 3 volumes marked “1″ so I decided to look in each for expedience sake rather than reconstruct the set in its proper order. On my third try, I found the true volume one, thumbed through the first few pages and stumbled on a tipped in personal letter in the hand of Napoleon Bonaparte as a brigadier general, c. 1794. Now for the truly amazing part: The couple had had the set decorating their living room for the past 38 years and never knew that they possessed an original letter penned by Napoleon himself! They were completely amazed. The last of these editions with the tipped in ALS (Autographed Letter Signed) sold in 1997 for $4250. These years later, I expect the set to bring much more.

This is not as unusual as one might believe. In the past I have sold similar works with tipped in letters including James Fenimore Cooper, Charles Dickens, Henry David Thoreau, Victor Hugo and several other noteworthy authors and historical figures. But these consignors knew exactly how special their items were. What makes this find so special is that it has evaded all knowledge of existence for at least 38 years until I found it for the world. The Napoleon will be in my rare book auction on March 1st, 2012, along with a complete set of Audubon’s Birds of America, 1st octavo edition, a George Washington signed document and many other books.

Introducing the Auction Exclusive Weekly Show! Yeah, sounds a little corny, but the fact of the matter is, inspired by shows like Pawn Stars, American Pickers etc., I have come to realize that people think the stuff I deal with every day is actually quite interesting. I thought, why not show it off? In this first video, I demonstrate an early 20th century medical device called the “Renew Life Violet Ray Generator” from 1919. I’ve seen these kinds of things before. When I saw one on Pawn Star, Rick and Chumlee were too afraid to try it out on themselves. This time, when it came through I just had to try it for the world. Enjoy people who enjoy things!

19th century William IV Sheffield silverplate and cut glass epergne.

You know, the epergne, that shiny tree made of silver and crystal for the purpose of holding anything your heart desires. So inviting is the epergne as it holds out small dishes of candy, crackers, nuts, bonbons, fruit and flowers etc., to your guests as if to say here, please have a piece, you’re our dear guest. The epergne has been replaced, by numerous dishes that cram our tables on holidays, as if to say get it yourself, if you can find it, in this quagmire of party eats. Cereal bowls filled with pretzels, “fancy” assorted nuts out of the can, plastic veggie platters destined to strangle the earth for hundreds of years from one night’s gathering; it is these that have led to the demise of the epergne.

Befuddled at polite society’s transition from beauty to cheap junk, I consulted a graduate student pursuing her master’s degrees in decorative arts. Renee Corbino, from George Mason University’s Smithsonian program and a long time cataloger of decorative arts for a local auction house, explains that the epergne met its end at the turn of the 19^th century. Rebellion against the lavish decadence and consumption of the Victorian era, coupled with utilitarianism arising from the depression era and world wars had pretty much done in the epergne. Beauty gave way to necessity and subsequent generations have continued the trend.

Jessamyn Modrak, a master’s in decorative arts from the Corcoran School of Art and Design, had a more concise answer. According to Ms. Modrak, the epergne was Victorian and everything Victorian is big, cumbersome and out of style. So today we are left with the fiesta style three tiered dishes-o-tapas – a mere space saver sure to make you shudder and a shadow of the glory days of entertainment and luxury. The modern world and fiestaware has made a mockery of the aesthetic beauty intermingled with pleasure the epergne has come to symbolize in my mind.

From Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson (c)

Today, computers can predict the path of a hurricane well in advance, giving us ample time to avert disaster. In the Washington, D. C. area, we have been preparing for Hurricane Irene since before our freak which went largely unpredicted earthquake. Unless you live under a rock however, there really is no excuse to be caught in a hurricane unprepared. Flash back, nearly 200 years ago, before Doppler radar; what did they do? Meteorologists of the age were no fools. Although they could not predict the path of a hurricane in advance, they could observe and track them with amazing accuracy! Lest the weatherman find himself guilty of hubris, take a look at this map printed in 1840 and see how it compares today’s computer models!

Map From: John Purdy. Memoir, Descriptive And Explanatory, To accompany the Charts of the Atlantic Ocean; and comprising Instructions, General and Particular, for the Navigation of that Sea... Lon: R. H. Laurie, 1840. 8th edition. To be sold at Waverly Auctions, September 8th, 2011.

By Anson Brown, Waverly Auctions.

For people who are not seasoned bibliophiles that have a large quantity of books to dispose of, the task can be daunting. Usually their objective is to find an easy outlet for books such as selling to a dealer, giving to a charity or even throwing them in the trash. Many people don’t realize that going these routes is tantamount to throwing money away. Of course, donating to charity can be an honorable pursuit, but for those who need cash more than a tax write off, there is another easy way to dispose of books for cash; auction! At Waverly Auctions, we’ve been selling books for people, from single books to small collections to very large libraries for over 30 years. Should you choose Waverly or any other book auction house to help liquidate your books, there are a few things you should know prior to consigning. In my experience, the following points I will address are usually the greatest

Benefits of selling at auction
The primary benefit of selling through an auction house is that your books will be placed on the open market and exposed to the world. Auction forces a number of interested parties to bid competitively against each other on your property, including dealers and collectors. Since the advent of the online auction, you can be confident that no matter where you take your books, so long as the auction house is online, you will get a fair market value for your books. A typical auction will attract book buyers locally, nationally and internationally.

Get objective opinions about your books
For many people, it seems logical to call a used book seller in their area to make an offer and haul the books away. Before you do this, realize that book dealers are in it to make a profit and in most cases they want to steal books for much less than their worth. If you opt to go this route be sure you have an understanding of the value of the books and seek a second opinion! Never let a dealer cherry pick your library and leave you with the dregs. Usually an auction house will take most if not everything and try to sell at top dollar on your behalf.

Have realistic Fair Market Value expectations
If you decide to look up values for your books online through sites like abebooks.com and addall.com, you may be dazzled with extraordinarily high prices for the same titles you have in your collection. Not so fast! Before you jump to conclusions, you must be sure you have the exact same copy that is being presented online—the slightest variation means you do not have the same thing. Also understand that what you see online are typically retail asking prices set by book dealers who have the luxury of waiting for months or even years for a buyer willing to pay their asking price. Auction values are not the same as retail values and this is true for virtually every auction house including Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Typically, at auction you can expect to realize 20%-60% of retail value. When you bring your books to an auction professional, she will quote you auction values based on hard data from actual past sales results. These sales results represent a fair market or “auction” value.

Be mindful of the condition and completeness of your books
The majority of value of a book is closely tied to condition and completeness. Very slight variations can dramatically impact value even if the book is well over 100 years old. A mint condition copy of a book may be worth hundreds of dollars whereas the same edition in fair to poor condition, with visible wear or damage, can be worth a fraction. To give you an example, a copy of The Great Gatsby, 1st edition in good condition, without a dust jacket, will fetch around $1000-$3000; add the dust jacket and the price rises to well over $100,000.

Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s valuable
One of the more common misconceptions among new book consignors is that a book’s age will automatically increase it’s value. This is not the case. The driving factors in value are rarity, condition and above all desirability. It doesn’t matter how old or rare a book is if no one is looking for it. The used book market is subject to the same forces of supply and demand that dictate the prices of any commodity. As such, many books from the 1600′s through the 1800′s will net less than $100 or have little or no resale value. The only way to truly determine a books value is to research the most recent sales record for the exact book. An auction house has the resources (usually databases that cost money to use) to find actual sales records for you.

Understand how your books will be sold
Some auction houses will only take high value books and place them in a cataloged sale where each book or small groups of books are meticulously researched, described and marketed. There are also many auction houses that will sell your better books in high end catalog sales and sell the books of lesser value in bulk groupings. An auction house that will provide services for both your better books and your bulk can be highly convenient. Book experts can separate the better books from the lesser books very easily.

Remember, it’s an auction
Auction is relatively unpredictable. You will probably be surprised at how well some books will sell and still disappointed at how others sell. Sellers are absolutely taking a gamble by selling at auction. Likewise, buyers are taking a chance on used books, wondering if they can resell for a profit or if they are overpaying for something.

In Conclusion
Much of the stress in liquidating books can be easily alleviated by finding a good auction house. Good auction houses act in the best interest of their consignors as they are the people who bring them inventory to sell. You can be sure that an auction house is looking out for your interest because the more the house makes for you, the more it makes for itself. Understanding this, the benefits and pitfalls and the process by which your property is sold will further alleviate stress.

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About the author: Anson Brown is the Managing Director of Waverly Auctions in Falls Church, Virginia. He has been with Waverly for 4 years and has experience selling tens of thousands of books, antique prints, maps and historical autographs. Waverly Auctions has been serving the Mid-Atlantic region for over 30 years.