Auctioneers: a dying breed?

[Steve]

We have often made reference to the incompetence of auctioneers' in this forum and in particular how some auctioneers have little or no knowledge about items, fail to research, describe, photograph lots etc or just plain and simply get the facts wrong. In some instances they "lose" parts of vendors' lots, fail to report it and the vendor is at a loss but remains blissfully unaware. For this "service" they charge anything from 30-55% of the lot price. If people in general are happy to consign items to auction, then perhaps that is fine if they do not know or care what anything is potentially worth and might otherwise have simply thrown the items away instead. To these people, it's simply a disposal service for unwanted house clearance items. This might be true in many instances but there surely must be many people who do care and naively entrust their items to auctions, especially those run by TV "celebrities" who they believe are the real experts and will create the opportunity for them to get the best price for their lots. After all, that's what happens on the TV!

Earlier today I ran a quick check on The Saleroom for gramophone related items, forgetting that I'd already checked it late last night! I will have to keep a log in future. Imagine my surprise then when a boring Fullotone cabinet machine suddenly appeared in Philip Serrell's saleroom - yes, the TV celeb, himself. I have zero interest in the machine but what irked me was the fact that the auction lot(s) had not previously appeared or been advertised on The Saleroom and yet the auction was just about to go live today. Why weren't the contents listed much earlier? How about, say a week or two's notice, or is telepathy now a requirement for online prospective buyers? Not all buyers have the time to scan every auction room in the country, every day of the year; that is what The Saleroom is for, with its facility to filter searches for specific items.

I watched a little of the auction at the start, as somewhat unusually the gramophone was a very low lot number. Has anyone else noticed how gramophones are normally reserved for the tail-end of sales (with very high lot numbers)? The gramophone and every lot prior to it, perhaps unsurprisingly, sold to "the room". This is in stark contrast to most sales which attract internet bidders via EasyLive and The Saleroom. But where were the internet buyers, Philip? I'd wager a bet with you that no one outside the tiny circle of local rag-and-bone men who frequent this saleroom, even knew about a single item being sold today. I wonder why! A limp attempt to attract bids from outside this small circle of buyers is clearly very much an afterthought. If you are not going to promote a sale in advance through the usual outlets, why bother to even offer online bidding through them? It makes no sense at all.

The Fullotone made a surprisingly high hammer price of £30, possibly due to it being the first non-portable gramophone at auction in Worcestershire for quite a while and truth be told, it would probably not have attracted any more attention had it been advertised weeks in advance. But what if this had been a high quality sought after machine like an EMG, Expert, HMV re-entrant or Trademark gramophone? Would I trust Philip to know the difference and make that distinction? The total absence of any notice given of the sale would have left it in the hands of the local buyers. How would that reward the vendor's trust?

As for the rest of the auction lots, I couldn't watch any further so it's anyone's guess. I'm only interested in the gramophone related items but presumably the issue affecting the gramophone would apply to EVERY lot and is another example of why auction houses are quickly becoming an irrelevance beyond something for local bargain hunters and cheap TV programs! The vendors are clearly getting a raw deal.

Philip Serrell's saleroom is relatively local to me but I realise now why I've probably only visited it once or twice in over 30 years. Had I wanted the Fullotone it might just as well have been in Timbuktu for the inconvenience of collecting it with the limited opening hours of auction rooms for anyone of working age who doesn't have their own business (some even close at 4pm). Now, imagine being the first auction room to offer the convenience of a Saturday morning pay and collect service in addition to the other times available. That alone would surely raise prices considerably for vendors if more people had the opportunity to buy from the auction. With many not offering a packing and shipping service either, most auction sales are simply inaccessible to a lot of buyers. Evidence of this can be seen frequently when lots sold at auction reappear on Ebay making considerably more money. Sales are not accessible enough and if more was done to change this vendors would benefit largely. I'd bet Philip's salary for appearing in Bargain Hunt on this!

Rant over.....