THE SMART ANTIQUE HUNTER WILL ANALYZE THE DEALER'S HABITS
INSTEAD OF BEING ANNOYED BY OUR PRESENCE……FIGURE OUT HOW TO COMPLY AND OVER-TAKE
ONE DAY, OUT FOR A FAMILY DRIVE, I CAME UPON A HOMEOWNER WITH A WIDE ARRAY OF REFURBISHED STEAMER TRUNKS ON HIS LAWN. THERE WERE A COUPLE OF SIGNS ON THE LAWN, ANNOUNCING THAT THESE NICELY REFINISHED TRUNKS WERE FOR SALE. IT WASN'T A YARD SALE AS SUCH. THIS INDIVIDUAL WAS BUYING, RESTORING AND RE-SELLING THESE WONDERFUL OLD RELICS OF YESTERYEAR'S TRAVEL, AS A SORT OF HOME OCCUPATION. SMART IDEA, AND AFFORDABLE IN A RETAIL SENSE. BY THE WAY, I ALWAYS HAVE A SMALL SELECTION OF STEAMER TRUNKS BECAUSE I LIKE THEM……AND THEY ARE ATTRACTIVE, FUNCTIONAL VINTAGE STORAGE UNITS, EVEN IN THE MOST CONTEMPORARY OF INTERIOR HOME DESIGNS.
WHAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION, OTHER THAN THE DOZEN OR SO TRUNKS SPREAD OUT ON THE LAWN, AND ONE AT ROADSIDE, WAS THE SIGN THAT READ, "OUR PRICE, $100….ANTIQUE STORE PRICE $250." AT THE TIME, AS A COLUMNIST WHO WROTE ABOUT ANTIQUES AND COLLECTIBLES, FOR THE LOCAL PRESS, AS WELL AS HAVING A MAIN STREET SHOP, THIS WAS A SALE I NEEDED TO EXPLORE. I LIKED THE WORKMANSHIP, AND THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL, AND THE MAN'S ENTHUSIASM FOR RESTORATION OF SUCH BEAT-UP OLD TRAVEL MATES. I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO CHAT WITH THE RESTORER AND I DID COMPLIMENT HIS WORK. BUT I ASKED HIM TO EXPLAIN HIS SIGN LEANING UP AGAINST THE FIRST TRUNK, AT THE HEAD OF THE DRIVEWAY. I CASUALLY, WITHOUT ANY SARCASM, QUESTIONED HIM, AS TO WHAT HE MEANT EXACTLY, BY THE POSTED SIGN, COMPARING DEALER PRICES TO "CIVILIAN VALUATIONS." AND WHY HE WOULD INVENT SUCH A NUMBER DISCREPANCY; ESPECIALLY WHEN EACH OF HIS TRUNKS WAS REFINISHED TO HIS STANDARDS OF CARE, YET MOST TRUNKS IN LOCAL SHOPS WOULD BE EITHER IN THE ROUGH, OR ONLY JAZZED-UP WITH A LITTLE VARNISH. AT THE TIME I WAS VERY MUCH AWARE WHAT WAS BEING SOLD IN OUR SMALL ANTIQUE SELLING COMMUNITY.
HE DIDN'T KNOW ME THEN, AS A DEALER, OR THAT HE HAD OFFENDED ME WITH HIS SIGN. I JUST WANTED TO KNOW HOW HE COULD GRAB A FIGURE OUT OF THE AIR, AND APPLY IT IN SUCH A MISLEADING WAY. I HAD NEVER SEEN A STEAMER TRUNK FOR THE PRICE HE WAS QUOTING. MOST OF THE TRUNKS I KNEW EXISTED, FOR SALE, AT THAT PRECISE MOMENT, WERE PRICED AT AROUND THE FIFTY DOLLAR MARK. SO LOW IN FACT, THAT THIS IS WHY HE WAS BUYING THE TRUNKS LOCALLY, RESTORING THEM, AND RE-SELLING THEM AT A SUBSTANTIAL MARK-UP. AS WE KNOW IN THE REFINISHING WING OF THE ANTIQUE PROFESSION, IT'S BLOODY HARD TO GET YOUR MONEY OUT OF A FULL SCALE RESTORATION. SO I DIDN'T QUESTION HIS HOURS OF WORK, OR MATERIAL EXPENSES, AND I CERTAINLY DIDN'T ARGUE ABOUT HIS PRICING. JUST THE BOGUS NUMBER HE WAS USING TO INFLATE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIS WARES AND THOSE AVAILABLE LOCALLY. I THINK I MAY HAVE EVEN HAD ONE IN THE SHOP, BUT CERTAINLY NOT VALUED TO WHAT HE WAS CLAIMING, WAS PRETTY MUCH STANDARD, SHOP TO SHOP.
I ASKED HIM POLITELY WHERE HE WAS ABLE TO PURCHASE HIS TRUNKS IN-THE-ROUGH. HE SAID, WITH A LITTLE SMIRK, "THEY'RE ALL PURCHASED LOCALLY." "AT ANTIQUE AND SECOND HAND SHOPS," I ASKED. "HALF AND HALF," HE RESPONDED, EXPLAINING THAT HE ACQUIRED SOME AT YARD SALES, AND A FEW OUT OF THE REGION. YET HE ADMITTED HE WAS A REGULAR PURCHASER OF BEAT-UP TRUNKS FROM OUR LOCAL SHOPS. "I HOPE IF THOSE DEALERS POP BY, FOR A LOOK-SEE, THEY AREN'T OFFENDED BY YOUR SIGN AT THE END OF THE DRIVEWAY," I OFFERED AS ONE ANTIQUE LOVER TO ANOTHER. "WHY WOULD THEY BE OFFENDED," HE ASKED. "WELL, FOR ONE THING, IF THEY'RE SELLING YOU TRUNKS, AND YOU'RE BENEFITTING FROM THEIR HUSTLE GETTING THEM, DO YOU REALLY THINK IT'S WISE TO BESMIRCH THEM, BY POINTING OUT HOW MUCH THEY GOUGE IN PRICING……WHEN IN FACT YOU KNOW THIS ISN'T TRUE." THAT'S WHEN HE SAID SOMETHING, THAT ALWAYS MAKES ME MAD. "IN TORONTO THEY DO……." BEFORE MY HEAD BLEW OFF, IN A MIGHTY EXPLOSION OF BLOOD PRESSURE, I ANSWERED BACK WITH A HALE AND HARDY, "BUDDY, LOOK AROUND YOU. DOES THIS LOOK LIKE TORONTO?" I'VE HEARD THIS TORONTO REFERENCE A MILLION TIMES, AND I'VE SHOT BACK A RETORT EVERY SINGLE TIME. BASING PRICES ON WHAT HAPPENS IN TORONTO IS IRRELEVANT. OUR MARKET IS IN MUSKOKA, AND WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAPPEN TO BE FROM TORONTO OR EUROPE, IT DOESN'T MATTER A HOOT, WHAT THE PRICING TREND IS ELSEWHERE. THE TASK HERE, IS TO BASE IT ON THE AVERAGE PRICING OF PARALLEL ITEMS, THAT AREA ANTIQUE DEALERS ARE SETTLING ON, AS GOOD LEVELS TO START. THERE IS ALSO BARTERING TO FACTOR IN TO THE EQUATION. BUT GENERALLY, WE'VE LEARNED THAT TO ASK TORONTO PRICES, WHICH ARE USUALLY HIGHER, ON A MAJORITY OF ITEMS IN THE CLEARLY DEFINED ANTIQUE DOMAIN, IS TO DESTINE YOUR BUSINESS TO FALL BEHIND THOSE WITH MORE COMPETITIVE MARKETING…..WHO ARE AWARE THAT FOR MOST OF THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR, IT'S THE LOCAL CUSTOMERS PROPELLING THE ECONOMIC ENGINE……NOT THE TOURISM SECTOR. PRICING AS TORONTO DEALERS ISN'T PARTICULARLY WISE, WHEN FOR TEN MONTHS A YEAR, WE HAVE TO COUNT ON MUSKOKANS TO BUY OUR ANTIQUES. IF WE, AS DEALERS, ATTEND TORONTO ANTIQUE SHOWS, WELL, I SUPPOSE THE OLD ADAGE, "WHEN IN ROME," COVERS ALL EVENTUALITIES.
I DID EVENTUALLY TELL MY STEAMER-TRUNK FRIEND THAT I WAS A DEALER IN TOWN, AND MY WIFE HAD SOLD HIM ONE OF THE TRUNKS THAT HE HAD ON DISPLAY. I POINTED OUT THAT HE HAD ACQUIRED IT FROM US FOR THE WHOPPING SUM OF THIRTY-FIVE DOLLARS IN-THE-ROUGH. NOT THE PRICE HE WAS CLAIMING, WAS PRETTY MUCH STANDARD FOR ANTIQUE DEALERS FLOGGING STEAMER TRUNKS. HE BLUSHED A LITTLE, SEEMED UNCOMFORTABLE, AND OFFERED A SWEEPING SORT OF APOLOGY, FOR HIS HASTILY PREPARED SIGN. HE POINTED OUT THAT IT WAS JUST AN ADVERTISING PLOY, AND THAT HE WAS WELL AWARE OF THE DEALS HE WAS GETTING LOCALLY, AND THAT, OF COURSE, HIS MARKET WAS MUSKOKA…….WITHOUT MUCH INFLUENCE AT ALL FROM TORONTO. I WAS SATISFIED WITH HIS EXPLANATION. SO MUCH SO, AND WITH HIS QUALITY OF WORK, THAT FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS WE SOLD MANY OF HIS TRUNKS AT BIRCH HOLLOW ANTIQUES, TO VERY HAPPY CUSTOMERS; WHO ALSO LIKED THE PRICE FOR THE REFINISHED PIECES. I WAS REALLY SORRY THAT HE QUIT RESTORING THESE BEAUTIFUL OLD CHESTS AND TRUNKS, WHEN HE MOVED FROM THE AREA TO PURSUE NEW OPPORTUNITIES. I'VE TRIED MANY TIMES TO COPY HIS METHODS OF RESTORATION, AND I'VE NEVER ONCE COME CLOSE TO WHAT I WOULD CRITIQUE AS A PARALLEL EFFORT. HE DID GOOD WORK, BUT GAVE UP THE ENTERPRISE FAR TOO SOON. I SELL A LOT OF TRUNKS TODAY IN-THE-ROUGH. I COULD USE HIS EXPERTISE. BUT STILL, IN RETROSPECT, IT WASN'T NICE TO TREAT HIS DEALER SUPPLIERS, WITH A SIGN THAT ACKNOWLEDGED OUR PRICE "GOUGING," WHEN IT SIMPLY WASN'T TRUE.
BLAME IT ON THOSE PESKY ANTIQUE DEALERS
It happens a lot at auction sales…..that antique dealers are blamed for just about everything, including global warming. I remember standing behind a group of four card-carrying bidders, at one sale a few years ago, who were berating antique dealers, as being the scourge of the civilized world. "They bid up everything," one woman said to her chums in conversation. "You should see them loading their trucks at the end of the sale. They get all the good stuff," another claimed. "They shouldn't be able to control the auction like they do…..and the auctioneer always favors them because they're big spenders."
Suzanne, overhearing the allegations and gross generalizations, pinched my arm through my sweater, with enough torque to actually leave a welt. "You're not going to say anything," she said. "They're just spouting off, that's all." They went on however, to explain how it works in the antique business, almost, but not quite, suggesting kick-backs and favors between the auctioneer and antique dealers they prefer. Well at least she said, "the dealers the auctioneer prefers," personalizing the matter of graft (and insider trading) to just a few dealers, and not the whole bunch of us. Obviously, this woman didn't believe all antique dealers were "on the take." "I'm going to leave you here, if you say one word to those people…..having a private conversation," Suzanne reminded me. She has left me at auctions before, taking the vehicle with her. When I'm bad, I'm real bad. It's one thing for me to take a few cheap shots, at my professional associates, from time to time, because they know my comments are coming from considerable experience. When those outside the profession, start assuming they know it all, and commence a campaign of outrageous slander, then it is the right occasion to remind them that dealers have feelings……even if they believe we have no scruples. Well then it gets all nasty, and Suzanne breaks out in red blotches, and I might have to hitch-hike home with a pine buffet strapped on my back, like the pioneers had to, breaking trail into Muskoka. If they could do it…….well, I couldn't. So I beg her forgiveness. I need the vehicle. Even if she's not talking to me, I need to get the auction purchases to the shop. You see I've got two strikes against me from the get-go. I'm a veteran dealer known for being outspoken, and I'm a long time newspaper columnist, with a penchant for political bashing. So I've got a lot of internal battles going on, to defend my profession, from unfair allegations and ridiculous generalizations. It's true, there are scoundrels amongst us, but this happens in every profession.
On a previous occasion, and the one Suzanne loves to recall, a couple in front of me, at another auction, once again pointed out how unfair it was, that dealers got all the best antiques of the sale. She kept going on and on about all the money dealers have, and how they can just "blow everyone out of the water," with their big wads of money, stuffed into deep pockets. I felt a necessity to explain a few things about my own "lack of a wad," and that I have very seldom every felt as a preferred customer at an auction, here or anywhere else. It's true that I was a friend of most of our area auctioneers, God rest their souls, mostly because I was also a newspaper columnist, who did feature stories on them all. So I kind of snuck into this conversation, going on a few feet from my big ears. Without identifying myself as an antique dealer, I suggested to them that antique retailers were actually good to have at these sales, especially if your knowledge of pieces is a little thin. I noted that by bidding-up an antique dealer, who, for example, was showing a keen interest in a particular piece of furniture, rising above their final bid (and we all have those), by possibly ten increments, (if there are other bidders), you would still be getting a bargain if you won the item. The women looked at me as if I had just given them the theory of relativity. They really didn't get it. So I simplified it for them. Here's how that went.
I said that "if a dealer purchased the antique pine buffet for the price of one hundred and fifty dollars, you would expect that the price would increase at least one hundred percent or more, by time it hit the floor of their shop." In many cases, depending on the deal they got, the increase could be much higher and for pine this is likely. "What does this mean for us then," one lady asked. "Well, what it means is that if you were to get the piece you want, for say fifty to seventy-five percent more, than the dealer's final bid, chances are, you saved at least fifty percent on the retail value of the buffet," I responded. "If the dealer was planning on taking a two hundred percent mark-up, or even more than than…..think about the savings from what you would pay, by purchasing at the auction price instead." I always use collectors and associate dealers as my auction guide and I'm also a dealer. "If you are concerned about the money you invest in a piece of antique furniture, as an example, outbidding a dealer by several increments, is a pretty good plan for acquiring something under value. Dealers very seldom increase their acquired wares less than a hundred percent," I reminded them. And I also let them know that all the antique dealers I know, have limited resources to draw from, and if there is this general assessment, that we're all wealthy, and can spend with reckless abandon, then there is a great and unfortunate misunderstanding about the antique profession. Maybe that's our fault as dealers, that we haven't bothered to educate the public, as well as our customers, that were not all cut from the historic novels of Charles Dickens……as scurrilous and mysterious characters, with ill-gotten money to spend with reckless abandon. If I was to arrive at one word to describe my antique dealer colleagues, it would be "frugal." Some more than others!
"You know a lot about antique dealers, don't you," questioned one of the two ladies, I'd been conversing with. "He should know……he's a dealer too," chirped a friend of mine, who had come to say hello, and heard some of my explanations to the women. Talk about a cold snow-clad shoulder, turned to me, after this revelation. They began talking to each other, as if I had shown my devious, unscrupulous side, by first listening-in to their conversation, and secondly, by offering unsolicited advice. I should have kept my mouth shut. Suzanne would have liked that. Still, you know, it bothers me that some people think like this, when it comes to how antique dealers acquire their inventory. We have to compete like everyone else. I'm not saying that there aren't occasional favors granted, like my friend David Brown was able to arrange, but then this was only in regards to moving some sale items up on the sale agenda; not actually getting financial favors. It's true, my old auctioneer friend Les Rutledge, used to stop looking for bids, if I was one of the bidders……and he knew that I had been losing most of the pieces I had been interested in, up to that point. I never condoned this, but at the time, I was pretty new to the auction game, so I wasn't sure what the rules of engagement were, between my role as a bidder, and Les, as the judge and chief of all that was fair and equal. I also wouldn't have hurt his feelings, because he thought he was extending Suzanne and I a kindness, as newlyweds, trying to outfit our first apartment.
My advice to anyone at an auction, is to pay close attention to collectors and dealers. Collectors will generally bid more than dealers, because they don't have to worry about profit margins. Antique dealers have a lot of monthly expenses if they're running a shop, and they can't abandon sensibility when paying-out for their auction buys. So for the bidder, who wants a quality piece, with the potential of being at least doubled in value, regarding a final retail price, it's a pretty good strategy to jump in when the dealer's money has run out on an item, and carry on bidding against other competitors……keeping in mind the last bid placed by the dealer. It's like canoeing with an outrigger, or cycling with training wheels. Even passing a known collector's final bid by a few increments, is pretty safe if you're looking at value for your investment. Instead of being annoyed by intrusive dealers, "buying all the stuff," it should be considered a good guide for value-conscious bidding, to have dealers leading the way. It's the kind of intrusion I welcome. I have often outbid associate dealers, usually because the subject piece is more in my bailiwick of experience……such as with Canadian art, of which I'm reasonably knowledgeable. They may want to buy the painting, but not as much as I do, and with art especially, unless you're a specific art dealer, most get wobbly knees if they don't see me bidding. I like to step in before the auctioneer's gavel hits the block, and it usually works in my favor, that the bidding is derailed…..the cadence broken.
When I decided to join the antique profession, an oldtimer in the industry, reminded me of the critical importance, of getting to know every collector and dealer operating in our region, as it would be necessary to my success, to learn from them, the tricks of winning at the acquisition game……especially at auctions, where it is very public; and regardless how invisible you think your bid is, with a wink-wink, you are still on display…….and people are watching intently, your every move until the bidding is declared over, and the item on the block, is announced as being "Sold!" So it's exactly what I did for the first ten years imbedded in the profession. I did biographies on all the key players, and I knew all the civilians and how they liked to bid, and by what increments, on certain items. Even though I don't attend nearly as many sales as I used to, ten years ago, I can pick up the vibe in a room in under five minutes of bidding action on antique pieces. I can spot winks and nods, because in my profession, you have to know who is bidding you up…….and they want to know all about me, especially if, as a newcomer, I intrude upon their sense of auction privilege; by forcing more aggressive competition for the best pieces. You have to be fearless if you want to win bids, and buy the best pieces up for sale. This doesn't mean being reckless. Most dealers arrive early at sales, and perform their due diligence, before the audience has reached full capacity. They've made copious notes on paper, or in their minds, about the coveted, valuable pieces, and set limits as to what they are willing to spend on each of the items, they would like to haul back to their shops, antique mall booths, or for online auctions. Those who are not antique dealers, have a wonderful opportunity to learn by immersion, into the world of rigorous competition, dealer against collector. In most cases folks, the average customer, home decorator, hobby collector, can easily out-bid both dealers and hard core collectors. I've been out bid on major works of art by home decorators, who just wanted a particular artist's work to hang in their home. So they pay the auctioneer, and the host of the sale, a parallel value to what I might have marked-up the painting, had I been the successful bidder. The point is, most bidders who crowd into auction sales, have more financial flexibility than dealers and collectors…..but they just don't seem to get it……that the proverbial ball is in their court, and there's not much we can do about it; except give off the aura that we will bid up to a million dollars to acquire a piece we most desire. Thus, indeed, we have to resort to being puff adders some of the time, to scare off the competition.
Thanks for coming on over to my blog site today, for this little overview of auction bidding, and antique dealer scorning…..which is usually unjustified, and baseless. Please consider dropping by again soon, for some more antique chats, at fireside, about this historic profession of collecting and living with old stuff…..because it feels so right. Bye for now.
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