Have anyone been to a jewelry auction?

[cnkav]

There is an auction in my area, and my DH and I have never been to one. I have some questions for those who''s gone to these auctions and hope you could give us your honest feedback
* What was your experience?
* Was it worth it? I meant if you saved / got a good deal on the diamonds
* What is your bidding strategy? sorry, it sound silly, but I have no idea what to expect.
Thank you in advance for your feedback and comment

 

[door knob solitaire]

Yes I have...but probably not the kind you are referring to.

My experience was one that was part of an estate and the jewelry pieces were separated from the home furnishings. I wanted a sofa and was a bit angry that they spent so much time on the silly jewels...(way before I grew a brain..) which leads me to reason I am replying to your thread.

During the jewelry segment...the auctioneer had a coffee can filled with silver dollars. I am not in the metals market or coin market. Apparently no one else was. None of us looked up the value of silver before arriving so no one bid. The auctioneer was getting really perturbed. He keep repeating the amount of coins and the price. Still couldn''t get a bid. He wouldn''t let it go. Over and over again....

There are 25 silver dollars in the coffee can....MY MINIMUM BID IS $10 DO I HAVE ANY BIDDERS?

I will never forget...in all those 250 people...only one man got it. He stood up and said, yes I will give you $10.50 for that can of coins!! Auctioneer said SOLD! Hammer went down. He and the buyer started laughing...I mean belly laughing...

Not sure if you caught that...but no matter the price of silver...the can contained $25 dollars. Regardless of the value of the coinage or the price of silver, the buyer actually bought $25 dollars for only $10.50. Now that was a return on his money!

I couldn''t stay...I was so ashamed

of my stupidity. Went home without the sofa and my dignity. Hope your auction deems more productivity.

DKS

Strategy in any auction...always know your product BEFORE you bid. Go well ahead of time, if permitted days ahead. Do research. Bid only what you intended. Don''t get caught up in the hype. And remember the auction is a selling tool to make the auctioneer and the seller money...it was not created to offer great deals to buyers...there may be an exception...but with buyers fees, and taxes, and form of payment fees...there may be more added to what you bid. Stop bidding when it hits your number. And promise us...the board...that you aren''t buying a diamond there without due diligence. OK?

 

[stebbo]

I remember the one I visited recently--probably $15 million worth of diamonds on display. First thought I couldn't get over was that there was only a single unarmed security guard. Cabinets were unlocked, and the staff were more than pleased to let my wife slide on a ring with a 10 carat emerald cut. I must look rich. Bidding strategy? I was more thinking of distracting the security guard

They had books of certs sitting around you could browse. One or two of the staff were reasonably knowledgeable and were qualified gemologists. Stones weren't the sort of thing you see talked about on PS though. Most were pretty deep, and those with GIA certs had older ones and dossiers without cut grades or angles. But they weren't disgusting though...

The actual auction didn't have too many bidders, many items were passed in under reserve, so it was hard to gauge value. It overall felt like a bit of a failure for the auctioneers.

I wouldn't take too much notice of the suggested going prices though if they have them--sometimes they underpriced items to attract bidding, sometimes they overpriced to similarly, attract bidding.

ETA: And don't forget the auctioneer's commission is on top of the hammer price.

 

[stebbo]

Great story DKS

 

[denverappraiser]

Auctions can be fun and there are occasionally good deals to be had there but you need to be careful. The descriptions are all seller supplied and there is almost always a no refunds policy. This is a retail venue and the dealer margin, meaning the house fees to both the seller and buyer are often in the neighborhood of 25%. This is less than a typical jewelry store on most items but with expensive items, especially expensive diamonds, this is on the high side and the terms are decidedly worse.

The sellers and the auction house generally chose this approach because they thought it was the way to get the most money. They may not be right but you should bear in mind that either one has the option to sell it in a different venue if they wanted. That’s what the reserve is about. If they think they can get more elsewhere, that’s often what they’ll do.

I do quite a bit of work inspecting pieces for auction houses and my report usually is NOT included in the sales materials. They want to know what they have so that they can make a sensible decision in setting the reserve or in choosing which auction to include which item. There’s nothing wrong with this but it’s entirely possible that the people who set the reserve know more about the piece than you do because they didn’t have to examine it in a dark room in a hurry and with limited tools. Be careful about what you assume. Be VERY cautious of 'appraisals' that they provide you as proof that you're getting a good deal or that are the basis of the description.

Watch out especially for ‘antiques’. There are tons of reproductions sold through auction houses and they tend to be very careful about their wording so that it sounds like they are saying something is antique when, in practice, it’s fresh off the boat from China.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Watch out for auctions which say there is no reserve and it appears that almost every item is being sold. That often means there are "shills" in the audience, people working for the auctioneer who make sure that each item gets bid up to (and past) its (secret) reserve.

Sometimes an auction will announce a big estate is being auctioned. While this may be true, often the merchandise you see is "salted" with inventory from local dealers, especially in regards to jewelry. Jewelers and dealers are some auctioneers biggest suppliers, and often the quality of merchandise these dealers designate for auctions is on the low side, or reproductions, or pieces with a "problem" of some sort which they would have difficulty selling through their normal channels.

I knew one auctioneer who was too cheap to hire shills, so he would announce bids out of the thin air from imaginary bidders. Usually the crowd was so large you couldn't tell he was doing it, but when he had a small crowd he was really sweating keeping things going.

These practices are becoming less and less common in the industry as time goes on. Consumers are becoming more savvy and state and federal regulatory agencies have begun to apply more and more pressure over the years, but a lot of this malarky still exists.

I wouldn't feel too bad about your "can of silver dollars" episode, DKS. That is a common auction technique used early on to "shake up" and "jump start" an audience. It's an attempt to gain the audience's trust while at the same time implying that terrific deals exist amongst the remaining merchandise to be auctioned. Often the buyer that shares the huge belly laugh with the auctioneer at how stupid everybody else was is a shill himself. It's a manipulative ploy aimed at human desire to get "something for nothing", or a "deal too good to be true".

 

[cnkav]

Thank you so much for your advice.

 

[solange]

You have to be very careful. If you are buying from a reputable gallery, they will have an expert available to give you information you might need to make an informed decision. You also might want to hire a private appraiser to look at the item but this can be costly unless it is a significant purchase.

I have been to many jewelry auctions,mainly at Sotheby's, Christie's and Doyle galleries, all in Manhattan. During the exhibitions,you will see a special area set aside for jewelers who are busily examining the inventory so it is unlikely that you will find a real bargain because you will be bidding against very knowledeable professionals. Also,the bidding goes very fast and once you buy it,you have no recourse unless it has been seriously misrepresented.

Unless you are confident in your knowledge I would be very wary of private estate auctions because as Richard Sherwood stated above,many of them are salted with unwanted merchandise from dealers.