Hello to all,

Just thought I'd give a little report on the auction yesterday at Yea, Victoria.

Sadly the overall quality was down a long way on previous years and I'd reckon a lot of the big players were not in attendance, both personally and their signs were not too. The prices were a long way short of what they were even a couple of years ago and signs that were making $2000 are now selling for around the $1100 mark.

It may be a reflection of the economy in general but a lot of people had short hands and very long pockets. The money was not leaving them. The auctioneers could not even attract bids on a lot of the signs that would have sold for really good money several years ago. Good petrol related signs were ok but the rest were very ordinary.

I was talking to a man from Sydney, who just happens to be an accountant, who handles affairs for up to 500 companies and he told me that they are all feeling the strain and in his opinion things are only going to get a lot worse. His advice--hang on to your money as the stuff is going to hit the fan in a big way soon.

Regards, George Grant

 

G'day George

I left bids on a couple of the Billys . Don't know how I went yet

Do you know if the Phillips enamel sold ?

 

Relics

I was planning on making the trip to the auction, but as you said George the quality was way down, so I didn't bother.

Gordo

HI All-As usuall i made the 9 hour journey to the middle of freezing nowhere to buy signs with money i didnt have. As George said most signs were of only average quality and cheap too....the Phillips tea lady got passed in after $6500.

I manage to get the painted BP Winner sign as it is about as close as ill ever get to a real one. The detail up close is incredible so i overspent again--Damn

Hello to all,

In my opinion the sign auction needs a revamp. Time to introduce some professionalism. I had some signs to sell in the auction so I had a rough idea that it was on however if you were a punter and had never been to the sale before then you would not have known it was on. Even though I was a vendor I never received one piece of advertising via the internet. the mail or anything else. No information to pass on to others--nothing to get the message out.

Almost no advertising except for one miserable piece in the Victorian Weekly Times and that was three days before the sale, that was barely readable. People need plenty of notice and they simply need to find out about it. There are many, many people who may be interested in signs who do not have the internet so get the message out there. Surely if you spend money on advertising you give yourself a chance of attracting people. At the present time the organisers seem to be relying solely on lists from previous years and not going after new chums.

Because I write a magazine for people who collect antique sheep shearing equipment I can say that a big lot of the subscribers are rural folk and they do not have the internet and probably never will but they are certainly interested in signs and simply have no idea that the Roycroft auction even exists. It's time to go looking for new customers and surely there are a million ways to attract people.

When you eventually get to the sale you will be greeted with signs telling you that there are no credit card facilities and surely in this day and age you must surely provide ever avenue known for people to pay. It makes good business sense.I have no idea what sort of commisions get charged in the UK but another idea to attract sellers back to the sale may be to drop the selling rates back to 10 per cent instead of a hungry 15 as it is now. It's not bad coin if they sell a $1000 sign at 15 percent off the seller and 10 per cent off the buyer--$250 for a couple of minutes. I did an exercise a couple of years ago and the result was a total sales of the two day auction was $680,000 so the commision on that was  $170000. Surely you could spend $10000 on advertsing and upgrading the payment system. One last thing--for God sake invest in a michrophone and some speakers so that people can hear what is being said.

If this auction keeps going along the present track then it is doomed. It is painfull to attend and urgently needs a serious dose of professional attitude.

Regards, George Grant

Thanx you Ozzies

Interesting to get an auction perpective from across the seas

Just to cheer you up ? There are a couple of UK auction houses who charge 20 % BOTH ends !!! On cheap lots with VAT, insurance, Lotting fees, internet picture etc, charges can reach nearly 60% !!!!!!!!!!!

Unbelievable

Lummox