Baxter Auction Feb 20, 2016

[rustcollector]

Can anybody give us a re-cap of how the auction went? Rustcollector answered a few questions for me. Wish I would have been closer for that one.

In general, stuff was stupid. True rare stuff and harder to find was cheaper and the common stuff was bringing twice it's value. A Fordson adjustable bringing $20? Not the snail brand, the one you see every weekend and at every sale and a thousand listed on ebay at any given type. That's just one example, there were many like that.
I was able to pick up some stuff for myself though, you just had to wait and get the right deals.

[mvwcnews]

Can anybody give us a re-cap of how the auction went? Rustcollector answered a few questions for me. Wish I would have been closer for that one.

<snip> In general, stuff was stupid. True rare stuff and harder to find was cheaper and the common stuff was bringing twice it's value. </snip>

That was a sale that cried for a catalog;  Baxter's pictures just did not supply enough detail on so many pieces (especially the smaller ones).    A catalog and a decent system for handling absentee bids would have made so much difference.  There were some bargains to be had in the case of  rarities where the other  "top end" collectors present already had that item & were saving their capital for other pieces.   The "way too high" prices for "common" pieces is a result when local  folks who are not fully versed end up bidding against each other.  I personally "paid too much" for an item or two because  [1] I doubted I'd see another given my circumstances [2] I didn't mind giving a bit extra to help a solid MVWC member who was a major contributor to the newsletter 20 years ago.  I wish circumstances had been such that I could have stayed to the end & seen the whole sale rather than just the first 3 hours.

[rustcollector]

I think there was a few games being played there too though. No way an Uncle Sam buggy wrench should bring $295. Or a Pratt Dayton style bring twice what an Ames Dayton style brings either. I can understand a few items doing better than they should.... A person is there and is willing to go an extra $20-30 over what the trend is on something,.... but when it's pretty consistent, especially on buggy wrenches, I will buy into a conspiracy theory on it.