I am selling my wrench collection now before I shuffle off.  This has occasioned a new set of problems:  who to sell the collection to.  Is it better to auction off the wrenches, and if so,  who is best suited in the next few months to auction the collection;  who to trust to auction off the wrenches? 

We have local auctioneers (Hills, Aldifer) who do an occasional  tool auctions.  Martin and Cathy Donnelly would include my wrenches in each auction they do.  MVWC, I have learned, is overloaded with auction requests.

Have any of you guys sold your collections, and if so, was it largely a satisfactory experience?  If yes, how did you do it? 

Bob, tough decision to make to sell and tough decision on how to do it. My thoughts as follows.
1. Is the time frame important, Donnelly will sell them but will probably spread them out over several auctions maybe even over a years time unless you set something special up with him. Some will sell in the Friday auction and some will sell in the Saturday auction.
2. Browns would probably take them but some would probably be sold in the Fine Tool Journal auctions. Browns would catalog like Donnelly for those that make the cataloged auction but the Fine Tool Journal auctions are a smaller crowd not sure what the subscription numbers are.
3. Local auctions ok but do you get a big enough tool collector audience?
4. eBay?
5. What fees will you have to pay for each auction house?
6. A plus for Donnelly he will come to your house and pick them up. 
7. I didn't know that MVWC was overloaded.
8. Depending on the quality and quantity you might be able to broker a package deal by advertising the collection as a whole.
I have sold some of my planes through Donnelly and I am ok with his results but it takes a while to sell large quantities, he usually pays in about 30 days after the auction.

I used a local auctioneer that i knew for years for my big d sale.  I sold 1500 different wrenches plus other collectable stuff.  I did my own advertising online and in magazines.  I bundled them in groups of 3-4 from the big display tables i set up. it went better than i thought i think because i was there handling the items with honest conversation and request from the buyers.  heck u might have been there, i know other collectors were. this was spring 2006. good luck to u.

I had one experience with Brown Tool auction. Wasn't impressed.

Sorry to hear you are selling. It's a hard decision to sell ones tools.

In helping clean a estate with many tools we went with a local auction house. Auction house chose to have it all sold in groups. Probably 30 groups or so. Then the big stuff(tablesaw, planer, etc) was auctioned individually. Overall the widow was very pleased with the auction route. She had to do very little work an they picked it all up, grouped it, advertised it, etc. In my opinion the widow didn't get much money for what was there but did little work to get rid of them. Her thing was to just get rid of them and money wasn't the main thing.

Recently I got rid of a lot of tools an other stuff. I sold locally on craigslist. It took a lot of time posting adds an responding to emails. Then theres always the people who never show up or do lowball offers. Finally when I got down to the last few things I just gave them to my buddy, to sell at he flea market. It got to the point were cheap chinease wrench sets that are only worth 5 bucks are not worth the time responding to to adds an dealing with ten different people. In doing it on craigslist I think I got more money then a auction house but it also took more time an work.

Either way whatever you choose I hope it goes well for you.

How big of a cut do auctioneers get, or what is the range?

I think that to get optimal $ on a big specialty collection you would have to start planning at least 6-7 months before the sale date to get national participation. Is that time estimate even close?

Chilly

I have seen local auctioneers get a 25-35% cut.  That is simply selling everything in large lots.  Kind of makes ebay look like a deal.

I won't live long enough to sell it all on eBay.

I'm so very sorry that you've had to make the choice to sell. You're a big part of this sight!!!!  As for my thoughts on selling, this is one idea. All the kids are about to get out of school for the summer. .... and ALL of them know tons about computers and such. I've found that even the fifteen year olds would just love to get payed 8 bucks an hour to put all the tools up on ebay. ... can give them a percentage of the sales if you want to.  If you happen to know of a kid that could really use the money, and is someone you like, it's an added bonus to reward them for hard work. You'd be surprised that there are still a few kids left who are willing to work for money (what a novel idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)  It may even be possible for a kid that has summer school or taking some type of vocation class to set up an "internship" in computers---- the mission: catologue  a collection, research prices, take photos, and successfully execute sales---- set up spreadsheets that caculate percentages earned, ...... sales could even be a business course!
       It's just a thought. A  kid originally set up my photo bucket account, took pictures of a hundred tools, and uploaded them onto my computer in ONE HOUR!!!!!!!!!!  (and no, that kid wasn't the one posting all the pictures now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I promise!!!!!!!!!!!)
cheers,
bird.

Quote from: Wrenchmensch on May 15, 2014, 04:59:18 PM
I am selling my wrench collection now before I shuffle off.  This has occasioned a new set of problems:  who to sell the collection to.  Is it better to auction off the wrenches, and if so,  who is best suited in the next few months to auction the collection;  who to trust to auction off the wrenches? 

We have local auctioneers (Hills, Aldifer) who do an occasional  tool auctions.  Martin and Cathy Donnelly would include my wrenches in each auction they do.  MVWC, I have learned, is overloaded with auction requests.

Have any of you guys sold your collections, and if so, was it largely a satisfactory experience?  If yes, how did you do it?

How us this coming along?  Did you decide how you were going to tackle this project?

Good luck with this, BTW.

Chilly

How far along am I with selling my wrench collection? Not very far.

I have started the by putting red stickers on all the displayed wrenches I have already committed to an MS Excel listing.  This is being done to control inventory sales against a known starting point.  I also called Donnelly in Avoca, NY.  I spoke with Cathy Donnelly for 20 minutes. I learned their fee schedule (25%), but was unable to answer the question,"What is, in your judgment, the most valuable wrench in your collection?"  I rarely saw, or bought, truly valuable wrenches (Bradley's Wonder cutouts, et cetera) as reported by MVWC.  I'm still stumped by her question. I have also been replacing baseboards and shoe molding in the house.  Plus taking time out for lots of medical tests.

As heat and humidity increase this summer, I am certain to get back to listing more displayed, and all the wrenches in the Rubbermaid tubs,  in our cool basement. Then I will call Ms. Donnelly, or someone else, and say "Now!".

Me, I would go with Bird's suggestion of allowing/inviting a (tool-minded?) youngster to list them on eBay.  To me, it'd be hard to beat the millions who visit eBay daily.  A caveat: I have a neighbor who digs in eBay for mis- or poorly-described "Hawaii-ana", buys such items and relists them "correctly" and, in his and his wife's terms, "makes a killing."  Meaning, I suppose, you'd want to be assured such a youngster as Bird suggested (and me, with my "tool-minded" addition) would be somewhat conversant with describing tools to some degree, in his/her listings.  Today I was visited by a long-lost cousin and turned over all my family heirlooms to her to share with her siblings.  She was blown away with how many I had, knew their "value" financially, historically and genealogically, and drove away at least somewhat "pleased out of her gourd."  I'm so very happy she and her husband massaged their summer vacation plans and visited me.  You, too, could go away satisfied if/when you come upon such a youngster.  Cheers.

what wrenches do you have? I would be interested in massey harris and waird star wrench

Mike Urness of Great Plains Trading  Is a tools sale manager and is honest. His auctions are in Midwest  might check with him.   Chuck Garrett