Airgun Auction

[Benelli B76]

Cant believe the low prices of the Schimels, Luger, and Challenger Arms Plainsman. They should all be around the £300 mark. Probably the best performing CO2 pistols ever produced. Challenger went for £90 !

Baz

[Unframed Dave]

I looked at the catalogue, got so overwhelmed by how many I would like to bid on and moved on. It could have been financially disastrous. The distance away was a bit of turn off as well.

I didn't see the kind offer to collect and post, had I, I may well have looked into it a bit more.

Dave

[Mark D]

I was the successful bidder on the Hammerli Trainer unit - and would have paid considerably more than I did. Why such a piece didn't attract more interest I can only speculate. as Ray has said less than 20 people in the room and only a few bidding. After all the publicity on here and other forums,inc the US I would have thought the activity would have been much more frenzied. Just goes to show how small the world of collecting can be.

[Garvin]

NB, the attendance was very low, about 15 to 20 people, Ray.

Blimey, Ray, is that all? It rather confirms slug-gun's point about the advantages of holding it somewhere more accessible.

Yes, the internet gives far more people access to bid, but there's no substitute for letting people see the goods 'in the flesh' to get the bids flowing.

I remember being at a packed Wallis and Wallis auction some years ago and if the guns auctioned yesterday had been up for sale then, I'm sure they would have made much more cash for the family. Maybe local ties to Anderson and Garland have cost them dear...?

But I suppose it gave a lot more budding collectors a chance to pick up a bargain, an opportunity which seems to come along quite rarely these days.

[jassi]

Blimey, Ray, is that all? It rather confirms slug-gun's point about the advantages of holding it somewhere more accessible.

Yes, the internet gives far more people access to bid, but there's no substitute for letting people see the goods 'in the flesh' to get the bids flowing.

I remember being at a packed Wallis and Wallis auction some years ago and if the guns auctioned yesterday had been up for sale then, I'm sure they would have made much more cash for the family. Maybe local ties to Anderson and Garland have cost them dear...?

But I suppose it gave a lot more budding collectors a chance to pick up a bargain, an opportunity which seems to come along quite rarely these days.

No location is really ideal. I've been to a number of sales at W&W in years gone by and Lewes cannot be described as an accessible location unless you live in southern England.
Unless you are within sensible traveling distance of an auction house on line bidding may not be realistic because of the high delivery costs, particularly if RFDs are involved.
I've found that when auctioneers' charges and delivery costs are taken into account, that 'bargain' gun may not be such a bargain after all.

[Josie & John]

Blimey, Ray, is that all? It rather confirms slug-gun's point about the advantages of holding it somewhere more accessible.

Yes, the internet gives far more people access to bid, but there's no substitute for letting people see the goods 'in the flesh' to get the bids flowing.

I remember being at a packed Wallis and Wallis auction some years ago and if the guns auctioned yesterday had been up for sale then, I'm sure they would have made much more cash for the family. Maybe local ties to Anderson and Garland have cost them dear...?

But I suppose it gave a lot more budding collectors a chance to pick up a bargain, an opportunity which seems to come along quite rarely these days.

If we compare the Newcastle auction with some of the prices at Holts, there is no comparison. Substantially low at one auction and the opposite at the other. It just demonstrates how fluid the collectable market can be. Location and on-line bidding must have played a higher part than we all suspected it would. I guess it also shows it does not pay to dispose of the bulk of a collection in one go as has already been pointed out. The same applied to the late Tony Williams' collection a few years ago if I recall correctly.

John

[mel h]

Hi Ray, I have to admit to being one of the online bidders, but had spent several hours viewing the day before. I do normally attend.
I live near enough to collect my purchases but think that the lower prices achieved was largely due to the uncertainty of distant bidders being able to have the items delivered, especially the rifles, nothing's simple when it comes to guns these days.
Mel.

[Benelli B76]

The additional charge of 19.5% by the auction house was high ?

Baz

[jassi]

The additional charge of 19.5% by the auction house was high ?

Baz

19.5% is average to low for auction houses these days, but there is an addition charge for using the on-line facility which might bring total charge up towards 25%.

As has been said, transport is a major consideration of you can't collect.

Added - just got the invoice and the charge is £21.60 on a hammer price of £80, so about 25%

[hebhaggis]

Hello Ray, yes I remember from Melbourne. I was quite intrigued by your disk throwing Bugelspanner, one of the most unusual guns I've ever seen, does it use any air or is it just spring powered?
Mel.

Am sure his very item was written about and dismantled for an article by Atkins some time back ...remember thinking how odd .

[ogilkes]

Hi, just got back from the auction,I got lot 930, bonna 18, 932. 1st mod britannia, and the disc throwing bugalspanner,948,for £700 hammer price. prices very up down, brown pistol 1052 £1700, pitted , cracked grip. lot 1045,anson firefly, boxed ,£220. Would any members who bought pistols ,to be collected, pm me with ,delivery address, amount to be insured for,dont forget to email AUCTION HOUSE, my ID, for collection. ATB Ray.

NB, As Mel said, a lot more stuff to come, one of staff kindly downloaded 20 pages (3 guns per page) 2 no pallets, of butt, ball res etc, guns, plus, todays unsold guns to be included in decembers sale,
Mel, WE met at last years Melbourne, were sitting at the back, ray

The Firefly only attracted £220!!!! What is the world coming to, wish I had bid on it now.

[Garvin]

The Firefly only attracted £220!!!! What is the world coming to, wish I had bid on it now.

You're not the only one Ollie!

[draitzer]

Gents,

From my perspective in the U.S., there were some great bargains among the rifle oddities, a number of which I'd never heard of before. Of course long guns were out of the question for overseas transport (barring extraordinary/expen$$ive methods) so I had no possibility to take advantage. In the end I didn't have the high bid on anything, partly due to the fact that with exchange rate, buyers' fee and its VAT, and overseas shipping we were looking at a cost in dollars of more than GBP X 2. Came close on a couple items but chickened out...and then my PC froze up for the Giffard pistol, not recovering until after the Girandoni !! Good grief, is somebody up there sending a message?

As to bidding from over here, I think it was not very prevalent: each time I pushed the 'bid' button fast enough to register, the auctioneer mentioned "from the US" when he called out my bid. There were very few lots with that recognition during the bidding. Absentee and phone bids could have been from here, but not so many lots were won by those methods. One exception was the military rifles which seemed to have nearly unlimited commission bids in place - maybe all those were from one super-avid collector planning to fly in for a pick-up.

Don R.

[Rob M]

I'm amazed at the low prices that the Excellent and the Targ-Aires went for, wish I could have been there.

[mel h]

I'm amazed at the low prices that the Excellent and the Targ-Aires went for, wish I could have been there.

Part of the problem, as well as the other points put forward in this thread, is that everyone has heard at some time or another about auction prices being so ridiculously high that they are frightened off and don't participate. It's always worth a look.
Mel.