Wow this board is quiet!! Are we vintage hockey collectors a boring bunch or is there nothing to talk about? Anyway, I've been tied up doing some home renovations the last little while and I'll be heading off to the east coast for a vacation soon, so I thought I would share a couple things with you guys before I go.
Over the weekend I recieved a surprise phone call from probably the most prominent hockey collector, atleast of the ones we know. Some of you probably know who I am talking about, I would rather not mention names on a public forum. After we finished talking about an item he was interested in, the conversation turned to the shortprints that we have discussed on this forum. I was shocked when he told me how many of each of these cards that he owned. 4 of each Quaker Oats Sp, every pre war shortprint(Cleghorn, Oliver etc.) including multiple copies of one of them. I told him that we would love to see some scans and he promised that when he returns from holidays in September he will send me some scans to post of these cards and some other unique items. What really surprised me is that he said that there are cards that he has been looking for, for years that have not come up and are just as tough or tougher than the cards we consider sp's. I will post about these cards another time when I confirm our conversation, I wish I had a pen handy to write everything down while we were talking. Maybe BobbyB can let us know if in his research he has found any such evidence about some 20's sets.
I would like some input from you guys on starting an auction house that is mainly hockey. Probably just a once or twice a year thing. Is there enough interest? Are there enough people out there that a respectable size auction can take place? Is there enough material? Am I nuts? Have I had too many Stella's tonight? Seriously, what do you guys think? I have been looking into it for a couple of months now and am at the point where i am discussing software with a few different parties. Should I back out before it's too late? I am looking at more of a card auction than say a Classic that is mostly memorabilia. As a consigner, after an initial(hopefully succesful) auction, would you consign to an auction like this at a 0% to 5% commision or are you happy dealing with who your dealing with?
I think its a good idea Jim! Truth is for us smaller people that aren't that well known it the business eBay isn't always the best for us, Some people go on holidays or just don't check eBay that week and it could hurt a sale. An all hockey auction house could give people notice of our sellings. Also from a buyer stand point knowning about an auction a few weeks in advance would give most of us more time to put together some extra money for purchasing the items.
I find the big names, Mastro, Classic, Leland, Memory Lane, etc.. just don't have enough hockey let alone vintage hockey. It seems all they have is Gretzky stuff.
Anyways I think its a good idea, twice a year I think would also be enough as the demand still isn't even half of baseball in most places.
I think there are certainly enough hockey collectors but I don't know how you'd find them all and get them to your auction site. For example there are over 70 eBay ID's that have bought 4 or more C55s (so I assume they are interested in the set) but only seven to ten (I haven't counted) post on this forum. I assume the others would be interested but just don't know about it.
It's tough to compete with eBay - just ask any of the 1000's of shops that have closed since eBay started.
Thanks for the input so far. I know getting the word out is going to be a challenging and costly issue. I think I have my plan down for Canada, I am just trying to figure out a cost efficient way to let the American market know. Under my current plan, I would not be putting out a catalogue, maybe a small mail out with some featured items, so there will be a bigger advertising and show budget. We'll see what happens.
On another note, I have also located the Psa 8 C55 Vezina and may have a scan for you guys. Jim.
Hi Jim; Good to see some fresh posts. I have always maintained that the smartest guys in the hobby are the auction houses. You win every way. You get to sell your own stuff at great prices plus get a commission from the buyer and on the consignment goodies you get a commish from buyer and seller with no excessive carrying costs for inventory.
The rub here is how to get collectors to find you and to take you seriously. I have watched Classic in Montreal grow from a chintzy little black and white catalogue with grainy pictures to the coffee table quality stuff they are doing now. I would recommend a similar strategy of keeping your costs low at the start and then building up your biz.
I know that they had a good thing going and then the free publicity from the Maurice Richard auction put them into another stratosphere. You should concentrate on getting someone to consign you a Honus Wagner cigarette card or something similarly newsworthy and trying to milk some free publicity out of it. Perhaps you could get five or ten big pieces and offer the consignors free commission just to get yourself established.
LMK if you end up doing it, I'll consign a couple of nice items to help get the ball rolling. Mike Q / Ottawa
Actually, I remember before eBay, bidding on phone auctions that I found advertised in Tuff Stuff. Just small ads in the classified section advertising hockey. Once I got to know some of those dealers I got into their auctions. It was the only place I would have ever found any hockey, and especially older stuff.
Honestly, without eBay, my collection would be very small and wouldn't contain some of the best stuff, but I agree that older hockey is a small market at times. I think a small auction house for hockey cards would be a great idea!
In the beginning, word of mouth and email might be the best way to get the word out. I agree with the idea of keeping the advertising simple. Instead of printing anything, you could do wonderful scans with all the description you want on the net. You could print up a simple b/w version to mail out to some who need it, but I would be happy to just access the website and see everything up for auction.
I hope that you are able to pull this off, even if it doesn't grow into something huge. I would still love the chance to find some vintage cards outside of eBay. Please keep us informed of your progress.
