It's Craftsman Auction weekend again (Sept.17-18/05) and they now have downloadable versions of their catalogues. They also have on-line bidding through two methods: eBay Live and Live Auctioneers. Get the catalogues at: http://www.ragoarts.com and the link to Live Auctioneers, or check out the eBay Live version at:
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcraftsmanauctions (there are better quality pictures in the Live Auctioneers and eBay listings, than the download catalogue)

Highlights are a George Maher floor lamp with a high estimate of $120,000 and several pieces of Marie Zimmerman metalwork, fresh to market with full provenance.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, these sales are mind boggling

truly incredible. i dont see how he manages to put together such collections three times a year. each always has at least one knock-out, sky high piece.

i would love to go at least to a preview just to be in the same room with the stuff.

much like going past a local porsche dealer recently and asking if i could stand next to a $485,000 carrera. just to bask in the aura of greatness

As I study and follow these sales the one thing that I think happens is that certain items are just getting flipped on a semi-regular basis. Someone, or some company, or shop, or other auction house even, buys at one sale to flip it into 2 or 3 sales later to try and make a 5%, 10%, or whatever profit (after fees, taxes etc.) - just like short term stock investing. Some people of course buy and hold (or even warehouse) for a longer term, but I'm sure flipping goes on - the question is, how much of each sale is simply flipped goods.

Conversely, they have of course established a name for themselves as one of the premier auction houses, and probably the top house just for A&C, so when a major collection comes along, the sellers naturally gravitate to Craftsman because they think this is where they'll get top dollar.

i found by accident a 3 door L&JG bookcase in a local church last year. i contacted jerry cohen and he valuated the piece and said they charge 15% of the value for their services if the church decided to sell it. but since it was a church they would reduce to 10%

the buyer also pays a premium, supposedly the auctioneers commission, usually 15% or higher. this looks like the house makes 30% on the sale.
not bad business.

i know the house does the footwork, photgraphs and prints the catalogs (which are then sold, at a profit, i'm sure)and conducts the auction, collects the money and then pays the consigner.

lots of money floating around...

but as you said, they have the reputation, a person can be confident that what they bid on is what they get, so there is value.

still, the whole thing is kinda boggling to us simple folk...

i also noted that rago said in an article that some were repeats of recent sales

I know country auctioneers tend to go by the 20% rule. Either 20% commission with no buyers premium or a split, like 10% commission and 10% buyers premium, with the idea of a buyers premium being that the seller makes more and in turn this attracts new sellers with higher quality goods which means the auctioneer can charge the premium because he has a better quality sale than the next guy, and so on. A combined 30% is pretty high, but then again if you're the best game in town, go for it I guess. This does of course complicate the flipping idea because a piece would have to sell at about 50% more (not incl. premium), the next time, for you to make about 10% profit (e.g you win an item for $100 + $15 premium = $115, you sell it for $150, which is really $172.50 to the buyer, minus 15% commission of $22.50 which equals $127.50, so you make $12.50 or 12.50/115 = 11%).

However, the other thought here is this: Do some mental math on the number of items, times the number of sales, and then add in Treadways and Fontaines and all the other big city auction houses that do some A&C, and the number of high-end pieces really starts to add up. So then you have to ask, if there are really so many fresh pieces of Gus and LJG and Roycroft etc. then why is the dang stuff so expensive The truth, however, is that there really isn't an unlimited supply; Gus only made so many pieces for so many years etc. so it brings it back to the flipping idea - the same finite number of pieces bought and sold, bought and sold, and so on. Oh well, for us 'simple folk' just keep hunting I guess