Interesting auction in Indy with lots of surplus guns and WWII items

[indy1919a4]

I Going to have the grandkids overnight Friday though, so that may throw a wrench into my plans for attending in person, but hopefully not. Maybe I can take the grandson.

Gosh I envy you, taking a young child to an auction, perhaps his 1st.. You must revel in that feeling.. like the Ancient Roman Paterfamilias taking a younger family member to the Gladiatorial matches.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Gosh I envy you, taking a young child to an auction, perhaps his 1st.. You must revel in that feeling.. like the Ancient Roman Paterfamilias taking a younger family member to the Gladiatorial matches.

I'm just hoping that taking the grandson makes it more palatable to DoggyMama for me leaving her here with the granddaughters. He may have been to an auction before, but probably not a gun auction (maybe a car auction). I'll have to remember to use that Gladiator excuse.

 

[KellyinAvon]

Gosh I envy you, taking a young child to an auction, perhaps his 1st.. You must revel in that feeling.. like the Ancient Roman Paterfamilias taking a younger family member to the Gladiatorial matches.

There is definitely something cultural and traditional with auctions. I have absolutely no idea how many auctions I've attended in my life, but I've bid on everything from cattle to firearms to a box of random stuff that had one thing I wanted.

What is the auctioneer actually saying? That's important to know. How do you bid? (raise a hand, raise a finger, hold up your number, nod?) When to get in? How quick or slow to bid when it's down to two bidders?

I'm taking off early Friday to check out the items in person. I do hope there's at least one lot I'm looking at (and there are several) on Saturday that doesn't go past the point of "I ain't payin that" before I get a bid in. Went to a big gun auction several years ago, never raised my hand.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

There is definitely something cultural and traditional with auctions. I have absolutely no idea how many auctions I've attended in my life, but I've bid on everything from cattle to firearms to a box of random stuff that had one thing I wanted.

What is the auctioneer actually saying? That's important to know. How do you bid? (raise a hand, raise a finger, hold up your number, nod?) When to get in? How quick or slow to bid when it's down to two bidders?

I'm taking off early Friday to check out the items in person. I do hope there's at least one lot I'm looking at (and there are several) on Saturday that doesn't go past the point of "I ain't payin that" before I get a bid in. Went to a big gun auction several years ago, never raised my hand.

I've only been to a few. My first one was that big auction at Earl's Auctions for that huge collection from the guy out in Greenfield that (I think) was murdered by his wife or something? I think I was there for like 9 hours and it still wasn't over when I left. Did manage to pick up a gun and some ammo there. Indy1919a4 was my mentor at that one.

 

[boogieman]

I've only been to a few. My first one was that big auction at Earl's Auctions for that huge collection from the guy out in Greenfield that (I think) was murdered by his wife or something? I think I was there for like 9 hours and it still wasn't over when I left. Did manage to pick up a gun and some ammo there. Indy1919a4 was my mentor at that one.

Christys usually goes at a faster rate than most. The ones i have been to there and watched online usually average 80+ lots an hour, sometimes over 100 an hour so you have to be on your toes.

 

[doddg]

There is definitely something cultural and traditional with auctions. I have absolutely no idea how many auctions I've attended in my life, but I've bid on everything from cattle to firearms to a box of random stuff that had one thing I wanted.
What is the auctioneer actually saying? That's important to know. How do you bid? (raise a hand, raise a finger, hold up your number, nod?) When to get in? How quick or slow to bid when it's down to two bidders?
I'm taking off early Friday to check out the items in person. I do hope there's at least one lot I'm looking at (and there are several) on Saturday that doesn't go past the point of "I ain't payin that" before I get a bid in. Went to a big gun auction several years ago, never raised my hand.

I grew up going to Sat. estate auctions for a time in my pre-teen days and just thought that is what families did on Saturdays.
After I was married, we lived in a small town in OH where it seemed the whole town gathered at the auction house every Sat. evening: smoke filled room like a bar used to be and cheap hot dogs: fun!
I went before married for fun and after & remember we bought a huge kitchen tables and the like for the house.
I collected old books & ended up with some nice pre-1900 books I kept for decades that I was proud of.
Once, for a fun joke around Xmas time I bought about 15 packages of diapers for my best friend whose wife had a baby recently.
I was bidding on the price of one package, but had the option of getting as many as I wanted & when I asked how many there were, then said I'd take them all, I still remember the laughter that rolled through the place of a couple hundred people.
My friend's wife was thrilled with the joke that was so practical.

I have bought & sold at Mecum car auctions, and used to frequent the yearly auction in Aubourn, IN on Labor Day with antique car owning friends (mostly Hudsons).
When going through my old files in the garage couple of years ago & I found a receipt from a gun auction I went to 3 decades ago here in Indy.
I bought "everything" from snub nose revolvers to shotguns for extremely low prices, even for then.
I sold/gave the shotguns to my hunting friends.
They contacted me and I had to return 1 handgun b/c it had been involved in a crime or stolen.

 

[KellyinAvon]

I've only been to a few. My first one was that big auction at Earl's Auctions for that huge collection from the guy out in Greenfield that (I think) was murdered by his wife or something? I think I was there for like 9 hours and it still wasn't over when I left. Did manage to pick up a gun and some ammo there. Indy1919a4 was my mentor at that one.

That’s the one I never raised my hand.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

That’s the one I never raised my hand.

The deals got better the later it got. When the bidding started I was ready to walk out but indy convinced me to stay. I remember all those Johnson rifles. I thought they were cool looking, but had no idea how expensive they were. Holy crap! I was hoping one might "fall through the cracks", but nope. I don't think any of them went for less than 3 grand, or maybe even more.

Then there was the Webley-Fosbery revolver. To my untrained eye, it looked like a "regular" old Webley. When the bidding started, I was like WTF?? Then indy1919a4 explained what it really was...

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/early-automatic-pistols/webley-fosbery/

 

[Thor]

I think what some folks consider 'good deals' are base on trying to flip them as opposed to putting them in the family collection. Some things have more value than what I can sell them for and make a good profit.

The trick to auctions is knowing what you are willing to pay and stepping back when it passes that point. *****ing at people who are willing to pay more than you is pointless.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I think what some folks consider 'good deals' are base on trying to flip them as opposed to putting them in the family collection. Some things have more value than what I can sell them for and make a good profit.

The trick to auctions is knowing what you are willing to pay and stepping back when it passes that point. *****ing at people who are willing to pay more than you is pointless.

Agree 100%. If I wanted to flip something for profit, an auction would probably be the last place I'd go to buy. With that said, I am always hoping to get the best price that I can, but that's just because I'm a cheap bastard. And that part about stepping back is the hard part! Auction fever is a real thing.

 

[thompal]

I think what some folks consider 'good deals' are base on trying to flip them as opposed to putting them in the family collection. Some things have more value than what I can sell them for and make a good profit.

I think what most people consider "good deals" is when they are priced at or slightly below what you can buy it for anywhere else. Or, it's something that is so rare that you will probably never find another one for sale.

There are still some "good deals" on this auction listing, but there are several that are at astronomical prices for no apparent reason (one example is one of the Remington Rand 1911A1 is sitting at $750 for no apparent reason, since there are other Remington Rands listed in the $500 range)

 

[citizenkane]

I’m sure Christy’s is loving the OP for posting this. The last couple gun auctions I went to there were sparsely attended and several items went pretty reasonable.

 

[KellyinAvon]

The deals got better the later it got. When the bidding started I was ready to walk out but indy convinced me to stay. I remember all those Johnson rifles. I thought they were cool looking, but had no idea how expensive they were. Holy crap! I was hoping one might "fall through the cracks", but nope. I don't think any of them went for less than 3 grand, or maybe even more.

Then there was the Webley-Fosbery revolver. To my untrained eye, it looked like a "regular" old Webley. When the bidding started, I was like WTF?? Then indy1919a4 explained what it really was...

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/early-automatic-pistols/webley-fosbery/

A lot of the Johnsons went to a guy from Alaska if I remember correctly…

 

[KellyinAvon]

I’m sure Christy’s is loving the OP for posting this. The last couple gun auctions I went to there were sparsely attended and several items went pretty reasonable.

Here’s hoping that trend continues.

 

[AmmoManAaron]

A lot of the Johnsons went to a guy from Alaska if I remember correctly…

Yep, you remember correctly.

 

[Thor]

I think what most people consider "good deals" is when they are priced at or slightly below what you can buy it for anywhere else. Or, it's something that is so rare that you will probably never find another one for sale.

There are still some "good deals" on this auction listing, but there are several that are at astronomical prices for no apparent reason (one example is one of the Remington Rand 1911A1 is sitting at $750 for no apparent reason, since there are other Remington Rands listed in the $500 range)

And yet at the LGSs in N Central IN there are zero of these available at any price...just that one as an example and there are many more.

 

[thompal]

And yet at the LGSs in N Central IN there are zero of these available at any price...just that one as an example and there are many more.

But it still makes no sense for one of them to be at $750, since you can buy "modern" 1911s from a variety of makers for far less, and it's in no way collectable, either condition-wise or manufacturer wise.

 

[rob63]

Agree 100%. If I wanted to flip something for profit, an auction would probably be the last place I'd go to buy. With that said, I am always hoping to get the best price that I can, but that's just because I'm a cheap bastard. And that part about stepping back is the hard part! Auction fever is a real thing.

I have actually outbid myself on one occasion. I placed what I thought was a fairly low-ball bid online for an auction I didn't think I would be able to attend. Circumstances changed, so I ended up going to it. One of the items that I was interested in came up and I could see on my phone that my online bid was still leading. No one else placed a bid, so my online bid was going to win. However, that meant I would have to pay shipping, so it would actually be cheaper for me to outbid myself and take it home myself. It's possible that the auctioneer would have let me take it home anyway if I could proof it was my online bid, but I didn't know that for sure so I went ahead and outbid myself. I really felt like an idiot, but could only laugh at myself.

 

[T.Lex]

I have actually outbid myself on one occasion. I placed what I thought was a fairly low-ball bid online for an auction I didn't think I would be able to attend. Circumstances changed, so I ended up going to it. One of the items that I was interested in came up and I could see on my phone that my online bid was still leading. No one else placed a bid, so my online bid was going to win. However, that meant I would have to pay shipping, so it would actually be cheaper for me to outbid myself and take it home myself. It's possible that the auctioneer would have let me take it home anyway if I could proof it was my online bid, but I didn't know that for sure so I went ahead and outbid myself. I really felt like an idiot, but could only laugh at myself.

I'm gong to take a pie-in-the-sky guess that you wear a belt AND suspenders.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I'm gong to take a pie-in-the-sky guess that you wear a belt AND suspenders.

Having met Rob, I can attest to the fact that this is not true... at least not when I met him.