“Early's Glass Auction” - Daryle Lambert

Early's Auction - Thanks to www.flicker.com

Steve Early is one fine gentleman and I am proud to call him friend. His Spring Art Glass Auction will be completed this weekend and I believe the results will be mixed. This doesn't surprise me considering Steve doesn't use online bidding for his auctions, so buyers have to travel to Cincinnati Ohio to purchase items from his sale. When the economy is sailing along, people have no trouble paying the cost of visiting far away auctions, but I have been waiting to see if this rather slow period would have its effect on collectors. I believe the verdict is in and it has had an effect.

I talked to one of the dealers visiting the sale the first day and his opinion was that the sale was a little off but expected to pick up the second day when the better merchandise was to be sold. I will be eagerly waiting for the sales results to see if he’s right.

Here is the way I see it. This period might be very advantageous for the 31 Club members. Because sellers are not sure what the results of selling their items at auction now will be, they are holding back their better stuff for later. This gives the collectors less reason to bear the expense of traveling so the sales at auction may be a little on the light side. However, this also means that our 31 Club members might have the opportunity to cherry pick [buy the better pieces but leave the rest for others to buy] sales because they know which pieces are selling at prices that we consider bargains. Since I don't yet have the results from the second day I might be a little premature but I doubt it.

From studying Early's wonderful catalog it seemed to me that perhaps Steuben Glass was going to do very well at this sale, but again the better pieces haven't sold as I write this blog. Also there was a fairly large grouping of Lotton being offered and I am anxious to see the prices for this grouping. Having two wonderful Charles Lotton pieces listed on eBay the results of Early's grouping could tell me what to expect for my pieces. I have noticed that the prices of Lotton Glass have seemed to resist the trend of lower prices that I have seen on other glass.

In normal times it is often very difficult to compete with other buyers at sales but today you might find it easier to purchase those real treasures at auctions. It is even more likely that some dealers will fear making a mistake, giving you the opportunity to step forward and take advantage of the situation.

Don't be shy and remember, our goal is to spend our money. Jim Ellis, an old Kentucky farmer, once told me that he never made money in good times but he really raked it in when the times were rough for others. You see he treated his money dearly but if there were bargains he had the cash. By the way at one time, the story goes, he was one of the wealthiest men in American.

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