“ Rosin and Bloch ” - Daryle Lambert's Antique and Collectible Blog – Let's hear it for the House Sales.

DINO ROSIN - " KISS "

I mentioned in a previous blog my intention to attend a house sale this weekend because something caught my eye that was being sold. Well I have great news to report. It was a very successful sale for me. You realize that when I say "me", I mean the "Daryle Lambert Antique and Collectible Club."

First, let me share the strategy that I used for the sale. All the action started Friday but I didn't attend until midday Saturday. Why? Well, this was a very good auction with a lot of items for the customer to pick from but the items that I was interested in were very expensive and I figured that they wouldn't sell the first day. Knowing this and also how the house sales work, there wouldn't be any bargaining until the second day. I proved to be right and everything that I hoped to purchase was still available when I arrived at the sale Saturday. The first thing that I accomplished was to introduce myself to the lady running the sale and inform her of where my interests were. She informed me that the owner had died and that the relatives had only through Saturday to liquidate the estate. This gave me some information that would prove valuable to me as I calculated my offering prices. Knowing that no one else had made offers, I was able to present a price very favorable to me.

The first offer I made was for a glass sculpture by Dino Rosin "Kiss" that was 25 inches tall and must weigh 100 lbs. I had researched this piece and found that there may not be any more of these made. At gallery prices of $9100, I knew where to start the bidding. This negotiation was soon completed and so I went on to the next item which was a metal sculpture by Ruth Bloch. It was so large that the owner had a professional stand made for it and with the stand the sculpture must stand 60 inches high or more. As with the Rosin, I researched what the gallery price would be for the sculpture and found it at $14,000 without the stand. Before I made my offer for the Bloch, I returned home to do some additional research and then made my call and submitted my bid. The wonderful lady conducting the sale said she would have to call me back. That take a very short time and again the piece was mine. Two pieces with a total retail value of $23,100 now were mine. I have to pick the bronze up tomorrow at 9:30 and while I'm there I may make a few more bids.

I hope that you see that the way you approach a sale can mean whether it is successful for you or a waste of time. This is a business where you must be using your brain every minute if the end result you wish for is actually to happen. If I had attended the first day of the sale I wouldn't have purchased a thing, but knowing how dealers think told me to wait for the second day. Now let's take another example. There is a sale where there are a lot of items that I am interested in but I know that the first person through the door will be buying them, so what then? I remember one such incident where I spend the night in a driveway so as to be sure I was number one at the sale. Two examples but two different approaches and they were both right. I will report to you as I sell the items I purchased and it is my hope that won't take long.

I hope that in the future we will be able to receive comments on the blog but that doesn't seem to be happening at the present time. I would appreciate if you would send all comment to www.31corp.com until I can solve this problem.

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