what are the good auctioning places to sell your antiques?

Guys what are the good auctioning places to sell your antiques if you are residing in USA or Canada?

 

It really depends on what you have. Besides what it is, the quality and value will determine vendor. Christies and Sotheby's won't touch things that don't meet their threshold value. Second tier houses such as Skinner's and Bonham's might. Some houses are right for some things but not others. I wouldn't send a firkin to Wright's, nor would they take it.

I am in the process of finding a house for a painting I have. I had identified what I felt was the best house based on their holding the top sales for this particular artist. While they liked the work and gave me an evaluation, they felt that it did not meet their threshold for their once a year auction of these types of works. I am now having to look at second tier houses and have identified a couple. I will send off pictures to both to see what they have to say. Once I have that in hand, I can make a determination. Even then, I might decide to market this myself or put it through ebay. Sometimes this might be the better route given the fees that auction houses charge.

This latter route is sometimes fraught with frustrations. Some of you may remember the Frances Gearhart block print I purchased. I have had it listed on ebay for over a month now at $500.00 less than what one sold for at Skinners a couple years ago. I had someone buy it but they did not pay. I now need to relist or choose another course of action for it. Having a sale fall through might raise some questions in buyer's minds about the soundness of the merchandise. Buyers can be pretty skittish on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Listed-Orig...737287?hash=item2a7c854d47:g:ZbcAAOSwa~BYWW0D

You also run the risk of overexposure. My Teco vase has been on and off ebay for over a year now and I have reduced the price twice. It is a unique item and I might have been better served to send it to auction. I will likely pull it off the market here soon and give it a rest.

 

Yeah thanks a lot. thats very true. i also tried sothby's and christies, its bit hard. But i think heritage auction is much better. has anyone tried poly international auction company? Ebay is good but the problem is if your product is expensive, people do not have the trust as in a auction company towards buying antiques from ebay.
By the way you have mentioned skinner and bonham, are they good?

 

Have never used either but have heard nothing but good about Skinner's. Bonhams is part of the most respected firms from the UK and has several locations in the US. I just pulled these two names off the top of my head as examples. Have heard good things about Heritage but have never heard of Poly International. There are lots of other houses. For example, Swann's is the place to go for works on paper. Julia's for firearms, advertising, and toys. It really depends on what you are selling.

 

Hey thanks a lot verybrad. Heritage auctions is good specially if you are hoping to sell coins, comics, movie posters and stuff like that. its also good for antique vases. yeah poly international is a very famous auction house in china. i think it has branches in USA. it specializes in Chinese art and sculpture. Their website is not much communicative as in sotheby's but the auction house is good.