So THATS how people get their honorary doctorates!
What else can I purchase from our temples of higher learning?
The fee notwithstanding, I do appreciate the kind words and Im glad someone liked it! It is, after all, how I make a living. (You can feel sorry for me; I dont mind.) I keep a Dilbert cartoon on my PC here that has him saying, I gather inaccurate data for a living. Luckily no one uses it.
We all have our crosses to bear.
In that post, I asked that someone with a greater knowledge of auctions take a look at my numbers and tell me what they thought. Well, ask and yee shall receive: I received an interesting note from an authority on auctions. He/she wishes to remain anonymous, but I can certainly vouch for their expertise. This person has graciously allowed me to post a few comments about this auction:
I did not think this sale should be considered a success as no Seller or Auction Company would go through the time and energy that it takes to put on a sale of this magnitude to only have 76% of the lots sell and of the lots that did sell, to only have 35% of the lots reach the high estimate with 48% selling under the low estimate - this in my mind is a travesty.
I believe the Seller and the Auction House missed the mark by being overly aggressive in establishing the low/high estimates and as a result missed an opportunity to sell all of their items and exceed the high dollar estimate. What do I mean? By establishing unrealistic estimates it scares bidders from jumping in and for those that do, they are starting at such a high level that the excitement wanes and the bidding does not go where it needs to go. The proper strategy is to start low and let the momentum carry the item past the high estimate.
The Seller tried to have a "retail" sale not an auction.
The benefit of an auction is to let the market set the fair market price and they tried to artificially set this price and it did not work. Case in point, I am fairly certain that the buyer [who] purchased [the] Thurston the Famous Magician Beauty the Arabian Steed Vanishes poster at the Jay Marshall sale this past summer [paid] $5,000 bringing many times the catalogs high estimate. The low estimate on the poster was $1,000. The high estimate was $2,000. Now several months later the same poster is being offered for sale with a low estimate of $8,000 and a high estimate of $12,000 resulting in no sale. It is logical that it didnt sell as the fair market value of the poster only several months ago was $5,000 what changed?
I hope this sheds some light on this sale.
Indeed it does. Thank you!
Dustin