I’ve talked about going to auctions before. They’re pretty amazing experiences. Emotions and excitement run high and you often get a chance to get a deal on something the entire rest of the world doesn’t know exists. Those previous auctions I wrote about, however, were generic antique auctions, the kind where you sit for hours waiting for the ten pens in the entire auction to come up, then to find you’re in the bathroom, or running out to the car to grab your lunch, or worse, trying to find a cell signal.
The Pen show auction is an animal in and of itself. Not only is it a limited thing, only available if you are physically at the show, but it is just pens. How heavenly! Currently there are only three shows in the US that have an auction: The Chicago Pen Show, The Triangle Pen Show in Raleigh, N. C., and The Ohio Pen Show in Columbus.
Aikin Lambert Hand Engraved Overlay – Ohio 2010
Pen show auctions are not only the cream of the crop when it comes to quality of pens (where do they get this stuff?), but in both Raleigh and Columbus, they offer what are coined “Discovery” auctions. I also refer to these as parts auctions. Great places to find bags of Sheaffer Balances, Parker parts, Wahl, etc., all for one low fee. Generally, these auctions are for lesser quality pens, or equally rare pens but with condition problems. For dealers, these are great places to get pens at wholesale prices to fix up and resell.
Auctions allow for the usual preview, sometimes this is days long, or a few hours before the auction itself. This gives us pen show auction wisdom #1: If you are going to bid, make sure you not only go and scope out what it is you are interested in, but who is also interested in what you are bidding on. Since the same group of people is usually present for most of these auctions, after a few of them you can usually get a good idea who is going to be bidding on what.
Aikin Lambert MOP Screw Cap Eyedropper Ohio 2009
The Auctioneers (usually the show organizers themselves) are not only devious in presenting these fabulous pieces of writing history before us, but they usually tempt us with some sort of dessert and wine party before hand. After a long day of selling pens at the show, here we are, grabbing cream puffs and putting Kalula in our coffee. At first this seems like a nice friendly gesture on the organizers behalf. How nice of them to make us comfortable! But really their plan is more sinister than that, which leads us to pen show auction wisdom #2: Don’t drink and bid. If you do, don’t blame the auctioneer for taking your money. One well known dealer (who shall remain nameless) may have had a couple too many malt beverages a few years back in Raleigh and came home with a bag of Sheaffer’s he not only didn’t look at in advance (thus violating rule #1 above), but didn’t want in the first place.
A bag of Sheaffer parts somebody should have never bid on.
This example brings us to pen show auction wisdom #3: If the price seems too good to be true, it probably is, or your friends have violated rule #2. This is not to say there are no good deals at a pen show auction, as there definitely are, but when there are dealers involved, it doesn’t have to fit in their specialty for them to bid on it. Why I bid someone bid on a group of Sheaffer plunger fillers in Raleigh a few years back just because I thought he thought they were a good deal is beyond me. The price seemed right but there was a reason for it.
Most auctions have no or few reserves on items so the pens are going to sell. Pen show auction wisdom #4 then is: If you want an item, bid. Ok, this may seem obvious, but you don’t have 7 days to decide whether or not you want this item like you do on ebay. You have maybe three minutes, so the old auction mantra applies, bid early and bid often, and my addendum, hold your auction number up high so the auctioneer can see you. There’s nothing worse than thinking you’re bidding on something to find out they didn’t even see you and it was the guy behind you. Always maintain eye contact too, that way you know whether or not they are even seeing you. Once the auctioneers know what you are interested in they will naturally look towards you when those types of items come up.
Mordan Sterling Dip Pen Holder – Ohio 2011
The auction is now done, you’ve won your pen(s), so now what? All auctions expect you to pay up immediately after the auction. Terms are always cash, unless you have arranged with the auctioneer before hand to accept a personal check (not all do). Since you have some idea what you owe, just add on the typical 10% buyers premium and there’s your total. You’ll get your pens right then and there, but don’t stop to graze over your purchases there, keep moving so the rest of the people can get through and pay. Most auctions are around 100 lots, so there are going to be quite a few people who want to pay and get home after a long day at the show and auction.
Pen show auctions are a good time and guaranteed you will have fun. While it’s in good form to remain quiet so others can hear the bidding, once in a while a good laugh is had by many. The Ohio auction in 2009 brought up a Parker Jotter with an inscription of “Mabel’s Whorehouse and Grill” which nearly brought down the house.
If you’ve ever wondered whether or not you should go, my advice is to just go. You’ll have fun and who knows, you may even win something nice for your collection. Lisa and I will see you at the next auction in Chicago!
Cheers!
Brian