Quote Originally Posted by aeneas01 View Post
yeah, the "....who ends an auction on a saturday night though?" statement struck me as pretty funny as well given rea most likely followed up their 2009 $10 million+ record setting auction with another record setting auction this year! if you're eager to criticize how an auction house chooses to operate, my suggestion would be to look elsewhere 'cause rea has this sports memorabilia auction thing down....

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There was one lot I was interested in and it sold for well under book value at about $1,100. It was a Walter Johnson large format signed check which is extremely scarce, there are no more than 15 in existance. On Ebay a number of the more common (estimates are that there are 200 in existance) small format Johnson checks have sold for over two grand, the only one currently on there is BIN for $2,999. The only other large format one I have seen on the market is one Kevin Keating is advertising for over $4,000. So ask the consigner of that lot how happy he is with REA today. Alot of the other autograph prices realized appear very low also. As far as "record setting" those numbers are always skewed as you have some items like the Wagner card and the Ruth homer bat that sell themselves and would go for huge money regardless of who auctioned them. The reality is no auction house is perfect. My point just was that people are the least likely to be home on Saturday night out of any night of the week even very serious hobbyists and I would think that ending the auction on a night when there would be more potential bidders home would lead to increased prices. The argument that having it on a work night will result in people staying up all night does not hold water because you can set your maximum bid at any time and there is no need to sit there and watch the action.