Rea

[legaleagle92481]

Re: Rea

LEAGLEEAGLE,

I can understand your thinking but REA has ended on a Saturday for quite some time now. One positive to ending on a weekend night is that most bidders don't have to go to work the following morning as opposed to a weekday night.

You state "Why not just put your max bid in"? Most auction houses are savvy and purposely end their auctions the way they do. They know that a percentage of bidders will continue placing bids on a particular item sometime even over their intended maximum bid when they keep getting outbid on an item. The longer an item sits open in the last minutes the likelyhood that one of those bidders will bid again. It's human nature that some bidders get caught up in the excitement or just with the item itself and will bid more than they orginally intended. REA auctions stand out because the rarity involved with alot of their items brings out a ton of emotions with those bidders.

As for the Johnson check, with an auction like REA it's easy for an item to get lost in the vast amount of premier items that they have each year.

very good points. i can defintely see the logic of why they do that.

[matt]

Re: Rea

Not game used, but I got the Ted Williams letter from 1938. I liked that Bonds bat too.

I usually buy only game used stuff, but the letter has some great baseball content written by Ted to his buddy just before he made the Red Sox. I probably paid too much, but it is a 2 page, handwritten letter and really hooked me.

Here is the text:
Dear John, We're way up here in South Dakota on our barnstorming tour. Boy! is there a lot of pheasants up here. We have a 22 so the other day we shot 3 + had a cook at one of the towns we stayed at fix them up + oh! were they good. Official averages came out and I finished up leading the league with .366 - 23 points better than anyone. 43 homer 370 total bases in 193 hits also lead league in runs batted in. I'm going to try and see the football game between Minnesota + Washington next Saturday. We play the next day so I'll probably be home around 1 or 2 of October. We played 4 games + have averaged $15.00 a game but today (Sunday) we'll probably make 30.00 apiece. I've got 4900 miles on my car + it runs like a clock. I've been getting 14.4 miles per gallon on this trip but I've been going from 65 to 90 all the way. It used to quarts of oil on the last 1000 miles but that's alright [sic] because the mechanic said I should use some oil going at that speed. - Ted.

Here is the photo: http://bid.robertedwardauctions.com/...emid=14132#pic

Matt

[gorilla777]

Re: Rea

Does REA only do one auction a year?

Yes, this is the annual auction, at least internet-wise.

It seemed like there was a ton of activity across the board.


Ben

[rose14]

Re: Rea

LEAGLEEAGLE,

I can understand your thinking but REA has ended on a Saturday for quite some time now. One positive to ending on a weekend night is that most bidders don't have to go to work the following morning as opposed to a weekday night.

You state "Why not just put your max bid in"? Most auction houses are savvy and purposely end their auctions the way they do. They know that a percentage of bidders will continue placing bids on a particular item sometime even over their intended maximum bid when they keep getting outbid on an item. The longer an item sits open in the last minutes the likelyhood that one of those bidders will bid again. It's human nature that some bidders get caught up in the excitement or just with the item itself and will bid more than they orginally intended. REA auctions stand out because the rarity involved with alot of their items brings out a ton of emotions with those bidders.

As for the Johnson check, with an auction like REA it's easy for an item to get lost in the vast amount of premier items that they have each year.

[Sonny25]

Re: Rea

Does REA only do one auction a year?

[legaleagle92481]

Re: Rea

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....

...

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.

[aeneas01]

Re: Rea

The answer is, the best auction company in the business.

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....

...

[legaleagle92481]

Re: Rea

OK.....so who won what?

I won the Mike Schmidt first career GRAND SLAM (his rookie year) home run ball. Paid through the nose for it, but it's a keeper!!

amazing get.

[legaleagle92481]

Re: Rea

The answer is, the best auction company in the business.

Any true serious collector probably appreciates the fact the auction ended on a weekend night. And for those that place a priority of doing something else than tending to their hobby when the fight bell rings, then too bad. It must not mean that much to them.

Quite frankly, anybody who wanted to paint the town could have stayed out til wee hours of the morning, then upon coming home (as long as they were coherent enough) logged in to do their damage. This auction didn't close until sun-up, so the day of the week makes the absolute MOST sense to end on as no-one who works a normal work week (Monday-Friday) had to go to work red-eyed, or worse yet miss a day of work because of staying up all-night to win.

i dont get the whole auction running all night thing. to me its easier just to log on a couple of minutes before the regular auction closes place my maximum bid and call it a day. i have won many items in auctionhouse auctions and this is what i do everytime. i have never had to stay up allnight watching the auction. to me im going to spend up to x because that is what i feel the item is worth. if someone else feels it is worth more they can have it and ill get the item or a comparable item the next time around.

[gorilla777]

Re: Rea

A Bonds bat and 2 Ripken bats for me

Ben

[Schmoozer]

Re: Rea

OK.....so who won what?

I won the Mike Schmidt first career GRAND SLAM (his rookie year) home run ball. Paid through the nose for it, but it's a keeper!!

[Schmoozer]

Re: Rea

wow i missed this one. who ends an auction on a saturday night though? imo not a good idea as that is the night the fewest people are probably home. looks like they had some good stuff though. alot of the autographs sold well over reserve. the walter johnson check went way too low though it pains me to have missed that one.

The answer is, the best auction company in the business.

Any true serious collector probably appreciates the fact the auction ended on a weekend night. And for those that place a priority of doing something else than tending to their hobby when the fight bell rings, then too bad. It must not mean that much to them.

Quite frankly, anybody who wanted to paint the town could have stayed out til wee hours of the morning, then upon coming home (as long as they were coherent enough) logged in to do their damage. This auction didn't close until sun-up, so the day of the week makes the absolute MOST sense to end on as no-one who works a normal work week (Monday-Friday) had to go to work red-eyed, or worse yet miss a day of work because of staying up all-night to win.

[legaleagle92481]

Re: Rea

wow i missed this one. who ends an auction on a saturday night though? imo not a good idea as that is the night the fewest people are probably home. looks like they had some good stuff though. alot of the autographs sold well over reserve. the walter johnson check went way too low though it pains me to have missed that one.

[mfsquirrelmaster]

Re: Rea

Would have liked that Juan Beniquez lot, but went just a little bit higher than the my current fundage allows. Got a Ruth autographed piece though.

[gorilla777]

Re: Rea

Still waiting myself.....tick, tock.....hopefully win....yawn

Ben