Auction houses? Who grades this stuff?

Steve Winwood comes to mind: Dear Mister Fantasy make us all happy.

Sorry Bill,
Grass Hopper wishes you to elaborate . I got lost on that one.

David

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Four words. Don't bid on it. I have found the larger auction houses listen more to their clients than the market. You would be surprised what comes up at local auctions and the price they go for. I have found better prices by looking at their upcoming auction lists than waiting the "big boys" to be reasonable.

They really should hire my elementary school science teacher.  She was very consistent.  She graded everything "C".

This was one of the "supposedly" larger houses. They've been selling large lots of toy trains for quite some time.
Coarse each one of these larger houses does things just a little different and you see the differences after while.
Funny thing is if you research their past auctions, their prices aren't that far off the beaten path with the other major players. You never know weather their items have proto 1 or 2 or weather it has TMCC and with no model numbers theres no way to tell
The big thing for me was the "mint condition" included in a description with a damaged item and your right they won't see my money.

David

C-10 MINT - Brand New all original, unused and unblemished.

A lot of people believe that Mint means unrun. A close read of the TCA standards can leave you scratching your head if you think about it too much. Based on the rule above, it is an assumption that an item in a sealed box with blemishes is Mint as long as you can't see it, if I am reading it correctly. However, once you can see it is blemished by opening the box it is not Mint even though it was not run. If you subscribe to the school of thought that Mint refers mostly to wheel wear then you can have a damaged but Mint item. I am not supporting this but just making a comment based on my observations over the years. 

Bigo,
I hear ya but to me mint means what it probably means to everyone... New or darn close to it with no damage. That was definatley not unused and unblemished by any description. If someone says it's mint and they only had it out of the box for pictures I take that to mean Mint or near mint, meaning hey I ran it around the track 3 or 4 times to make sure it worked. Okay it's mint.
But something with a chunk out of it?
Well that description is mint too.... Mint to deceive and that's the way I take it.
If folks here deal with these houses enough they'll figure out who these folks are and maybe they'll be thinking about what they've read here I hope.
Read the description some houses I would buy from with no worrys
But others seem  more interested in generating a sale than generating a customer.
David

MINT means MINT, "not darn close to it"

If a prewar 700e Hudson is factory-sealed in original box, never been opened, but x-ray pictures show it's badly corroded because of zinc rot, does that mean it's still mint?

quote:

If a prewar 700e Hudson is factory-sealed in original box, never been opened, but x-ray pictures show it's badly corroded because of zinc rot, does that mean it's still mint?

No, because zinc rot/corrosion would constitute blemishes.

quote:

C-10 MINT - Brand New all original, unused and unblemished.

Such things do happen. I guess the owner of that 700E would have been better off without the X-ray.

Here is a TCA link to a line by line explanation with photos of the postwar statndards. Very interesting content. It is 112 pages!!

http://www.tcamembers.org/stan...0Grading%20Guide.pdf

Like I said guys to me Mint means New in the Box. I'd also accept Mint if the guys says he only took the engine out for pictures. If he says he ran it around the track 3 times to check it's operation I'd still accept it , as this just means I won't be disappointed when I get it or have to worry about getting it repaired.
There's always going to be extreme cases like the 700E. I don't mess with the prewar or post war stuff . I didn't grow up with O scale so I don't have any affection for them.
For me it's TMCC/Legacy or PS 2.0

The whole point of this thread is - Read the description. Some of these Auctions I'd buy from with no worries. Stout Auctions is one of them. I've never bought anything from them that was not as described.

But others seem a little less than scrupulous and are trying to deceive the less than savvy buyer.

Like I said I won't give their name on the forum but one forumite e mailed me last night and buys on this auction web site regularly.
He guessed the name right out of the gate as he had seen the descriptions too.
Beware, Read and then make your decision to buy.

Note : Read the fine print at any web site that deals with a multitude of auction houses. This particular auction web site charges a 17% buyers premium
But some of the more reputable auction houses will reduce that premium to 10% if you register for the upcoming auction directly with them instead of going thru the web site. 

David

I bought a locomotive off eBay "sealed in factory carton".  When I got it, true to his word, it was a factory sealed carton.

I opened it up and it had TERMINAL mildew damage, the thing was awful!  The instruction book in the plastic bag was just a black blob!

I did get a refund, and vowed never to buy anything "sealed in factory carton" again on eBay.

Who grades this stuff?

Someone trying to sell it.