Originally Posted by aussteve:
My magic was in selling an item, not in buying it. Several years ago, I had a bridge that no dealer at the local TCA meet could help me identify, but every one of them wanted it, "just name your price". Turns out it was a hand painted 1 Gauge Marklin bridge from 1907. It was 70" long. After a few months of talking to people around the country I eventually found a person in California who looked at the pictures, let me know what it was, and what it was worth. $7500 with the flags and about $6500 without the flags. He put me in touch with a man in New Jersey who wanted to buy it. I sent him pictures, we agreed on a very favorable price and I drove up to York with it. I met him at the Sheraton parking lot. He looked at the bridge and then handed me the cash money.
I think there are some deals that need to be done in person and York is probably the most likely place to get that done given the % of train people who do go there.
OMG!!!
New Joisey?? I'll bet it's the same guy that won an auction we ran online for a client!
A local friend was thinning his collection of stuff. He carefully listed the items in multiple boxes on several sheets of paper. As we sorted through the items, there was this one item, a glass-canopied shelter-thing that looked VERY old....but was in quite good condition. No broken glass...which was etched in a beautiful artistic design...and minimal paint scratching/chipping. It had not been listed on the papers, so we contacted the client for clarification.
"Oh, that thing?? Many years ago my mother gave that to me. She bought it at an antique store somewhere in Ohio, I think, and, since I was into 'trains', thought I'd like it! Frankly, I thought it was ugly as heck, so I just graciously kept it....hidden. Other than that, I have no idea what it is....get what you can."
So, as is my wife's practice, she started researching. There was a logo...and the word "Germany" underneath on of the two platforms. She determined that it was a Maerklin logo....from the early 1900's!!!! She searched the internet. She asked other hobby friends. No one had a clue. There was no identity help to be found. So, how would you describe it?....What price could you expect?...What category should it be entered under?
"I wouldn't let it go for anything less than around 300-400 dollars!", was one recommendation. So she led with a opening bid of about $100, if we recall.
Ha, ha....so much for that! By the following morning we had blown through that number and were headed to 6 times that amount!! GOOD GRIEF!! What have we got here? And our client was dumfounded, to say the least.
Over the next week the price creeped upward. Holy moly!
Then came the emails. 'End the auction early. Here's a good offer I'll make you.', etc.. But one email we respected. A collector said he was aware of this Maerklin piece, and that this item in our auction was only the second one he had ever seen or was aware of. Furthermore, as much as he wanted it, he predicted that 'Mr. X'....in New Joisey...would probably bid on it at the end.
And 'Mr. X' did.
Our client was not online watching the auction close....but his wife was. She said he was pursuing his other passion at the moment...playing golf with 3 buddies. But at the close, she called him on the course. $4,500!!!! ....for that "ugly thing" his long-departed mother had given him out of love and respect for him and his hobby!
In the end, that one item...the "ugly thing"...accounted for about 40% of the entire collection he had us sell for him.
Yep, I've got to believe it's the same collector that you sold your bridge to. Nice to know that there is someone out there who appreciates what you have and is willing to give a fair/proper price for it!!
Don't ya just love stories like this in this hobby?????
I do!!