Does anyone know anything about auction houses?

[SpeccieSeccie]

If there is a live sale, what percentage of lots goes unsold?

I'm wondering about selling some jewellery. Is there quite a high likelihood of going through having it valued and put in a catalogue for it then not to sell? I know it depends on the individual piece/particular sale, I just wondered if there was a percentage of unsold lots that auction houses always factor into any expected sale.

Thanks for any help. Very grateful.

Anyone?

Speccie I saw this earlier and clicked on it in enthusiasm - I used to work for one of the big auction houses. Sadly it was in HR so I don't know whether they factor in an assumed percentage of lots to go unsold, sorry

This is really just guesswork but I would imagine they do their utmost to sell as much as poss but they might put pressure on you to have a very low reserve - no sale for them means no commission.
I would imagine if anything more than 10-15% of lots go unsold it would be difficult for them to make a profit, but perhaps it varies according to the type of thing being sold (I'm most familiar with fine art type sales where catalogue production costs etc are very high.)

Thanks, for the replies. I know that the catalogue costs are quite high and I'd have to pay those whether or not the things get sold.

Is it completely out of the question (e.g. was it once owned by Wallace Simpson, Liz Taylor or Jackie Onassis? is it a diamond with a name?) to put it on eBay?

You only pay the listing fee and nothing further if it doesn't sell, so I almost think it might be worth a shot if an auction house is going to charge you a lot more for catalogues etc.

You do see stuff in the US$5,000-$40,000 bracket on there - it often doesn't sell but sometimes it does.

Ninedragons - thanks for the reply. I had thought about ebay but although (sadly) they weren't owned by Jackie O, they're expensive enough to worry about them getting lost in the post. What puts me off is having to take responsibility for getting them to a new owner, etc, so I think I'd feel more comfortable going through an auction house. Plus, I thought the fact that they've been valued by the auctioneers would act as guarantee for a purchaser.

(Also, I'm rubbish at Ebaying! )

Just found out - about 20-30% of a sale goes unsold. In case you were wondering!

I quite take your point about responsibility for shipping.

Do you live somewhere with an antique jewellery shop? They must get their stock from somewhere, and I'd imagine most buy as well as sell.

I'd get it valued by the auction house first, though, in case you hit upon an unscrupulous dealer who says hmmmm, paste and pinchbeck, I'll give you a fiver.

I'm dying to know what you're selling, of course....

Some diamond earrings and a brooch - they're inherited and sadly my gran wasn't Wallace Simpson, so y'know, nice but not that special.

Good luck, I hope you get a good price.

The diamond fuchsia brooch on Antiques Roadshow last week had me kneeling in front of the television licking the screen.