Synthstuff - music, photography and more...: People unclear on the concept

June 30, 2009

People unclear on the concept - bidding at an Auction

I love going to auctions but I make sure to do my homework first and to drop out when the bidding gets into cloud cuckoo land. Witness (or is that witless) this poor schlub bidding $760.00 on a clapped out 40 year old South Bend engine lathe. The bid:

The Lathe:

The Location:

This was once a nice lathe -- probably purchased sometime in the late 1960's to mid 1970's judging from the magnetic motor switch. South Bend made really nice equipment. I have a much older South Bend lathe that I bought off some guy who was cleaning out his grandfather's house. Still had the old manuals and tooling and it was in pristine condition -- the old guy knew how to work it. One of the best $1,200 I ever spent... This poor unit spent the last 40 years under the tender ministrations of teenagers in shop classes. No tooling visible, one chuck but no indication as to the runout or condition of the ways. And some poor fool thinks that it is worth $760. As an example, $1,500 gets you this fine unit from Grizzly:

Really similar capacity (11" swing and 26" length v/s 12" swing and 24" length), brand new with free shipping (USA only), good guarantee and it comes with a couple of chucks, some tooling, a faceplate and it basically ready to roll whereas the poor South Bend will require several hundred hours (if there is any damage to the ways) and at least a bearing replacement to bring up to snuff... If I saw this at an auction, I would drop out right around $150 at the maximum. Caveat Emptor. Posted by DaveH at June 30, 2009 8:15 PM | TrackBack

Comments

Auctioneers are good at that. They will take a pile of junk and "salt" it with a high-value item or two and the winning bidder has to take everything.

These are often a really good buy as what is junk to me might be some treasure to someone else and vice versa. Whenever I attend an auction, I make sure to have a couple hundred bucks in small bills -- lots of ones, fives, tens, etc... to make side offers with other bidders. Hey, I'll give you five bucks for that piece of junk you are probably going to toss when you get it home...

The other thing that I love is that large pieces of purpose-built equipment go for incredibly cheap -- literally pennies on the dollar where simple stuff -- a ladder for example -- will go for list price even though it was beat to @#$%.

Part of going to auctions that I love is watching the people bid on stuff. The interplay and body language between an auctioneer and two competing bidders is thick enough to cut with a knife and a good auctioneer will have these people in the palm of their hand throughout the entire bidding process. It is an artform...

Posted by: DaveH at July 2, 2009 8:21 PM

Reminds me of the Arp auction. I saw people going into panic mode for a chance to bid hundreds of dollars for what were obviously empty synthesizer cases. Feeding frenzy...

A bit later I heard from an ex Arp employee that the autioneers had purposely piled up junk that had no value at all.

Posted by: Man Mountain Molehill at July 2, 2009 1:26 PM