Chaotic auction. Online bidding worked randomly and everything was just a mess. I feel for the sellers. Weak results all-over.
next auction round starts in geneva in mai .... and all i could see so far in catalogs is very disappointing.... but this is a topic for new thread
Very difficult to source great pieces for the auction houses. Sellers expectations are still at record prices and everything else speaks for a cooled down market. Interesting times to come.. I think a lot of watches will stay hidden in top collections for the near future.
Auction houses take 30% out of a sale. Then look at the "mistakes", often barely acknowledged, that motivated collectors expose regarding authenticity, both of watches themselves and paperwork. If only the seller had listened to Eric.
So what did happen with the auction? Maybe all potential buyers booked their flights to Stockholm to inspect the watch in person only to find some issues on it that cooled down their bidding? And with the long story told here, OP got better offers privately here on the forum because of the drawer find story hype, but chose to go for an auction. Well, most here suggested him to do it, so no faulting OP for this decision. Hopefully Bukowskis didn’t charge the OP for a selling fee, otherwise this was not an expected outcome for him. Still hefty amounts of money, but...
Why? Because he believed all the B/S valuations proffered by the members who should have known better, or because he got greedy and didn't take the opportunity to sell when he had good offers? I'm sure the members who made those offers are now quite relieved they were turned down.
Which feeling is stronger, getting 75K when you were expecting nothing, or only getting 75K when you were hoping for much more? If it had gone bonkers at auction, everyone would be saying OP is lucky they didn't go for private sale. Hindsight is always 20/20. What can you do? Be grateful for what you have and move on.......
Guys guys, no need to get all nasty ... he took a chance ... as I am sure some of you have done too. 900k SEK ($97k) is the hammer price, so buyer paid $97k + premium (or am I missing something?). If he negotiated down his sales fee, he probably got most of that out. He hasn't lost anything ... he had an old watch that wasn't worth much, and now he has a ton of cash. No loss in my book. I am sure a lot of you would have gone the auction route too.
So the watch sold pretty much for what he was offered, around 120k? It’s just the auction got in the middle.
I have to say this was very disappointing even though this is not my watch or my money. Either way, feel bad for OP. I am not familiar with the way these fancy auction houses operate but aren't reserve prices an option? I have certainly seen it in local auctioneers I have dealt with in the past. Either way, this sucks
Is there a way to check the results of the whole sale? Can't seem to find them on the Bukowskis website... EDIT: I pulled my head out of my a** and found it Here it is https://www.bukowskis.com/en/auctions/614/lots
It's crazy how low they all went, not only the Speedies. Maybe bidding was a hassle as previously mentioned