Sporting Gold Auction

[PRESTON WCFC]

Anybody have any luck ?

Wish I hadn't ended up spending nearly £300 !!!!
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[badhand]

I had a look at the catalogue. There was one programme that I needed. Bristol City v Bristol Rovers Gloucestershire Senior Cup 1946. It was estimated at £250 which is a bit much for me. It frightened me off
I'd be interested to know what it went for.

Answering my own question, I've just had a look on their website. It went for £240, so the estimate was pretty good

[Wullie]

The ones i wanted Sunderland Home 1914 went for £900 . Out of my league. 1949/50 Home v Man.utd £300. It's crazy collecting Sunderland Programmes, they are so rare but a massive market for them.

[kcs]

Watched the auction with interest, never been to an auction and with work this was the next best option.

I set my eyes on Leeds v Man Utd 1957/58 and with an estimate of 30-35 quid got excited as Michael Hewitt sold one for around 100 quid not so long ago.

I got it for 65 quid, which after additional costs will still come in under the ton previously mentioned. Was tempted with Leeds v Spurs 56/57 pp issue normally at 150 quid, but this copy had punched holes, still went for 80 quid!!

Some very interesting and expensive items up for auction over the 2 days...
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[andyfromboston]

Wullie wrote:

The ones i wanted Sunderland Home 1914 went for £900 . Out of my league. 1949/50 Home v Man.utd £300. It's crazy collecting Sunderland Programmes, they are so rare but a massive market for them.

Boston played at Sunderland in The FA Cup back in about 1925, have you ever seen that one?

Not that I could afford it you understand, but it'd be nice to know one exists for the day money isn't so tight.

[andy1966]

Looks like I may have won one,

915 - Everton v Aston Villa 1923

Not quite at my max bid, quite pleased with that

[kcs]

As sad as it sounds i have added up all the final figure sums from the auction...

£138,191, if you then add the 15% (on average) buyers premium of £20,728 you end up with nearly 160k of sales, even if the sellers commission is @ 10% then thats 16 grand for SportingGold,

Do they get the buyers premiun? if its sportingGold then its more than that... its more around 33k!!

WOW!!!!
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[1980Cossie]

Sportingold receive 21.5% approx after VAT deducted

[Wullie]

kcs wrote:

As sad as it sounds i have added up all the final figure sums from the auction... £138,191, if you then add the 15% (on average) buyers premium of £20,728 you end up with nearly 160k of sales, even if the sellers commission is @ 10% then thats 16 grand for SportingGold, Do they get the buyers premiun? if its sportingGold then its more than that... its more around 33k!! WOW!!!!

and they tell us that there is a recession going on!!!

[Auchinleckian]

I think you'll find it's far more than a day's work! The venue won't be cheap, and they do lay on free sandwiches, tea and coffee. The facility for bidding online isn't cheap, and all the glossy brochures have to be produced, and they're then sent out free of charge through the post. Chris does travel around in between sales to accumulate items for each auction, as well as folk bringing stuff to him.
It's a very slick, professional set up, and that costs.
I only bought a few items, a fairly ecletic mix
867 Sweden v Austria 48 Olympics £22
929 three Scotland homes v England 48,58, 60 £30
999 single sheet Gravesend v Arsenal 61-2 £15
1022 eight athletics programmes £15
1104 55 Bradford P.A. programmes 70-1 much duplication £45
1367 non league annuals £15

[gurulion]

Well said. I had just written exactly the same thing, but you beat me to it...!

If that was my business, I would feel that the £30k was scant reward for all that has gone into it. By the time you have taken the overheads out there can't be a fantastic percentage profit return. For instance, a Merthyr 25/26 went for a hammer price of £2,000 on the day. But, looking at the list of sale prices reached, it has not been accepted by the vendor. If the vendor and bidder can't come to a mutual agreement, that will hurt Chris as it was one of the star turns at the event.

As well as the many operational costs already outlined - for instance, when travelling around the UK to whip up custom there is also accommodation and travel costs to be met - Sportingold also have to pay for secure offices etc to house the items before and after the event. Not cheap. Nor is constantly updating their website; nor having not one but two auctioneers to conduct such a mammoth event, and a team of about ten on the day(s) to ensure everything runs smoothly with the handling of the items, telephone and online bidding and sales processing.

I, for one, don't begrudge Chris a single penny. He and his like work hard and make lots of things possible for collectors like us.

[kcs]

I think you have mis-understood our comments, not one of them begrudges Chris for money made during this period. I for one, (and i am sure that other people that have commented previously) never for one minute assumed it happened other night!

The posts that seem to have got your backs up merely state what was earn't, this is not offensive in any manner. I am sure the overheads you mention are expensive and I am not naive enough to think otherwise.

For the record i emailed Chris on Sunday and received a reply within hours, this clearly shows the additional work that people like me don't see.

Its a sorry situation when stating a financial figure is twisted into a negative towards an individual.

P.S would love one day to do something similar to what Chris does for my own living.
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[1980Cossie]

Agreed there's a lot more goes into than a days work, packing up 2000+ seperate lots & sorting them would in itself be a mammoth task!!

Has anyone bid using the salesroom? I've watched a couple of auctions on there before but not bid how easy is it to?

[gurulion]

My back hasn't been got up at all. And the debate hasn't even remotely annoyed me....quite the opposite.

Think it's an interesting topic and I was simply agreeing with the post of before.

For the record, I thought the original posting re potential profits was a bit tongue-in-cheek.

But also thought it worth pointing out that, from an exclusively business point of view, those numbers aren't quite as sexy as they first appear.

However, because some of us refuse to employ Smilies, that doesn't automatically mean we are angry when we post.....!!!

[kcs]

yes mate, i bid using that method.

You simply register with them which only ask for a few details, you can then log onto the site, but in order to bid you need to attach a form of payment (e.g. credit card) to a particular auction, this allows you to bid.

Once logged in you receive a unique number (i didn't need to remember this as the software done this for me) and can simply bid by a click of a button.

If you watched some of the auctions then it would be the same but with a bid button under the price. e.g. current price 30GBP a button would appear saying "Bid 40 GBP" and this would change as the bidding in the room went up.

I probably wasted/enjoyed about 5 hours of watching the bidding on the second day
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[Geddon]

I didn't bid on anything as I'd completely forgotten about it, but have enquried about an unsold lot to see if it's still for sale.

[1980Cossie]

kcs wrote:

yes mate, i bid using that method. You simply register with them which only ask for a few details, you can then log onto the site, but in order to bid you need to attach a form of payment (e.g. credit card) to a particular auction, this allows you to bid. Once logged in you receive a unique number (i didn't need to remember this as the software done this for me) and can simply bid by a click of a button. If you watched some of the auctions then it would be the same but with a bid button under the price. e.g. current price 30GBP a button would appear saying "Bid 40 GBP" and this would change as the bidding in the room went up. I probably wasted/enjoyed about 5 hours of watching the bidding on the second day

this method is more expensive due to the salerooms charges but once petrol costs have been taken into account (if you live 100+ miles away for example) its not too bad, i'd end up spending a lot more than i could afford though using this method of bidding i bet,

[kcs]

Seems to be an interesting debate now!!

I do agree with you Gurulion that from a business model the figures quoted at the beginning are not necessarily the amount received by SG.

All in all it must be a good money spinner as Chris Williams would simply not do this, I understand that he has loosened his connections/commitments to SportingMem to concentrate on the auctions.

Like I said previously, I would love to do what he does. He must be the leading figure in football programmes at the minute?

Let the debate begin....

Oh no hard feelings from my corner Gurulion

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[gurulion]

Nor, for one second, from mine, kcs.

But you know what happens when you Leeds and us Millwall guys get together....

[Auchinleckian]

It's not usually a stimulating debate....