Terrible prices at the BVWS WB auction

[CambridgeWorks]

Can a trader become a permanent member of bvws and buy stuff to sell on? Rather than opening all auctions to non members.
Rob

[Paul_RK]

Dealers want to make a profit, but interior decorators / window/pub display designers will buy all the ones they think look nice at an auction and have deep pockets!

Depends on "fashion".

I knew a friendly wheeler-dealer in the NE who had contacts in that field. Must be 20 or more years ago he pulled up outside our house with a van loaded with mostly '30s sets from an attic in the Borders region: plenty of woodworm but I think most of those wound up as shop decorations, after I'd negotiated for the two or three I could accommodate at the time, the gem of which was a Defiant M900.

Not a hundred yards from our flat in the middle of town is a wedding shop with an early '30s Cossor in the middle of its window (and an upside-down vintage mincer converted to a clamp-on table lamp further into the room...)

Paul

[Cobaltblue]

I was also at RWB and sales were also down on the B&B even low prices could not compete with the virtual give away prices of the auction.

As for pubs with Radios The Pilot on Adastral Rd. Poole has around 50 sets around the walls has had for at least the last 12 years that I have been a customer.

As for non members bidding in BVWS auctions I am against it its a membership benifit and members subs going to make them possible.

The membership requirement is for both online and physical auctions. I think the main benifit of the online sale is the longer period you have to make a choice sinse members have always been able to leave proxy bids.

Cheers

Mike T

[Cobaltblue]

Can a trader become a permanent member of bvws and buy stuff to sell on? Rather than opening all auctions to non members.
Rob

The BVWS has always had traders as members, however those traders almost always had an interest in the subject as well.

The BVWS is not to my knowledge keen on people just trying to hoover up stuff chesply.

Cheers

Mike T

[Radio Fixer]

Mike T wrote:

"As for non members bidding in BVWS auctions I am against it its a membership benifit and members subs going to make them possible."

Membership fees cost just about what the Bulletins would cost if bought separately.  No more benefit is needed.


Had this from a friend:

Apart from the fact that the auction was limited to those bidders in the room who must be BVWS members, there would only be a handful who were interested in amateur radio. If these items  were from BVWS 'estate sales', the bereaved relatives would have fared far better had they asked a local auction house to uplift them and put them into a 'collectibles' auction.

The diecast speaker in the auction was excellent and only fetched £20. Typically, they go for at least £60.00.

The TRIO JR310 - typically fetch anything from £80 - £120. The one in the auction (Lot 5) fetched just £20.00.

Eddystone 640 Receiver - first peacetime Eddystone from 1947, (Lot 3) fetched just £20.00.  Typically £50 - £100.

Lot 252 Eddystone 840C receiver went for £30.  One for sale at Radioworld £249

I could go on but as we've already ascertained, the very last place anyone should put vintage radio equipment is in a BVWS auction.

Me again : and thats the crunch point, those who are selling now will end up not bothering with a BVWS auction and others will be instructing their next of kin not to bother as well.

Gary

[peter scott]

The important thing is that historic items find homes other than land fill.

Peter

[Radio Fixer]

Agreed but I fail to see how that relates to the point I'm making.

Gary

[Paul_RK]

Yes, the main thing seems to get the items to some sort of auction rather than cleared into a skip. I didn't see the auction Miller's of Newcastle held of the 300+ items I had them pick up from us to make our move to Norfolk more practicable, but they sent a detailed account of prices afterwards, and the handful of things that didn't sell were entered into subsequent general auctions and all or very nearly all found buyers there.

Paul