Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums Petroliana News October 6th Auction Cologne MN?

Vanderbrink Auction. Anyone going?

I'm gonna try but thats a ways into the future but you never know?

i'm planning to be there.

I plan on going as well.

Curious how this auction went for those who attended?
thanks

I was there from 8:30 am till 9:15 pm, Later I will let you know how it went

Prices were strong in my opinion. I know there were at least 900+ registered bidders. Online buyers only took a few items from those in attendance. As with any auction there is always some good buys if you know what to look for

I also had the opportunity to meet K W Frith. Super nice guy.

I wish I could have meet Iowaoil, bowserman, and Tankar. Maybe next auction......

Agree with ChevroletSS, Prices were very strong even to the end. The auction itself was a cluster ---- I have never seen one run that bad and I have helped with many auctions. Thought you may want to know how not to display globes at an auction. I will add some pics.

I can not believe that's how they displayed those globes!!!

They did have them bolted down but the wood was just laying on the saw horses and just about everybody kicked them once.

thanks for the input everyone.... wow - that's definitely how NOT to display globes! Nice collection that was dispersed this weekend!

Well, in a crappy auction there's always opportunity. I came home with a few signs and at least 250 cans. There was a lot of common stuff, and some rare stuff. There was meat left on the bone in the can department, not so much in the sign department.

As I've seen with Vanderbrink auctions before, the online catalog and pictures were awful. My only guess is they do it to advertise, and they really want you to be there in person. I think the crappy pictures means online bidders bid less, which means they win less, which means Vanderbrink thinks it's not worth the additonal effort. If they had a quality catalog, they would see the impact of a good online catalog driving up the bid price.

If you don't think repos are a problem, think agian, several repos were sold for big bucks, as the auctioneer had no idea what they were selling.


Anyway, had a great time talking to a lot of you...I know your names but not your old gas handles.

I appreciate Kevin helping to run defense and tag teaming getting us a spot right next to the auctioneer at the can tables the entire time.

ChevroletSS, we did meet...just no introduction. I was the guy who walked you out to find Darryl.

Until next time.

You can say that again. The auctioneer had absolutely no idea. I remember at one point while selling the pumps the crowd had to tell her what model pump she was selling. They also said well if you need to see it come on up. They would not describe it. And no problem I will just push through the 300 people in front of me. All in all prices were good. Auction company was horrible and mis-organized. The only upside no buyers premium. JMTC

It was nice to meet and talk to Kevin and Tankar, too bad I missed some of you other guys.

What a horrible, unprofessional, disorganized mess! I was greatly disappointed in Vanderbrink Auctions. I've seen their adds before but this was my first experience with them. Originally, my intent was to bid on-line but the catalog photos were the worst I've ever seen, and the lack of descriptions made it impossible to bid on-line. So I flew up on Thursday and visited a few friends collections, on Friday we went to the preview. There were several hundred prospective bidders milling around. I asked the auctioneer if we could preregister and she rudely said "NO"..Registration isn't until tomorrow morning". I'm no auctioneer but when you have several hundred people already there wouldn't it make sense to preregister to lessen the congestion the day of? I then asked if they were going to be selling in numerical order as listed in the catalog.."No" she said" Now I was holding 143 pages of catalog that I printed. "So you're not selling in catalog order?" "Nope..she replied". So...she had no auction list or catalog for this size auction? Crazy! We walked into the sign barn and everything was still hanging up, not a single item had been cleaned or wiped down, only half the items had number tags on them. The globes which were previously pictured were laying on their sides on the rock floor with lighted bulbs in them. The entire set-up staff was the lady auctioneer, another lady and a hippie that was it. I then had the audacity to interrupt her greatness by asking what order they were going to sell in for only half the items were tagged, even though a lot of what was untagged was in the catalog. Exasperated..she sternly said "They will sell in the order that I see fit as the auctions going on" Wow....so much for being nice to the customer.
We previewed and left..The following morning I returned to discover about an hour and a half wait for registration (maybe preregistration was a good idea). So I didn't register but used my friends card who got there at 7:00 AM. Now...here's where it gets good. The Catalog portion of the sale was to start at 11:00 AM and I'm sure they had hundreds of on-line bidders...they didn't get to that portion of the sale until 12:15...glad I wasn't sitting on-line. They start selling lot 201-202-203 and next she sells lot 724 then 216-217-218 then 536. Several times I left to use the restroom or food for they were 80 lots away from my next item only to return five minutes later to find that they had sold it. I did manage to buy a few big neons but I left the sale early for I was so disgusted. When I went to check out I inquired about getting my signs down and who on staff was available? No one...they had no staff to assist winning bidders during or even after the sale. I was told that I would need to bring my own equipment, ladders, forklift,etc or I could hire a third party to take them down. Now, I bought several pieces at the RM Dingman Auction and their staff bent over backwards and assisted me in getting all of my signs down. So..rather than flying home Sunday, I just finished getting my signs down today fortunately my friend was very resourceful. In my thirty years of car collecting and fifteen years of sign collecting. This was the worst, most disorganized event I ever attended. However, the signs did well for it really didn't matter who was going to auction it, good pieces will bring good money, but I'm confident had the owner given it to a more professional company like RM, Barrett-Jackson, or even Matthews the overall sale would have brought 30% more easily for there was very little on-line action in comparison to other similar auctions I've attended not to mention the auctioneer had very little knowledge as to the product she was selling. Tin signs were described as porcelain, reproductions sold as originals, on and on... Total Amateur Hour!!!!!

Agree. I was there also. What a mess. Double sided neons hanging on the wall where you couldn't even see the back side of them to tell condition. I asked her how a person was to tell back side condition, she said look , as she said she took pictures of the backs. I then asked her to come over and show me the back side of the moline neon which was right against the wall, she just snarled at me and walked away. I took an enclosed trailer 600 miles to buy a few neons, but was told I would have to wait til next week to get the neons off the wall, with no help from the auction company! Went home empty handed because of that. I felt sorry for anyone at home that was trying to bid online because of the way they were jumping around the catalog. She and the owner were very lucky that there was such a strong crowd. Really good quality items tho but never again to one of their auctions!!