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Rod’s Corner – What’s Hot and What’s Not – 6/14/2023

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Hi everyone, and welcome to this edition of What’s Hot and What’s Not, a monthly publication of the Steffen Group that helps keep everyone up to date on what items are selling strong in the auction business along with those items that are in a soft market.

Every week I have conversations with those that are in the process of down-sizing their homes and collections.  Most conversations lead toward the owners being concerned that their children have no interest in the things that they have collected over the years and that they will be thrown out or donated when there could be great value in these collections.  I want to encourage you that if you are in this stage in your life, please reach out to any of the Steffen Group Auctioneers.  Our auction team can help assist with everything from finding your next home to selling your real estate, personal property, and quality collectibles.

When it comes to selling real estate, our team will also discuss with you whether it would be best to list your home with one of our realtors or to auction the property.  There are distinct advantages to both options. We have the team and the resources to help you maximize the value of your assets in this market.

On the personal property side, we have several options on how to best address the items that you will not be taking to your new home.  If you have high-end collections, whether it be automobiles, coins, or antiques and primitives, we can help you determine what would be the best avenue to help you achieve the highest possible price for your items.

At the end of the day, we hope to be more than just a realtor or an auctioneer for you; We hope to be your business partner.  Together, we can help maximize the value of your real estate and personal property.

So let’s get to the part you are all looking forward to, as we take a look at what is HOT and what is NOT in the auction business at this time.

Hot

Pharmaceutical & Medical Items : Whether it be medical bottles, mortar & pestles, Dr. bags, signs, small medical instruments, or even furniture, vintage drug store and doctor’s office items have become quite collectable.  We recently had an auction with a metal body medical cabinet with glass sides that sold for over $2,000!

Vintage Christmas: I made a trip to a large antique show recently and one of the first things that I noticed was that vintage Christmas is becoming more and more collectible.  Christmas blow molds like the Nativity, Candles, Candy Canes, and Santa are very sought after.  Shiny Brite glass ornaments are also quite popular especially if they are in their original box.  Don’t forget about the vintage ceramic Christmas trees with the light in the base! These are in high demand right now as they are a wonderful memory for many of Christmas past.

Salesman Samples : Antique salesman sample pieces are miniature small scale versions of an actual commercial product that a salesman would take with them to different retail locations in an attempt to get them to purchase the full size for their store.  These can be anything that would have been sold, from a cast iron stove to a livestock feeder to a canoe.  These were not mass produced and, as a result, can be quite expensive.  I have seen many sell through the years and while most are in the hundreds of dollars range some can reach tens of thousands of dollars!

Not

Small Household Appliances: Small household appliances like toasters, coffee makers, and electric frying pans will almost always sell but they are not worth the bother.  These are such a common staple item that most households have so there is not a need or desire to purchase another one.  These are best donated to those in need.

Crafts: While crafts can certainly have value at shows and festivals, they are typically very soft sellers at auction;  They do not bring high dollar amounts as a rule.

1970’s Wood Furniture: While we have seen some improvement in the furniture market, this era of furniture has remained quite soft.  This includes the ever-popular coffee tables, glass inset tables, hexagon tables and the glossy furniture that was made during this period.  These were well made and can still be quite helpful to someone just starting out on their own.

Treadle Sewing Machines: The old Singer, White and other treadle sewing machines, while quite beautiful, have a very limited collectability.  There was a period when these were highly sought after as décor pieces.  Unfortunately, this time has passed and these are in a down market.  At the very best, I have seen the bases repurposed into entry and side tables.  Even with this repurpose, they have remained soft in price.  I recently saw three very nice repurposed sewing machine bases sell at auction in the $20 to $30 range.

Thanks for taking the time to explore another edition of What’s Hot and What’s Not in the auction business. Be sure to remember that while these items are both HOT and NOT right now, the market is ever changing and there are always exceptions.  Reach out to one of the Steffen Group Auctioneers.  We will be glad to discuss with you the best possible way to promote your items through the auction method of marketing!

Rod’s Corner – What’s Hot and What’s Not – 2/1/2023

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Hi Everyone and welcome to the first edition of “What’s Hot & What’s Not”, a monthly article focused on what things are achieving a premium at auction as well as some of the items that are in their soft market period that almost all antiques and collectables go through.  This month, I want to start out sharing the important role that your Auctioneer with the Steffen Group will play when working with you.

As I have the opportunity to speak with families that may be down-sizing, settling an estate or maybe even just reducing their collections, I frequently find that they have taken it upon themselves to throw out some of the items that they believe are trash and have no value.  We live in an amazing world with the on-line auction platform and are finding that some of those pieces of “trash” can be quite valuable.  So, my first suggestion would be to not throw anything away until after we get a chance to look at it together.

This past year I had two great examples that I will quickly share.  The first party we were selling antiques and collectables for.  A really nice collection of things.  In that collection, I came across a tire pump and luggage rack for a bicycle.  I put those two items together in a lot and thought to myself, “boy, I hope these get a bid”.  At the end of the auction, that lot sold to a customer in Kentucky for $475.00!!  If that would have been a typical live auction, it would have been piled in with some other items and sold for a couple bucks.  In case you were wondering, it was identified by three bidders in three different states as a part from a Schwinn bicycle.

The second auction was a case of an estate liquidation where the family member was quite a collector of many things.  The family handling the estate was overwhelmed and was considering paying a company to come empty the property so that they could sell the house.  Our team was able to get involved and sort through the entire estate setting up an auction with over 1200 lots!  After expenses the family was able to receive a nice check instead of having to write a check to someone to come in and empty the property!

So, now is the time to discuss what is “Hot” and what is “Not” in the auction business:

Hot:

Petroliana Automotive and Farm Signage / Advertising: We can thank TV shows like American Pickers for the huge push in the collectability and high sales of these items.  Wood, porcelain, tin, thermometers, pictures, cardboard, can, pumps, bottles, pretty much anything in this category is selling very strong.  I am personally thankful to have contact with two of the top buyers and sellers of these items in the U.S.

High End Glass: The glass market has been extremely soft for years, but good news, it is starting to return!  To be clear though, the glass that is returning is the more expensive glass, not the clear glass.  Hand painted Fenton, Mosser, Indiana, Rainbow decanters, older hand-blown glass, art glass and swung vases (the big tall 1950’s and 60’s vases) are showing some strong selling prices.

Cast iron: The cast iron skillet pots and griddle market has become quite collectable.  While Griswold, Wapak and several others can easily be identified by their markings, some of the older, more rare pieces, are difficult to properly identify.  This past year, I saw one sell for $2600.00!  Because identification can be a challenge, I have found that selling these on-line is really helpful because most high end collectors can identify the small nuances that make a specific piece of cast iron collectable from the photos.

Vintage Christmas: Shiny Brite Ornaments, Blow Molds, Aluminum Christmas Trees, Color Wheel Lights and Ceramic Christmas Trees are strong sellers year around.  These are no longer just something to sell in the fall as dealers and collectors are always on the lookout for their next great vintage piece for their collection.

 

Not:

Precious Moments: The Precious Moments figurine market is very soft.  While these were the thing to collect in the 1970’s and 80’s, the market is over saturated with these figurines as people that were once great collectors have made the decision to down size.

Beanie Babies: This is a product that flooded the market and because of their mass production, it has driven values down.  While there is the “needle in the haystack” beanie, I find more people find great value in donating them to a hospital, ambulance service, police or fire department to donate to children who are going through a difficult time.

China: The China market is has dropped significantly as our lifestyles have changed.  Many of us can think back to the family dinner with the fine China being used whenever you entertained and certainly for Sunday lunch.  With more open concept homes, the dining room has disappeared resulting in less family’s having the need for China.  Others have just found it much easier to use the worlds newest Fine China (paper plates).  ?

Collector Plates: It used to be very common to visit families with large plate collections with everything on them from animals to tourist attractions.  This is in a down market and is also an item that too many were made which led to a reduction in their value and collectability.  A few years ago I was visiting with a family where the husband told me that his wife told him when they got married to never buy her a flower if he got in trouble but to buy her a collector plate.  I took a good look around the room we were all in and said, boy, you must have been in a lot of trouble over the years!  They had plates everywhere.

One point that I want to make about the items that are not selling their best right now.  There is always an exception.  When I did some research for these items, I came across a beanie that sold in 2015 for over one hundred thousand dollars.  I think we all wish that we had sold that one!

Thanks for taking the time to read the first edition of What’s Hot & What’s Not and I hope that the Steffen Group can be your business partner the next time you have something to sell.