Yeah, I went to the auction. It was an extremely stormy weekend here on the Carolina coast, and I made an 11th hour decision, rented a good gas mileage car and set out for Tallahassee. I made a mini vacation out of it, stopping in Savana, eating a lot of barbeque, checking out Tallahassee , reconnecting with a friend I hadn't seen in 9 years at his restaurant, catching a Peter Frampton concert, meeting Peter Frampton and touring the ' mighty eight air force museum' in Savana. Whew !! Big weekend......
Anyway, the auction; some of you will be pleasantly surprised, others - not so much. The putty job on most of the Hotchkiss shells was the best I have ever seen [ on most] and was correctly done, rifling added and colored great. On a lot, you would never know it was putty, and I am sure a few are gonna hit the market.
There were only 3 people including myself in the audience, believe it or not. I thought I was gonna crush it, but I bet 98% of the items went to internet bidders. So being there was totally not a big help, except I got to examine the goods before the hammer started flying. They had all 160 or so shells in a dark area of a room, on 3 shelves four feet wide. Which means they were stacked in there multiple deep. We were told not to mess up their order of how they were organized. Plus, they had their own numbered system tagged on the shells that did not match the auction catalogue, for some unknown reason. So it took sleuthing and guesswork to figure out what we were looking at.
There were no 'hidden gems' or missed erroneous descriptions in the catalogue. You just had to read the descriptions [ Scott ! ] And by the way, if you pick it up and take your winnings away there, you have to pay 7 1\2 % Florida tax too. Ouch
I got a few things, but a lot went for more than retail, and then hammer on the 20 % sellers fee and and what shipping would be, and we were shaking our heads in the audience.
So, was it worth going down there for an auction?? Nah. Financially or collector wise. But I made a nice trip of it on a weekend that was rained out at home, still got my required yard work in when I got home on Monday. So all is good. Knocked off a few 'bucket list' things on my trip[ I wanted to see and do, so I had fun.
In all reality, I gotta say Carl and Mike have a lot better selection, rarity, AND pricing on their website, plus you have 2 knowledgeable people describing any nuances about the shell you might have. And recourse if you are not happy for some reason. And of course, C and M, Pete and myself and other forum members selling at shows is an excellent way to purchase too, and if you holding the shell in your hands, you know what you are buying - putty be damned !!
