What is an Auction Box Lot?
Auction Box Lot Bargains
Box Lot Losers
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What is an
Auction Box Lot?
Have you ever been to an estate auction? Many people enjoy estate auctions for the antique variety, the crowd’s excitement, or the fast talking auctioneer. One tool that an estate auction uses to keep an auction moving is the popular box lot. Box lots contain many different items, typically known as “the small stuff.” The box lots let auction houses liquidate many miscellaneous items quickly. Box lots can offer great finds for bidders, but the heirs of an estate and even the auction house can lose quite a bit of money on a box lot.
Auction Box Lot
Bargains
For years, people have brought numerous valuable items to my
What’s it Worth? appraisal events
that were purchased in box lots. For instance, I have seen a Guest
Book member purchase a box lot for $12 which included among other things, a lithograph signed by Charles Lindbergh worth $2,900.
Another appraisal event audience member purchased a $5 box lot with a 1875 Asian porcelain doll inside which was worth
$3,500!
Box Lot Losers
Great news for those people who find those box
lot bargains, but what if those items were in your grandma’s house and incorrectly considered worthless by an auction house representative and relegated to a box of miscellaneous rejects? I bet you would have a few pointed questions for the estate auction house representative.
While the bidders bought them fair and square, the heir of grandma’s estate lost $6,383 on
the two above items. Grandma’s heirs lost significant money because the auction house didn’t realize that it was placing valuable items into a box lot. And, the estate and heirs weren’t the only losers here, the auction house also lost its commission on that money, which could be as high as 30% of $6,383 or $1,914.00 on these box lot mistakes.
For the lucky box lot bidder with the porcelain doll, spending $5 to make $3,495 is a good gamble and return. But, if you are trying to raise money for your grandma’s estate, then you certainly want to know why that valuable 19th Century doll wasn’t advertised by the auction house and placed into an auction where a doll collector might be enticed to pay close to its actual $3,500 value. Sure, it’s true that you shouldn’t sweat the small stuff, but that only applies when you are sure that the stuff you aren’t sweating is actually small.
Dr. Lori
Director
Masterpiece Technologies Inc.
