Stanton's First Auction of the Don Gfell Estate Collection - August 29, 30 & 31 - 2024

[RodPickett]

Click HERE For Work-In-Progress Photo Upload

 

Click HERE For More Event Details 

[RodPickett]

Rough Catalog Posted For Download

[RodPickett]

ONLINE BIDDING NOW AVAILABLE!!

 

DAY 1 - LOTS 1 THROUGH 350

 

DAY 2 - LOTS 351 THROUGH 785

 

DAY 3- LOTS 786 THROUGH 998

 

 

Catalog

 

 

[hesnodgrass]

Anyone going from PA or further east that I could pay to bring anything I may win to me?  I am in eastern PA, zip code 19530.

 

Thanks

[hesnodgrass]

Asking again before I bid if anyone is going and can bring items back to PA.

 

Thanks

[Jerry]

Any interesting stories, finds, general impressions, etc. with regard to the Gfell auction?

[BruceW]

The auction was very well attended with lots of socializing amongst old friends and many new ones.   The auction itself was an incredible mixture of some more desirable items selling for very decent prices.  The general machines and parts were lower than historically seen but still attracted some competition.

The music boxes blew everyone away with the number of aggressive buyers and the high prices realized.

 

Bruce

 

[BruceW]

I thought I should add some observations on how the auction functioned as this is the first one I have attended since COVID hit and Stanton's has gone online with Live Auctineers.

 

The auction was held in a large open area and Steve and his crew set up the sale items for display in front, and to both sides of the bidders, who were seated in rows of comfortable plastic chairs.  The sale items were for the most part laid out in order so it was easy to follow in the exceptional catalogue, which included photos of every item.  Steve and his team displayed photos of each item as they came up for sale on a large TV screen.

As expected with any new technology there were a number of technical glitches.  Often the display photos were behind the actual item being auctioned and the auction had to be stopped several times to ensure that displayed photos caught up to the current item being sold.  I can imagine this must have been frustrating for online bidders.   For the fist part of the auction on day one many could not hear Steve clearly but this was cleared up later in the day after his team dealt with a computer glitch (maybe Steve adjusted his microphone during the short break but it worked). 

 

To meet online expectations Stanton's team moved things along at a very brisk pace which was very good if you were faced with sitting through a page or two of items you were not interested in, but one had to be on their toes when watching items of interest.   His catalogue had more descriptions than in the past but because of the online component there were not onsite description or live comments on condition or authenticity of an item.  I mis this part of Stanton's phonograph auctions but only if you are in the audience to hear the descriptions.

 

The Stanton's team was exceptional to watch and work with during the three day event.  They were very efficient and careful in delivering everyone's prizes, even setting up seperate tables for the bigger purchasers.   Thank you to them.

 

Bruce

 

 

[Jerry]

Thanks Bruce. Interesting to see that music box prices were healthy. That has not been the case for some time now.

 

I noticed the lagging picture updates at the last on-site auction as well. Hopefully, that will get streamlined.

Edited September 3 by Jerry

[RodPickett]

They license a software product to enable that functionality; however, much of the latency is attributable to the quality of their Internet connection.

 

As the facility has none, they install a satellite receiver in the front of the building for their connectivity.  As Starlink or other services become more widely available, this should improve.

[Jerry]

5 hours ago, RodPickett said:

They license a software product to enable that functionality; however, much of the latency is attributable to the quality of their Internet connection.

 

As the facility has none, they install a satellite receiver in the front of the building for their connectivity.  As Starlink or other services become more widely available, this should improve.

 

Wow. Is anything simple anymore?