Rock Island Auction Co.

Kevin Jones said:
As I said earlier, the fact that they were able to put such a good knife catalog together with limited knowledge of knives in a small amount of time speaks to the high quality of their organization.
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It's all who you know....Phil helped...I helped him.....we used pencils to mark up the copy sheets, some "input" was ignored.;):D;)

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
It's all who you know....Phil helped...I helped him.....we used pencils to mark up the copy sheets, some "input" was ignored.;):D;)

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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Yep, I understand quite a few in the custom knife community helped. I guess RI weighed all the input and went with their "gut".
 
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I also noticed the collection displayed on a back table in the ABS section at Blade. It was an impressive (to say the least) collection. It was a pleasure to handle several Warenskis, DE Henry and other well known makers from some years back.

I spoke with a couple of guys from the auction company, and they readily admitted that they had NO experience selling custom knives.

I put them in contact with Dave Ellis and he helped them some also.

I signed up for a catalog and it arrived last week. Just got the gun catalog this week. Somewhere around 1000 guns in all! At Blade, they did not want to state the collector's name but it is listed in the Catalog as A.I. McCroskie. INCREDIBLE selection of knives and the guns even more so.

Peter
 
Kevin Jones said:
It should be interesting as it would be to get Bruce's thoughts.
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Since you asked...

The one thing that an auctioneer brings to the table--any auction of anything--is product knowledge. Any idiot can stand in front of a room or put out a catalog, (if they have the proper license and education requirements fulfilled) and stop when the knives reach their top value among their small audience. If they knives do not reach their full potential--frankly an auctioneer with no product knowledge will never know that.

I have turned down auctions on numerous items of which I had no expertise. However, there are others who will take anything, blow a lot of smoke up someones behind on what great auctioneers they are of say, cinder blocks, and because they auction cinder blocks well they can auction fine sculpture. (Of course it helps if they pay some cinder block collectors to give them some advice). And they will take their commission, and try to sell the sculpture to their cinder block audience--with the expected result.

If the executor of an estate is only wanting rid of everything, then good, give the knives to the guy who does your guns and think that they are the same market. Such lunacy does exist. I deal all the time in publishing who think because knives and guns can both be weapons that they have the same market, same people, etc. and can be approached the same way.

Nothing could be further from the truth. They are two different markets. There is some mutual appreciation, but I know of no heavy knife collectors that are heavy gun collectors, and vice versa. I have moved in both circles quite a bit, having been the official photographer for a while for the Colt Collectors Society.

In particular in reference to Rock Island Auction. I have heard good things about their gun auctions. In fact if you had a good gun collection I might even recommend them. But by their own admission they don't know crap about knives.

How effective can someone be auctioning something about which they know nothing? The answer is obvious--NOT VERY.

I know of two different well regarded people who were asked for advice by the auction company in question at the Blade Show, and those two were told by the auction representatives, "We need some help in setting prices on these, and on the descriptions." Those two people both recommended me. One told me he was told by them, "I don't know about Voyles, that might be a conflict of interest."

So not only are they ignorant about knives--but they are refusing to talk to the one person in the game who has real experience in the genre.

Auctioning something about which you know nothing is a gross disservice to the consignor--and in my opinion is unethical at best.

My final summation is their list of top makers on their flyer, the bragging about the fine knives they have--even before Buster Warenski, is that well known custom knifemaker, "Boker Arbilito". (Just for those of you who do not know all the modern knifemakers, Mr. Arbilito is Spanish for Tree Brand, as in the factory knife, Boker Tree Brand knives. That's right, the do not know a custom knife from a factory knife, and prove it right there in their show flyer).

And the most important question to ask--where are they going to get their customers to bid on these knives? The did some emailing through Blade, attended a couple of shows (so they picked up a dozen or so potential bidders based on my experience at shows).

And tomorrow they will be gone and auctioning someone else's guns.

When did they pay their dues to the knife industry? Does taking some tables at one knife show one time count? Will they stay members of the Custom Knife Collectors Club long term?

There is a certain element within the knife business that had rather deal with an outsider than someone who has paid the dues, has the customers, knows the market. And in the long term they will get the results that one could expect from that.

And I wonder if some of the people who went by the Rock Island tables at the back of Blade show also took the time to stop by my table on the front row at that same show and review the knives that I recently sold in my Knifemaking Legends auction? There were some pretty good names in that one too.

As for my auctions prior to their happening, I have been told in direct communication with the moderators that rules in this forum prevent me from mentioning my auctions when I have good knives, except from my listing in my signature. Perhaps I should get someone to start a thread and shill my auctions next time I have some nice handmades. I guess that doesn't apply to outsiders like Rock Island Auctions though.

Anyone willing to shill my upcoming auctions like this thread has done, please email me--I can always use the help!
 
Hi Bob,

I agree with you that the price estimates for the most part are unrealistic. As Bruce pointed out it is painfully obvious that the auction house has limited (if any) experience with custom knives.

The biggest clue is when you click "knives custom"...Randall's are the first knives that show up. As we all know Randall's are not custom knives.

That aside, as STeven and you pointed out that many of the knives can probably be cleaned up.

As Kevin pointed out, this auction is the same weekend as Ed's auction. From just a pure business perspective...that was not a bright move.

As well, having them all at once instead of over 2-3 months is going to drive the prices down...perhaps will have a negative affect on realized prices on Ed's auction...maybe that was the strategy??

There is one knife I would really like to get....so we shall see.
 
HI Bruce,

As the precedent has been set, I'll be happy to announce your next custom knife auction...with the links.

I'll just use the phrase that pays....
I have no financial interest in the outfit
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Anyone who is interested in using Proxibid to bid on any of Rock Island's knife lots needs to realize, using Proxibid and if paying by credit card, the buyer's premium is 19.5% of the winning bid.

Compare this to Ed Wormser's Premier Knife Auction (also utilizing Proxibid as a bid engine) or Bruce Voyles' auctions and there is a substantial difference. Rock Island buyer's premiums are much more. So the buyer pays more, the consignor (owner of the knives) gets less.

Bob Betzner
 
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TennKnifeman said:
Since you asked...

.......
As for my auctions prior to their happening, I have been told in direct communication with the moderators that rules in this forum prevent me from mentioning my auctions when I have good knives, except from my listing in my signature. Perhaps I should get someone to start a thread and shill my auctions next time I have some nice handmades. I guess that doesn't apply to outsiders like Rock Island Auctions though.

Anyone willing to shill my upcoming auctions like this thread has done, please email me--I can always use the help!
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.
http://www.spiritofsteel.com/.
http://www.jbrucevoyles.com/. :)
(dont forget my commission fee)

The rules (BF) posted in FAQ:


"Auction / Deal / Bargain Spotting
This is a variation of the "no spam" rules that we have. We know you found a great deal on a Ninja Death Tool 3000 - we don't care.

If that dealer wants to advertise on BladeForums.com, encourage them to purchase a Dealer membership here instead of giving them free advertising.

This infraction can be issued as a warning and is worth 10 points towards your total. It expires in 12 months.

Does BladeForums.com offer an advertising program?
At this time we do not currently offer banner or text advertising. If you are a dealer, and would like to advertise your products on our site, you may
purchase a dealer membership."

It seems clear you can advertise (auctions included?) w/ dealer membership. At $150 more a yr.

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RogerP said:
Where?? I click on that link and get a bunch of guns. Am I having a senior moment? :o

Roger
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You have to scroll down to custom knives on the menu. It defaults to "all items"
 
Where?? I click on that link and get a bunch of guns. Am I having a senior moment? :o

Roger
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Roger,

If you enter the word knife in the search box, you can avoid some of the scrolling.

Jim
 
2knife said:
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It seems clear you can advertise (auctions included?) w/ dealer membership. At $150 more a yr.

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I was told when I made the inquiry that auctions were NOT included under the dealer provision--and that there was no way that I could promote my auctions in the forum as a dealer, as promoting auctions is supposedly banned. I am not trying to get something for free, or skirt rules.

However I was told it was permissible to put the auction link in my signature, which I have done.

I have no problem abiding by rules. I do like it when they are applied equally across the board. Not saying that they weren't in this case--but I am glad to now know that it is permissible to shill an auction through a third party--and that I have friends willing to assist.
 
It would seem to me that the rule about auctions was designed to prevent people from posting links to their ebay-type of auctions. I can't see why major knife auctions couldn't at least be considered news. What's the difference between that and all of the discussions about Blade (where there is a ton of selling)?
 
I agree, Ben. Good points! Seems like a possible double standard.. A moderator would have to clarify..
 
Rock Island is apparently spending quite a few bucks promoting this auction, with full page ads in the Wall Street Journal.

Bob B
 
I just received RI's firearms catalog (sent separate from their knife catalog) for the coming auction and what an amazing firearms collection. Over 250 Winchester Rifles alone. Over 350 Colts, Antiques (really want one of the old cased dueling sets), huge Military collection.
Can't even image what a tremendous task it would be maintaining such a massive collection, unless like Jay Leno who employs 5 full-time caretakers for his car collection.
 
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I am very pleased that some found the thread of interest. To me it was an outstanding and very educational opportunity for those interested to see how much one man could contribute to our history.
 
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