Mangapps boss is a convert to online-only railwayana auctions
AS an enthusiastic railwayana collector, I read with interest the thoughts of Geoff Courtney in last month’s railwayana column about the pros and cons of live saleroom auctions compared with online-only sales.
I couldn’t get on with online auctions to start with but have become a convert. For someone who can’t get to most auctions, isn’t comfortable with commission bidding, and is therefore restricted to telephone bidding with its uncertainties (such as will they accept telephone bids or will they get through?), online is the answer. Added to that, I have never been keen on travelling a long way, only to be outbid on the one lot I wanted!
There is no reason why auctions cannot be held in a saleroom with simultaneous online bidding, as was being done by GW Railwayana before the pandemic and also by most non-railwayana auction houses, but it only doubles their costs, which will inevitably have to be passed on.
I have discussed the matter with both GWRA and Great Central, and, as Geoff has written previously in his column, neither is rushing back to live venue sales. There is a lot of noise on the subject on social media, but as one of the auction houses is quoted in last month’s column, it is not their job to organise what is for some attendees a purely social event.
No doubt market forces will decide the matter in the end.
John Jolly, Mangapps Railway Museum, Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex