Bob Rufe, of Delaware, chatted via Zoom with Editor-in-Chief Susanna Mills and Senior Editor Jeff Stage to talk about auctions, with a focus on collectors selling through auctions.

Rufe – the son and grandson of postmasters – is a longtime collector, having joined the American Philatelic Society in 1974. Rufe is a specialist, collector and exhibitor of U.S. Special Handling philately and has experience as a writer, as well as having sold and purchased through auctions. Rufe received the Hopkinson Literature Award and the Hopkinson, W. Wallace Cleland, and Hugh M. Southgate Memorial Trophies for Exhibiting from the United States Stamp Society. He recently ended his tenure as 15-year president of the Brandywine Valley Stamp Club. 

Rufe was a chemical engineer by profession and has a degree in economics. He worked for a major chemical firm in Wilmington, Delaware for 35 years and retired in 2001, allowing him to spend his time in the world of philately.

Q. Let’s start at the beginning. What’s the first piece of advice for someone interested in auctions, whether it be selling or buying?

A. Be ready to do some work. I can't stand here and say, “Try out auction house A for this type of material, B for this type of material and so forth.” You're going to have to do some homework, and be prepared for the market to change.

Also, for your own benefit, if you've never looked at terms and conditions of sale in auction catalogs, there’s boilerplate (said Bob, while pointing to all of the fine print in a recent auction catalog.) You have that as a resource. (Figure 1)

Figure 1. The “boilerplate” from a Stanley Gibbons auction catalog. Boilerplate includes the standard terms and conditions for buyers and sellers, offering insight into how the auction house conducts business.

Q. Do you both buy and sell through auction houses?

A. I’m an exhibitor, so I need material. You have to search and look for things. As a buyer, a lot of it goes back to social net­working in the stamp community to find out where material is. People learn that you are interested in something, and they’ll bring it to your attention. Or, you know about something and tell them about it. We network. You have to share information.  On the other side, there’s power in selling, which I do often through different means. 

Q. Let’s talk about selling at auctions.

A. There are two important things about selling in auctions. First, the prospective seller must recognize that moving his material is all going to be dependent on supply and demand. That’s really key for whatever you decide in the direction you want to sell. And then, knowledge is power. [Some] people bring collections to an auctioneer or dealer, and they don’t want to do anything. They just want to be done with it. So they can give it away or they can maximize their return [by doing research and gaining knowledge first]. It depends on what they’re willing to do to learn about what they have and where they can get their best return for it. 

Q. You keep an inventory of your own collections. What does that inventory include other than Scott number, the value, etc.? Does it include information like, “here’s where I got this, for this much money?”

A. I try to list the source, cost and so forth. I try to provide that information. There are a lot of moving parts in consigning to auction, but I keep a file on all my auction purchases and sales. I can’t imagine any of my kids [matching] a file together of auction transactions with what’s in the albums. But the inventory is there for me and for them. Condition, Scott number, acquisition, location, cost and current catalog values… and I try to do that for every album.

Q. What about research of your own material? 

A. I think it's important. The more input that you can provide about your material, it makes it easier for the auction house to describe it.  It will maximize your benefit and maximize their benefit. They get the maximum commission out of it, so it helps buyer and seller.

Q. In theory, you’re the one who knows the most about your collection.

A. You can set yourself up for success. If you can put catalog numbers on it, if you have certificates, especially if they’re graded certificates. I had a real surprise just a couple of weeks ago in selling a graded stamp, and I chose the auction house that seemed to have a specialization in getting high returns on graded material as opposed to just good general material. So that worked out well. I think some houses are seeing a run on high quality, 19th century covers today. Other houses are seeing a really good return on cover collections that are being bought by resellers. Much of it is a moving target.

Q. You talked about looking at prices realized for similar material. What does that research process look like as you're looking at an individual auction house?

A. A lot of it is pretty easy now, thanks to the online Stamp Auction Network (Figure 2). It’s easy to become familiar with searching for material on there. The primary membership is free, so you can look and see which auction houses have catalogs online. You can browse catalogs, you can see what the material has sold for, their openings and then realizations for past sales are listed there. You can do a lot of this research online. 

Figure 2. A screenshot of prices realized presented on the Stamp Auction Network website. Online sources can help potential sellers do their research on today’s market.

Q. We think that empowering our readers to do their own research is really important.

A. You can also call the American Philatelic Research Library and get older auction catalogs and all kinds of information; and most of the catalogs have price realizations. The catalogs are organized by name sale more so than by auction house or subject matter. 

Q. What factors should I consider, when choosing to sell material either by myself, through a dealer or an auction house?

A. You should try to sell it yourself, but that takes the most amount of work, often because you have to find someone who values what you have. But the auction house is going be the easiest outlet. The auction house will do all the work for a valuable collection. They will do that work and they are paid, I think fairly, (typically) with a 20 percent commission fee for breaking down the collection and putting it up for auction.

On the other hand, let me share from a personal point of view. At NY-2016, I was ready to sell my special handling exhibit. It is a very specialized collection. A number of the auction houses that I approached didn’t have much respect for it, because it was 20th century material. They didn’t perceive it as having a whole lot of value. They probably didn’t spend the time to try and understand and they cited it as being too specialized for their kind of auction. 

I took that collection to a private treaty, and I was fortunate to find somebody who paid a collector’s type of price for it, so it worked out very well. So knowledge is power, and not everybody knows everything. Choose what is right for you.

Q. As someone who has sold through auctions, what kind of things in the terms of sale do you look out for to protect yourself as a seller.

A. I look at the boilerplate and if I want to sell in that auction, I sign on. I’ve never been burned. I’ve never had anything returned to me by an auction house saying, “this was not as described.” I think the seller is pretty well protected. As a seller, I’m saying, “I gave it to you in good faith. How you describe it and break it down, that’s up to you.” I think the auction houses, by and large, are pretty responsible in how they represent your material. 

Q. Is there a minimum catalog value that an auction house uses to accept a collection or items?

A. Auction houses have a reputation based on the clientele that they have. If you have really good material, you will want to go to the auction house that’s going to give you the biggest bang for your buck and has the biggest clientele with the deepest pockets. If a firm is recognized as being at that high echelon – listing items that go for the 10’s and 100’s of thousands of dollars – and that is the kind of material you have, that’s where you go.

But there are a whole bunch of houses that are in the middle echelon. Auction houses have their specialties. Do your homework as a seller to find out which auction houses specialize in the material that you have. Some houses specialize in collections.

I think as a minimum, a $500 range is a ballpark that houses want to take, and some of them may have spoken limitations, if not written limitations, on what they expect. If it’s below a certain number though, they will, if it doesn’t sell, likely charge you a fee for representing your material.

Q. Let’s say I have a vast collection of mid-range material, but I have half a dozen items I think are really high quality. Is an auction house likely to want to cherry pick those half dozen items, or will they take the whole collection and try to sell them together?

A. I think the short answer is they’ll take everything and you should expect them to take everything as a condition of not allowing them to cherry-pick your best material. The reality that I’ve seen working with some houses is they will separate crème-de-la-crème material for their specialty high-end auctions. 

You can see that certain houses have specific auctions that target certain high-end materials. They’ll call it their “flagship sale,” their “keynote sale,” their “summer sale.” The lots are limited and they’re all high-ticket items, but they will take other material for their regular sales. This more so applies to the mid-range auction houses.

I would imagine high-end houses are not going to want to take run-of-the-mill material. They may under duress, as part of an opportunity to get the high-end material.

Q. Say I purchased a lot of material over the years from an auction house. Now, I’m ready to sell. Is it best just to go back to that auction house that I bought material from? Or should I go fishing around?

A. If you’re satisfied on the purchase side, there’s no reason not to go back to them and trust them to be a good seller of your material. But if you do some research and find there’s a stronger market for your material from a different auction house, and they do a better job, then sure, try to upgrade and go to a new house with a higher return.

Q. Is it best to take your material to one auction house to start? Is it gauche to try to take your collection to multiple houses at the same time?

A. It depends how far along you are in the process. You can approach any number of folks to try to assess an interest level. I have a collection right now with which I’m trying to work with an individual collector. But if that doesn't work out, I’m ready to go to the individual auction houses and work with them.

Q. What kind of back and forth should you expect with an auction house? Let’s start with email. What’s this actual conversation going to look like, before I finally decide “Yes, I want to work with you”?  What does that very practical back-and-forth look like? 

A. I would say someone approaching an auction house for the first time, especially if it’s by email or remotely, should try to offer as much information as he or she can. Try to describe your material as accurately as possible, as detailed as possible. Assign catalog values as you understand them. The more images you provide, the better it’s going to be. You want to get some kind of dialogue going – and if you’re approaching by email, then follow up with a phone call and try to talk to somebody. Try to get as much information as you can from the auction house before physically sending material. Of course, condition is everything in selling material in your collection, and you have to be honest and upfront with condition as well as your expectations.

[Auction houses] don’t want to play games, they’re just trying to understand what you have and how to work with you.

If you can visit a show where these auction houses are represented... that's the way to do it. I’m fortunate to live close to New York, Baltimore and Washington, where there are major shows, but I also travel the country going to other shows as well. I see representatives from auction houses all the time, and [show them what I want to sell], “I've got this, are you willing to take it on?”

Q. Say there’s a big show with some auctioneers that I want to approach. I can’t take my whole collection. How much material – items and research – should I take to them? How willing are they to deal with me? Any idea of how much time they’re willing to spend with me?

A. That's why they’re there, number one. Number two, the better your collection is, the more time they're willing to go through it.

Q. Well, let's say I don't know how good it is.

A: Say you take your best album, and they can go through it page by page, front to back. They can probably tell in the first 10 pages. They can tell how many zeros they want to put in their notepad with your name next to it.

Q. So for cold calls, your best advice is to go to a show and meet these people in person.

A. Start up that dialogue, and take your best album, take your best envelope, take your best stock sheet. Try to entice them to be interested in seeing more… but the more you can describe in detail as to what the total collection is, the better off you’ll be. But remember, I have to do my own research as a knowledgeable collector to determine what direction it’s going to go.

Q. Is there a rule of thumb? Let’s say, I know I have a catalog value of $20,000 in just stamps. How does the typical auction house consider this?

A. That is the $64,000 question; if you will, the elephant in the room. I think the going range today depends on quality, supply and demand, etc. Knowing that, they’re going to recommend pulling the premium items out. Those items may go for 30 percent to 100 percent of catalog value and multiples of that for graded stamps. Then, 5 percent to 15 percent of catalog for the run-of-the-mill stuff that doesn’t have much of a demand. It’s a mixed bag.

Q. Say I have mostly U.S. material. Does it make sense to just stick with a U.S.-based auction house, or should I even consider contacting a foreign auction house?

A. I’ve had some involvement as a seller representing folks and have actually worked with foreign auction houses that have a U.S. tie-in. But I would try to keep it with a U.S. contact because working directly with an international house gets you involved with shipping material overseas, time lags and getting paid. [Those things] I think are beyond what most U.S. sellers are going to put up with. For my U.S. material, I’d see no reason to go to an international auction house.

Q. Say I have a collection that’s a real mix of material, both U.S. and foreign. Should I split that and try to find a foreign auction house that might look at that material, or do I just strictly stick to a U.S. auction house?

A. With the complexity of shipping and international payments and so forth, I don’t see any reason not to use a U.S. firm. That’s my personal preference and that is not to knock the quality of these international firms.

Q. If, say, I spent $3,000 on this item and it’s from Germany. Should I take that one item to a German auction house?

A. I don’t have a whole lot of first-hand experience with that, but you’re absolutely correct. And the foreign auction house may have agents in the U.S., which makes it easy to work with them. 

Q. How important is it to have recent certificates for your better material?

A. I would say anything over $500 value probably should have a certificate and if it’s over $1,000, there is no question that it would be good to have it certified. Any specific grading is icing on the cake. 

Q. The APS receives complaints from people saying that they think the auction house didn’t live up to its agreement. Individual members have complaints about different auction houses, but it often turns out that the terms of sale were clear. Do you have tips about what people should look for in the terms of sale that might help protect them?

A. Caveat emptor. I think the terms and conditions are going to protect the auction house. You need to read up on those terms and understand them.

I can’t think of any returns that I’ve ever made on an auction acquisition. I’ve been disappointed when I haven’t had the opportunity to inspect material. I’ve been disappointed that I made a mistake, or I made an uninformed purchase, but that’s the cost of doing business. I’ve made some expensive mistakes over the years and bought things that I hoped were better than it turned out to be, but those are my mistakes, and I can’t fault the auction house in their description if it’s pretty clearly defined. 

If they've made a mistake and it’s on a single item, yes, you should be able to return it. A lot of 10 items they probably won’t take back.

And I respect all of that. That’s their terms and conditions, they make the rules, they have provided the platform to you for you to make these decisions on your own. 

Q. Are there perks regarding being familiar with a specific auction house?

A. If you visit an auctioneer before the auction, you can go in and look at box after box after box of material and spend the day doing what you enjoy doing.  It’s like binge-watching a TV show.  It’s entertainment for hours on end and it’s a great benefit and without any bias. 

Q. What are our main points to conclude? 

A. Knowledge is power, particularly as a seller. The more information you can pick up as you’re determining where to go with the sale, and which auction house would work best for you, the better. Talk to others, use what you see in The American Philatelist and the APRL. Find out who specializes in what kind of material. If you’re not willing to do that, don't expect to maximize your return.