Amati auction..some interesting items

[sftokyo2016]

Hello all,

 

Just wondering if anyone out there is eyeing the current Amati.com auction listings.

I am a complete novice but have seen a few nice bows and violins. Any opinions/thoughts on the following lots.

I haven’t been able to attend the viewings so going on my gut instincts. 

Lot. 73 I really like the look of this bow and the low reserve suggests it will hit a bidding frenzy? My hunch is it’s a nice JTL bow. Slight warping can be straightened so not an issue. I think it will reach about 1,200 euros (my guess) Frog looks nice and flush. good condition. Lovely head in my opinion. Wood looks to be good quality from my eyes. 

Lot. 71 Lovely looking Hill bow. Clean repair to back of head. So for a player it will be a good value. Good Broken bows are still sought after so I think this will get a good price. I have a repaired Lamy pere that I bought on the cheap and works a treat.

Lot 65, 66 two nice childrens violins. I think both will have a good tone. Bargain price for my students if I can win either of these. Problem is they sell for much higher in Japan so I will be up against the big guns. 

Lot 9. Betts violin looks nice although not sure of the starting price.

 

This is just my humble beginners eye opinion. Any experts please feel free to offer pearls of wisdom. 

Thanks,

 

 

[jamesbuchanan]

Evening sftokyo2016,

Looks like you spotted a few bargains - I hope you had some fun if you were bidding. Can't really comment as the auction is still going, but good work and thanks for mentioning us and if you ever do make it to one of our viewings grab me and say 'hello'.

Best wishes,

James

(P.S. The Betts was / is completely delicious)

 

[keyboardclass]

The Hill bows seem to have gone for what I would say was retail.  Shame, there was one I wanted!

[sftokyo2016]

6 hours ago, jamesbuchanan said:

Evening sftokyo2016,

Looks like you spotted a few bargains - I hope you had some fun if you were bidding. Can't really comment as the auction is still going, but good work and thanks for mentioning us and if you ever do make it to one of our viewings grab me and say 'hello'.

Best wishes,

James

(P.S. The Betts was / is completely delicious)

 

Hi James,

Thanks!. The Auction was fun to watch. I was (as expected) outbid on the French 3/4 size but no worries. It was a good first time experience. 

I was very happy to see my predictions go well. The Lot 73 bow held up well. This type of 'possibly JTL' bow can sell for ¥500,000Yen retail in Japan . I did put a bid in on that too but quite early on.

Typical JTL french 3/4 size like Lot 65 normally sells for about ¥170,000 - ¥200,000 over here too. 

I have to say I really like the Amati website. Very easy to navigate and super clear photos.. The 360 viewing app , while not always working for every violin listed, is a fantastic feature. 

Super fast replies from your staff too.

Will be sure to say hello in person if I make one of the viewings in London. 

Just wondering what is the latest acceptable bid time on a lot when bidding online. My friend tried to bid within the last minute but his bid wasn’t accepted. I think he clicked with just 30 secs to go (against my advice I might add). Is that too short notice. Should one bid 5 mins at the very latest? 

Anyway, look forward to the next auction. Thanks

 

[deans]

20 hours ago, keyboardclass said:

The Hill bows seem to have gone for what I would say was retail.  Shame, there was one I wanted!

Hill bows seem to be one of the things that players/individuals are more comfortable buying at auction, hard to get a deal. 

[keyboardclass]

Yeh but estimate £800 to £1000 and I had to stop looking at £1500 Money in the bank they may be but I wanted to keep some cash

[jamesbuchanan]

19 hours ago, sftokyo2016 said:

Hi James,

Thanks!. The Auction was fun to watch. I was (as expected) outbid on the French 3/4 size but no worries. It was a good first time experience. 

I was very happy to see my predictions go well. The Lot 73 bow held up well. This type of 'possibly JTL' bow can sell for ¥500,000Yen retail in Japan . I did put a bid in on that too but quite early on.

Typical JTL french 3/4 size like Lot 65 normally sells for about ¥170,000 - ¥200,000 over here too. 

I have to say I really like the Amati website. Very easy to navigate and super clear photos.. The 360 viewing app , while not always working for every violin listed, is a fantastic feature. 

Super fast replies from your staff too.

Will be sure to say hello in person if I make one of the viewings in London. 

Just wondering what is the latest acceptable bid time on a lot when bidding online. My friend tried to bid within the last minute but his bid wasn’t accepted. I think he clicked with just 30 secs to go (against my advice I might add). Is that too short notice. Should one bid 5 mins at the very latest? 

Anyway, look forward to the next auction. Thanks

 

Hmmmm. That's a horrible question about last minute bidding as - genuinely - I don't know the answer. I will check with the techies. My suspicion is that there are a few variables i.e. computer speed, internet speed, server response etc. which would make bidding in the last 30 seconds a brave call. One of the ironies of the system is that we (as in the office) don't experience it from the user side, and I think there would be a lot of benefit for us to get a test auction up one day and just sit down with some guinea pigs and talk through the user-experience.

I will chat it through with our techies, but we are making some big changes over the next three months to a whole host of issues (i.e. how do we market our cheap sales without completely devaluing our brand) and UX is going to be a very big part of it.

Returning to the 'when to bid' question. You have to be able to trust the auction house you are leaving a bid with. If you think that there is a possibility that the auction house will bid you up to your maximum then you will want to leave it until the last minute or two.

Amati take the Caesar's wife approach and not only prevent me from seeing the bids coming in, but also boot me out of the office during the auction day itself, just so clients feel a bit more re-assured.

The next auction is in February but is online only (one of our no reserve sales), but hope to see you in March!

There are a million things that we can improve at Amati and feedback is priceless, so thank you.

Best wishes - James

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GeorgeH]

Does Amati publish their auction results? I could not find them on the website.

[______]

1 hour ago, GeorgeH said:

Does Amati publish their auction results? I could not find them on the website.

Not really, never seen such a results list. If you want to see the final price you must register first and then put each lot that you're interested with into your Auction Watchlist. Once added it will be seen after closing. That's the only way.

[sftokyo2016]

38 minutes ago, ______ said:

Not really, never seen such a results list. If you want to see the final price you must register first and then put each lot that you're interested with into your Auction Watchlist. Once added it will be seen after closing. That's the only way.

Hi there,

Yes, you need to register first then add each Lot item on your watchlist. Then watch your email inbox explode with all the bid updates..

 

[GeorgeH]

1 hour ago, ______ said:

Not really, never seen such a results list. If you want to see the final price you must register first and then put each lot that you're interested with into your Auction Watchlist. Once added it will be seen after closing. That's the only way.

Wow, that seems to be a pretty good way to minimize repeat visits to the Amati website, and to make it a far less interesting and useful website than other auction sites.

[jamesbuchanan]

1 hour ago, GeorgeH said:

Wow, that seems to be a pretty good way to minimize repeat visits to the Amati website, and to make it a far less interesting and useful website than other auction sites.

Dear GeorgeH,

If the main purpose of looking at the site is to find out what prices instruments have sold for, then yes, we are probably not the auction website for you.

We would love to be able to publicise some of the prices we have realised, but a great number of our buyers would prefer to bid knowing that the instrument they might end up getting has the smallest possible public history. To remain discrete was a decision we made about four years ago, one that brings an inevitable cost in traffic, but one we don't regret.

Best wishes,

James

 

[GeorgeH]

6 minutes ago, jamesbuchanan said:

To remain discrete was a decision we made about four years ago, one that brings an inevitable cost in traffic, but one we don't regret.

OK, thanks for the explanation. Not that I personally like the policy ,it does makes strategic sense for what you're trying to do.

[jamesbuchanan]

2 minutes ago, GeorgeH said:

OK, thanks for the explanation. Not that I personally like the policy ,it does makes strategic sense for what you're trying to do.

No problem, you aren't the first to ask!

[GeorgeH]

Perhaps it would be useful to make this policy clear someplace on your website that is easy for potential buyers and sellers to find.

[jamesbuchanan]

We should. We are in the process of a re-design, and I shall shove it on the Board of Genius in my office.

I have been in this business for too long and take too many things for granted.

[______]

I want to defend James. It is not a bad policy. Look at Bromptons, last aucton took place in December 2016, and correct me if I`m wrong but first time since I remember they turned all the prices private immediately.

It isn`t big effort to stay in touch with lots using method I wrote about.

Regards

[GeorgeH]

I wasn't being critical of the policy; it makes sense for the strategy that they are using for their buyers and sellers.

I think that they might want to state on their website in an easy-to-find-page that they do not archive their sales on-line to maintain the privacy of the buyers and sellers, particularly because that is an important and deliberate of their business strategy.

And, yes, I see what you mean about Bromptons. Too bad, I think.

[jamesbuchanan]

20 hours ago, ______ said:

I want to defend James. It is not a bad policy. Look at Bromptons, last aucton took place in December 2016, and correct me if I`m wrong but first time since I remember they turned all the prices private immediately.

It isn`t big effort to stay in touch with lots using method I wrote about.

Regards

Interesting to see that Brompton's are following. *cough*

One thing I am getting out of these posts is that you seem to be bombarded with too many (?) emails during the bidding process. I will chat to some people about how to minimise notifications. If you have any suggestions please let me know (DM me if you feel more comfortable). Also a bit surprised to see that not all the instruments spin 360. They should. Any idea on which OS and browser this is the case on?

Best wishes (and thank you for being so open)

[sftokyo2016]

I actually quite prefer this discrete policy of only knowing the final winning bid of each Lot through the watchlist.

James, thank you for taking on board our comments. I actually have a few more suggestions and points to raise so will DM you.

Thanks,

 

 

 

[antero]

Having bid and bought several ( a dozen?) items on Amati I agree with the present policy of the final results disseminating for public.

However, buyers'  personal history might remain under password (?) available. If I forget to save the objects of my ineterest or even purchase - they are very soon gone forever...

[jamesbuchanan]

7 minutes ago, antero said:

Having bid and bought several ( a dozen?) items on Amati I agree with the present policy of the final results disseminating for public.

However, buyers'  personal history might remain under password (?) available. If I forget to save the objects of my ineterest or even purchase - they are very soon gone forever...

Brilliant idea. Not sure how easy to do. Will forward over to the techies.

I agree it is quite nice to know whether the 'eye' is in tune with the market. It's always fascinating for me to see whether the things I think will fly end up doing so. There might be a nice little function we can drop in, although it will take a bit of thinking through.