Reserves Taking the "Auction" Out of Auctions

The doorbell rang. "I hear you have an interest in American stoneware?" the gentlemen asked. "Bought a piece or two in my day," I replied. The man smiled. He had found the person he was going to do business with, he clearly thought. Through his Suburban window I noticed big square boxes piled up like pumpkins in a pumpkin patch. Hope there are some winners in those boxes, I said to myself. I too, envisioned a happy transaction.

American stoneware is collected for its folk art appeal. The decidedly most important factor toward determining value is the type of decoration applied to a particular piece. Generally, stoneware art is whimsical compared to academic. Before the final process of glazing and kiln "firing" or baking, itinerant factory artisans most commonly applied their design by painting pictures of fauna, animals, etc with cobalt blue "slip" and by scratching in "incise" design work while the clay was still soft. Stoneware prices are also influenced by: form, age, maker and condition.

Philadelphia Huguenot, Anthony Duche, who probably introduced the "hard" pottery into this country around 1720, concentrated on chamber pots. Stoneware jugs and crocks, numerous in every household for most of the 19th century, were for storing pickled vegetables, beer, vinegar, and other such foods. Stoneware is non-porous. It does not react to acids, as lead glazed redware does, occasionally causing lead poisoning. Stoneware's thick walls make for good insulation. Mold-formed stoneware with flat sides was introduced in 1828. Until then, most stoneware was shaped on a potter's wheel. Generally, older stoneware is more ovoid in form than later pieces. After shaping, the pot was dried, stamped by maker, decorated (early-on by incising, later by painting on cobalt oxide), and then fired in a kiln, at temperatures exceeding 2,000° F, for almost a week. Rock Salt was commonly tossed into the kiln on the second day of firing, to glaze the batch. Would-be collectors should note that the salt glazing step always takes place after decoration, if any, is made. Therefore, any stoneware piece with washable blue or incise scratching through the glaze is highly suspect.

The first piece shown to me was a late 18th century cobalt decorated stoneware jar made by Jonathon Fenton in Boston, Massachusetts. It was ovoid in form with a raised rim. It had desirable open loop handles and was decorated with an incised bird on both the front and backsides.

"It's a super piece," I said to myself. As a means of objectivity, I normally try to visualize the highest price I would pay for an antique before looking at auction estimates or beginning the bartering process with dealers or pickers. I figured the jar to be worth around $8000. Possibly $10,000 if a few rich folks got carried away at auction. I was prepared to happily pay $6500. "How much?" I asked.

"Twenty-thousand dollars," was the answer. The guy could have done less damage to my senses if he whacked me over the head with a Griswold skillet. Never in my wide experiences handling Boston stoneware had I ever seen a piece of comparable quality priced at such a level. I as much as said that to the collector, "letting go" of a few of his prized pieces. Then, he showed me how he arrived at his price. A color auction catalog for an upcoming fall sale was produced. In the catalog, the top gallery pictured a comparable crock, with double-sided incised fish & flower decoration. The vessel was comparable in rarity and interest as the one being offered privately to me with two birds. The auctioneer's estimate: $40,000-$60,000." What a crock!

Auction houses have always had some built in competitive advantages over antique dealers in both buying and selling antiques. The built in "disadvantage" of selling at auction is the fact that competition is the final determinant of value. For the seller, flat bidding levels are the downside risk. Now, in certain cases, competition-driven auction houses have erased even that condition. New world record price levels for antique crocks, clocks, etc., are seemingly being established before a single hand goes up in the air. I tried to explain my position to the seller. He would have none of it. "This is a top auction company!" he said. "If they didn't think their crock was worth $50,000, they wouldn't have estimated it at those levels, right?"

Wrong. No point in me trying to explain myself, though. Finally, I suggested to the gentleman that he take his bird decorated to stoneware vessel to that same optimistic auctioneer or another big gallery. I had been taken out of the picture by a catalog and estimate. And as far as my auction company is concerned, well, I still believe the bidders should have some say in what something eventually sells for. High auction estimates and hidden reserves are a growing problem for novices interested in purchasing antiques at auction. No longer can you be assured of paying a fair "market" value when bidding.

In many cases, the same situation is taking place today on eBay. A dealer or homeowner can put any starting price or reserve on anything they sell for only a tiny premium. If unwary bidders don't jump in and begin bidding at top market value, the seller loses nothing-they simply retain their piece and try again. Big upside potential with no downside risk--it's a bad situation. A few years ago, the government fined and jailed dealers for "pooling" at auctions. Their argument was that it restricted free trade. I think it only fair, if the Fed is going to meddle, they do so on both sides of the playing field. Making the field fair for both dealers (having to compete for goods with auction houses) and customers not privy to the ever-growing tricky side of the business.

Last August, the stoneware crock with flower and fish design did come up for auction. Thankfully, no one was hooked. It, as the industry saying goes, "didn't sell." The bird crock also came up for auction recently at another major house--one I suggested. I don't believe it sold either. I bid it up to around $6000 and it went, not to other bidders in the room but "to the table." I'm not sure $10,000 would have purchased that crock either. If you are buying valuable antiques at auction, under the assurance that you are bidding in a market-determined price environment against "fair" competition, make sure that you are. Look for estate fresh antiques that are being sold without reserve or conservative starting prices. As an owner of an auction business, I say, its time we all speak up. Let's make auctions, auctions again.