Monday, August 02, 2010

Scott Coots of Rochester, New York sends along his assessment of this past weekend’s auction at Early’s.

I just returned from the Early Summer Glass Auction in Cincinnati. I thought that I would pass along my observations and try to see what people think is going on in the market.

You may recall that the spring auction had between 150-200 Steuben items and the results were somewhat soft. Were they soft due to the general state of the economy, or did this quantity of pieces saturate the market leading to low prices? The spring auction seemed to have a decent amount of collectors and dealers in attendance to be able to bid on these pieces.

The summer auction held this past weekend had approximately half the number of Steuben items as offered in the spring. I think that this was done to possibly offset the perceived saturation of the spring auction. Once again, prices were extremely soft. Steuben was grouped into two groupings on the second day of the auction. Only 7 out of 35 items from the first group exceeded the minimum estimate, with a few pieces actually selling at $100.00 or less. The second group, near the end of the auction, was so soft, with many items passed, that the Earlys passed the last dozen Steuben items without offering them. There was simply no interest!

Did the decreased number of Steuben items keep people away from the auction (not many Steuben collectors in attendance!)? Is the economy that bad? Is the bottom falling out of the low to mid-range priced Steuben pieces?

I would love to hear what other people think is going on. As a buyer, it is exciting to be able to buy at drastically reduced prices. When I become more reflective, I have to ask what is going to happen when/if I prepare to sell.

T. Scott Coots
Rochester, NY

Any opinions expressed by participants to the Gazette are the opinions of the authors and are not endorsed by or the opinions of the Carder Steuben Club