Re: What price for a stereo viewer w/cards

[P3D Ken Hamilton <khamilto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Charles A Miller  <oravaxcm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> asked:

>I'll be going to an auction soon and there is supposed to be a stereo
>viewer with cards as one of the items. What would be a "good" bid for such
>an item? This doesn't look like an antique auction (and its not in any
>special auction hall or anything), so I doubt its going to be getting any
>obscenely high bids.

It's really hard to say.  Some of the most desirable stuff emerges from
estate auctions, and most antique dealers in your area will probably
want to come by to at least check things out.

Unless the viewer is a table-top model, it shouldn't contribute more than 
$30-40 to the total price.  The real value usually comes from the views.
However, in at least 75% of the cases I've encountered, the views have
had low value: lithos, dirty, damaged, faded, generic turn-of-the-century
subjects, "copy" views, etc.  Worth a look-through, no doubt.  Sometimes
a few rare gems can be found in a sea of dreck.  On some occasions, the
bland description "stereo viewer with cards" can surprise you with a
fat pile of very desirable stereos.  All it takes is two determined
bidders to take such a lot into stratospheric levels.  (And don't
forget that 10% buyers premium + sales tax.)

You will probably be bidding against generalist antique dealers unless
there is other photographica like dags, Civil War cdv's, etc. which may
pull in a specialist dealer or two.  If you are bidding against generalists,
you have an advantage if you know market values.  If you have two photographica 
dealers in the room, the best strategy might be to stay out of it, and talk 
to the winner afterwards if you're interested in particular items.

One warning: if a large lot contains a few very desirable views, I would
keep an eye out during the preview and check once again just as the preview 
closes.  Despite the presence of auction staff, small items have been known
to "disappear" into the crowd during previews.  Even then, you have to be 
aware.  Once, I won a nice lot of stereos, and found that the three most
desirable views, which I knew were there at the close of the preview, were 
missing when the runner delivered the lot to me!  I immediately went to the
recorder's table to complain.  Turned out that the runner filched them on 
the way to dias.  Luckily, someone at the recorder's table was aware of
what happened, and I was able to retrieve my views.

Good luck.  I hope you find some (inexpensive) treasure.

Ken H.


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