Liveauctioneers and Skinner Inc.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Liveauctioneers and Skinner Inc.

   During the past weekend, I noticed that Liveauctioneers had updated their fine website. For those who don't know, Liveauctioneers is a Host site for live auctions around the world. What they do is to present the auctions from many different auctioneers on their site, and of course, the photographs and information pertaining to each item.

   I've used Liveauctioneers as a valuable "stepping stone" from which to search out toy photos from the fine auction houses and auctioneers who have most graciously allowed me the permission to use their fine photos. 

  As I mentioned, on the weekend, Liveauctioneers had updated their website. It's brighter and cleaner than before, and of course still has the millions of photos of past, present, and future auctions. It will take myself some getting used to, but I'm sure, in time I will familiarize myself with this fine site. 

  I had written to Kathryn Gargolinski of Liveauctioneers to ask for permission to use photos from their site. Kathryn helped me out by suggesting that it would be easier to focus on 1 auction house, rather than the 4 whom I had mentioned. And of course, I received her permission.  Kathryn Gargolinski's title is Web Marketing Specialist. That sounds quite awesome, and must require lots of hard work to maintain their site. As well, she most likely has to be able to speak several langauges for the international auction houses located around the world.

Please click this sentence to be redirected to Liveauctioneer's fine website

Please click to be redirected to Skinner Inc.'s fine website

The "Home Page" for Skinner Inc. on Live Auctioneers

There is a description of the auction hose, the location, past auctions, and a contact address

  The above screen capture is a sample from Liveauctioneers.

1. Location

This allows the viewer to select from which country he/she would like to go to. 

As well, the many different companies will be listed.

2. Search for Item

This is where you enter what you are looking for.

3. Auctioneer

All of the auction houses and auctioneers are here. You can select just one, or do your search let's say for France,and then see which French auction houses are listed.

4. The Date

This is where the present and future auction dates are listed.

Some auctions have already been prepared months in advance, and you can actually see listied auctions for the month of June.

The screen  capture above illustrate the following:

1. Live

This is for the current listed auctions, as well as future upcoming auctions

2. Sold

This area allows you to venture back in time. Depending upon the auction house, and how long they've been with Liveauctioneers, you may be able to go back a few years or as far as 10 years!

3. The Search Entry

I entered only the single word "Zeppelin". However, that single word may have not been descriptive enough. In other words, I might get photos, paintings, parts, ticket stubs, and all other items aside from "toys".

The above search was unrestrictive for any specific auctioneer. A a result, 3,833 entries were located. However, as I only have 4 fine auctions houses that so far have allowed me to use their photos, I normally would limit the search to one of the 4 auction houses at a time.

However, it's a good idea of you're interested in a specific item, or are wishing to bid on an item, to allow the search to be non-specific. In this way, you will get to see lots and lots of the same item and be abetter able to judge such criteria as:

1. Past final winning bid prices

2. What parts the actual item should come with -e.g. pull rope, flags, spare tires etc. (for toys)

3. Original colour or repainted  

By narrowing my search just for Skinner Inc., I can now see that Skinner Inc. had sold 18 "zeppelin" items in their past auctions.

A screen capture of the 18 listed "Zeppelin" items that were sold by Skinner Inc.

Although the photos may not present an actual Zeppelin, the written description would.

However, as you can see, my search was too broad - having used only the single word "Zeppelin".

I made a decision to select the first image in the upper left corner
Coincidentally, this selection is similar to what I wrote about yesterday - the A.C.Williams cast iron banks.These banks on the Skinner Inc. website are not identified as to their manufacturer, but they might be A.C. Williams.

Please click to be redirected to Skinner Inc.'s fine website

The enlargement of the particular image

How I have been presenting the images that I find on auction house sites

What I do is:

1.Adjust the exposure, colour-balance, and shadow detail

2.Enhance the focus because I'm presenting small-sized photos

3. Add an "inner glow" in Photoshop to both enhance the image and to remove any background that I didn't isolate through the selection process in Photoshop

4. Add the text:

i. Description

ii. Copyright notification

iii. Watermark of the Auction Houses's name

    I have presented a brief explanation of  these 2 excellent websites. Liverauctioneesr allows the viewer to have an entire library, figuratively speaking of course, at the touch of a computer key. Skinner Inc. then allows the reader to focus in on his or her particular toy. Skinner Auctioneers has an outstanding staff of specialists - all experts in their respective fields. When you read about their auction listings, you can get a well-written and researched short narrative about any particular item. 

   The combination of such marvelous resources as Liveauctioneers and Skinner Inc.have certainly made writing my work of writing this blog much easier. At the same time, I have learned a lot about a topic that until several years ago, I knew very little about. 

   What else could you ask for?

Thanks for dropping by to read,

and as always,

have a great part of the day,

wherever you may be.

Stacey