Adventures at the Auction: The Ultimate Guide to Buying and Selling at Auction -- In Person and Online (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Enamored of antiques but daunted by the high-flown bustle of auctions? Avoid no more: expert Leslie Hindman provides her TV audience with a hard copy of her sound, friendly advice. In Adventures at the Auction: The Ultimate Guide to Buying and Selling at Auction--in Person and Online, amateur collectors and new homeowners alike will find invaluable support ranging from tips on basic protocol at various venues, to concrete answers--including the 10 criteria for gauging worth and the top 10 auction bargains. Be it eBay or Sotheby's, readers will gain the know-how to approach auctions with confidence. 5-city author tour.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This book, by the popular television host of At the Auction with Leslie Hindman , tells readers pretty much everything they need to know about auctions. We learn how to decide which auctions to attend; how to determine an object's value; how to sell goods at auction; and many, many other essentials. Unlike some similar books, this one devotes plenty of space to the fast-growing business of Internet auctioneering (the author is founder and CEO of an auction-related Internet site). The author addresses many misconceptions about the auction game (Do you need to be an expert to attend an auction? No); discusses the five most common mistakes auction buyers make; and describes the various kinds of objects available at auction. Although the author's chipper writing style may get on some readers' nerves (she loves exclamation marks!), her expertise is invaluable. This is a book not just for fans of Hindman's television series but for anyone interested in antiques and auctions. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; 1st edition (February 13, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609607111
• ISBN-13: 978-0609607114
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,550,137 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As good as the HGTV show maybe better, June 11, 2001

By	MotherLodeBeth "MotherLodeBeth" (Sierras of California) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

While I watch little television I do admit I like "At The Auction" on HGTV (House and Garden T V) with the author of this book Leslie Hindman.. The book is just shy 250 pages and has Chapters about:

Starting Out: Types of auctions the top 10 auction bargains common myths and misperceptions Five auction blunders and how to avoid them and the 10 criteria for determining value of an item. i.e. "I can't afford auctions", "You have to be a real expert to buy" " I can always change my mind if I find something wrong with the item".

Getting Ready: Why people buy at an auction The presale exhibition "As Is" and what this really means and Scoping out the Exhibition

Buying at the Auction: Setting the scene and Bidding. Am I the only one who couldn't afford to bid on even lint at Jackie O's auction?

Selling at the Auction: Where does the stuff come from and Choosing an auction house.

Collecting: which deals with an introduction to collecting everything from Books Ceramics, Dolls, Fine Arts, Furniture, Glass (American cut, Carnival, Crackle, Depression, Mercury, Milk Ruby etc) And no milk glass is not the same as milk in a glass.

Jewelry (no my cubic ziconia thingie wasn't listed) , Metalwork, Quilts (ours get used so they will never be collectors items), Oriental rugs, Silver, Timepieces (nope my trusty TIMEX wasn't listed) etc.

Then the Glossary of terms and even Internet auction information and abbreviations and then a listing of U S auction houses. WOW did you know that Hyden Idaho has an auction house? No auction houses in Nowhere Nevada.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't Live Up To It's Title, February 2, 2002

By	Dave Menconi "davemenc" (Milpitas, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Adventures at the Auction: The Ultimate Guide to Buying and Selling at Auction -- In Person and Online (Paperback)

The title of this book claims that 4 subjects will be covered: Buying at live auction, selling at live auction, buying online and selling online. Personally, I was hoping that the author, a real expert in selling things at auction, would share some tricks of the trade and tell me some things about selling that I don't already know.

Unfortuneately, the only subject she really covers adequately is buying at live auction (and she does an excellent job at it). Her comments about selling at live auction boil down to how to pick an auction house. You can find much more than she tells you about buying online in the Ebay help pages. And she says even less on selling online.

It's too bad! She could probably give us Ebay sellers some really good advice about how to present our articles and how to put together and split up lots to maximize appeal. She knows how to do these things and she writes very well. I get the feeling that she wanted to do a book that encouraged people to attend auctions (she founded a big auction house in the MidWest so she would be interested in that) but her publisher wanted to do the Ultimate Guide.

She won the argument -- and we all lost out!

Good for someone who wants to attend live auctions; practically useless otherwise!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fair Warning!, March 13, 2001

By	D. Mckinzie (Atoka, OK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Anyone who has watched Leslie Hindman on the "Appraisal Fair" or "At The Auction" television shows knows that she's got to be fun, informative and professional. This book blends a good overall coverage of the auction world, many amusing anecdotes and a considerable amount of very helpful tips to the novice auction-goer. She covers both live auctions and on-line with a lot of really solid advice, but she keeps her sense of humor. If you like watching Leslie's television shows, you've got to get this book. It makes you want to meet her and ask all those pesky antique and auction questions you have--until you find out she answered most of them in the book!