Due to a changing wine palate, I’m looking to consign for sale most all of my Bdx and Rhone collection plus a few nice CA cultish cabs. Not a huge number but roughly 150-200 very nice bottles from 2000-2007 vintages. I’m leaning towards Chicago for the ease and economics of transporting the wine.
I have quotes and appraisals from Hart Davis Hart and Flickingers. HDH commission is much higher (25% vs 15%) but I realize that’s only part of the equation. I obviously want top dollar and don’t mind paying higher fees if they can deliver a higher net return.
Does anyone have any experince with either? Any opinions as to which is the better option?
Flickinger is a first rate operation run by two first rate guys, no question in my mind based on years of buying and selling with them. I would higly recommend them - they know the market and have good instincts for pricing - they have good back office and excellent warehouse guys as well. While I have very high regard for HDH, I find it very hard to imagine that they could yield such higher sales prices not only to make up for the commission spread but the likely longer selling period given the higher prices they would have to charge to make up the spread.
Reach out to Marc Lazar and Christopher Klingenstein. Marc owns domaine wine storage and Chris is the GM of the Chicago center. They sent some of my Bordeaux to the Acker auction and I’m quite happy.
Edward Roberts was just bought out by Acker Merrall.
I’d love to throw my hat into the ring. We are a new department, but Heritage Auctions is the world’s third largest auction house. Our results so far have been very impressive. We have the best website in the business. We also do not charge anything to sellers - no commissions, no insurance, no fees. Your only cost would be to get the wines to our North Hollywood, CA warehouse. We have lots of options for that and can assist you with boxes and shipping.
Please feel free to send me a list and I’ll be happy to get you some estimates.
Cheers,
Poppy Davis
Associate Director, Fine & Rare Wine
Heritage Auctions PoppyD@HA.com wine.ha.com
Yes, I know. Edward has a multi-year contract to run the Acker Midwest operation, for which his auction company is the foundation. The acquisition will allow even greater exposure to the auctions done by Edward, making them the largest wine auction firm in Chicago by a long shot. I think this is what the OP was looking for.
Thanks to all for your input. I’m leaning towards a consignment because my holdings are in lots of 3 or less for the most part and fairly young vintages. It doesn’t sound like the type of offering that performs well at auction (i.e. older vintages and premiums for OWC lots).
The reason for not offering to the board members is the wine is in Oklahoma and I’m not legally able to ship to others.
You might want to check with The Chicago Wine Company as well. I’ve never consigned any holdings, but have dealt with TCWC, HDH & Flickinger’s on the buy-side, and have never had an issue. All were very easy to deal with.
Yes Ed runs a very very high quality service, if you rate service by; Not selling your wine, late pays outs, bounced checks and horrible customer service by all means I would suggest having Ed do you.
i hope the new Acker Merrall acquisition will fix these problems only time will tell.
That’s their basic rate. They charge 15% for larger consignments with over $10,000 total reserve, and less for even higher categories (> $50,000, > $100,000, etc). I don’t know the exact numbers for the higher reserve consignments, as I’ve only had a few smaller consignments with them.
Whenever possible, suggest going the Auction route that only charges a fee on either the seller or the buyer, but not both. If an auction house is charging the seller 15% to 18%, and the buyer 15% to 21%, larger institutional buyers clearly factor the fees into their purchase decision, including their necessary markup. Starts to make folks like Heritage Auction (0% seller fee) and The Chicago Wine Company (0% buyer fee) more attractive. Would never rule out the option of a direct cash sale to a local retailer/broker. Give several a call and ask for a consignment vs direct cash option perhaps.
I have to put in a positive word for Edward Brooks and Acker. I’m sorry that Larry may have had a bad experience but I’ve known Ed a long time and he’s a very high quality honest guy with a loyal customer base. His new partnership with Acker will be great. They’d be a great option for consigning your collection.
I recently consigned a lot of wine to flickinger, and have been a buyer from them for a number of years. very happy with the transaction and the company in general. I agree with your thoughts on auction vs. consignment - I found i did quite well relative to what my auction expectations were on smaller lots and the non-1st growths I consigned.