Question about the Pair of CT-100's at ETM Auction

[Chip Chester]

First visit to ETF, and first auction of old TVs. I was there to get an education on pricing, some repair techniques, etc. So, newbie opinions will abound in the following wall of text:

During the auction, I did see a few bidders go un-noticed, and the bidding on a few items was re-started when overlooked bidders spoke up. But the thing I noticed about a few of those bidders was that they would hold up their hand just shoulder high, with a crowd of people around them, and there was also a crowd around the auctioneer. Pretty much no chance of being seen. Auctions etiquette and strategy aside, if your bid is not being recognized, speak up, man! Or raise your arm higher. Or do the number paddle thing to improve visibility. I know that sometimes one wants to hide their enthusiasm and 'front' a little bit, but it's to no avail if you're both unseen and unheard. This extends even to an auction assistant who apparently was using hand signals to register his bid with the auctioneer, except the assistant was directly behind the auctioneer -- so of course he wasn't noticed. (He also eventually spoke up, so all was good.) I guess the lesson is, if you want to buy it, speak up.

My opinions on pricing are pretty much as an outsider, and pretty limited in their scope. I thought the Predictas were pretty good deals -- apparently nicer sets (cosmetically) at less-than-Craigslist prices. Saw some younger-than-expected folks spending more-than-expected money. No issue with that at all, just a little surprised. Obviously good for the hobby down the road, too.

Can't tell if there's enough 'bandwidth' at the auction event to curate the equipment a bit more... or adjust the order of presentation. I know stuff comes in with descriptions of condition and performance, and some is listed either as 'parts' or condition unknown. Should those items auctioned in separate streams (not simultaneously) instead of either random, or first-in/first-out? (Looked for the auction list and couldn't find it.) Don't know what previous years' silent auction scenario was like. Don't know if there was a hard cutoff time for auction items or not. Also didn't notice how online bids were integrated. I think there's an opportunity to have the internet stream show more detail on the items up for bid, and less of the sea of humanity around them, which would expand the pool of remote viewers. (That video also should be shown by projector there in the room so everyone doesn't need to huddle around the auction item to see detail.) But again, don't know how many online/absentee bidders there were, aside from those who have registered their dissatisfaction -- which they are completely within their rights to do. Like I said, newbie observations.

I do have some ideas about organization of the equipment in that room, but I don't have the time, money and manpower to back it up, so I'll keep my trap shut on that. I have some areas of my own that are in equal disarray; I know how that gets.

Personally, I thought the auctioneer did a fine job. And having someone who actually knows the sets is far, far better than someone who is a typical fast-talkin' auctioneer with no real product knowledge.

Lastly, Steve needs to wear his badge so newbies can tell who he is (I saw it in the bin at the front desk, but not on him). And badges should have a VK nickname listed (or other sites) if the attendee wants to. (I know some people wrote this in themselves.)

I did learn about a few things, and met a few people. And I'll probably make it back next year, too, as schedules permit. And if I've got things wrong, do say so. Comments are welcome.

On edit: There's another 'assumption' that I had about the auction... I had assumed that running sets would be shown in operation, either in auction preview or at time of bid. Electrical logistics and fire code may stand in the way of that, and sellers may prefer not to show that. But I would think, "Set is working, and here you see it working" would be good for some of the higher-end sets. May have been done on the auction preview part of the site -- work didn't allow lots of time to spend on prep for this event.

[fixmeplease]

A lot of antique auctions I go to the auctioneers do not move around. They stay in one spot and just have flatscreens showing what item is being sold. No crowding around the auctioneer or bidders trying to see what is for sale over peoples heads that way. Items have to be numbered and sold in order. whether that would work here I have no idea.

I enjoyed watching the video and thought everyone did as good as they could. I had to really pay attention as I often couldnt see what was being sold but they announced it. I just kept a browser window open with the pics of the tv's being sold so I could look at them if I wanted too, the higher priced ones.

[Steve McVoy]

Matt, I don't appreciate your comments about incompetence at the auction. We allow absentee bidding as a favor to those who can't attend. We are not a professional auction house, we are a group of volunteers who spend many hours organizing and running the convention. If you want to make sure that you get something in the auction, ask a friend to bid for you next time.

[Steve McVoy]

The Rembrant was is relatively poor condition. I think the $300 sale price was just about right. Many of the other sets did go for below market prices. I'm not sure that changing the order of how they were auctioned would have made any difference.

[benman94]

Originally Posted by Steve McVoy

The Rembrant was is relatively poor condition. I think the $300 sale price was just about right. Many of the other sets did go for below market prices. I'm not sure that changing the order of how they were auctioned would have made any difference.

I wouldn't be so quick to simply dismiss the effect of the order as it is impossible to know one way or another after the fact what effect it may have had.

I'm not just making this up as I go. See these papers that examine empirical evidence to draw the exact same conclusions I've drawn based solely on intuition:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1...saBhlIqw_eNiMR

http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstrea...iNZhvdRyCSlttX

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc...vae5ciFbuUQkCn

In particular, the third link is most applicable to the situation at the ETF. The public value of the set is unknown, and more than likely indeterminate, and the private value predominates.

Take it or leave it; it doesn't bother me, not my show to run. I still think that it is a simple change that could benefit the museum, however.

[Kamakiri]

I somehow get the feeling that some are probably a lot more worried that auction prices are going to de-value their *own* collections and set the mark of the value of sets that they already own and may want to sell.....

I don't recall any buyers complaining....and for a lot of sellers it's just about clearing out the back room, so to speak.

Ben, if you've got a better idea you might want to volunteer for next year's event. I'm not meaning that as a dig, far from it.....there are a group of us that do set restoration en masse that are discussing a major repair effort for sets at the Museum at some time this year.

[Steve McVoy]

I second that. We could use your help, Ben.

[tubesrule]

I think everyone needs to realize what goes into putting this show on. Everyone working the show volunteers to do this and spends days helping out before the show. While a "simple" change may or may not have an impact on the outcome, there are few changes that would be simple.

In the weeks leading up to the auction, Larry spends days starting to get the ETF's sets out and stacked into rows. This year when we arrived a few days before the auction, we spent an entire day taking pallets out of the semi-trailer and putting ETF stuff that was in the auction area back into the trailer. The next day was spent shuffling things around a bit but mostly getting the bid sheets in order and handling new stuff as it arrived. That lasted until 10PM Friday night. This is only partially what goes on to get ready.

The two main comments I've seen here are people not getting recognized by Dave and set ordering.

To the first one, each one of us on auction day has a job to do, and we try to help Dave out by spotting bidders. There was a comment about how other auction houses handle this, and I also have been to many top tier auctions. In them they have bidders assistants spread out through the crowd to latch on to bidders and make sure the auctioneer gets their bids, usually by literally screaming. We don't have this and never will. It is the bidders job to make Dave aware of their bid. Moving your hand slowly to shoulder height in a sea of people isn't going to do it. Loudly calling out your bid and making sure you get acknowledged is your job as a bidder. If you didn't get recognized, you didn't do your job.

On set ordering, perhaps some of the people who thought the order was inappropriate could volunteer to come down on Thursday next year and give us a hand moving literally thousands of pounds of tv's. We can use the help!

There are certainly things we can change after our first year with this new format and welcome positive discussion. We have already discussed having a projector at the front and carrying a camera around as the auction progresses so no one has to leave their seat. (in theory) Keeping everyone seated would go a long way to making sure bidders are recognized, that is if EVERYONE follows this and doesn't stand up. In the end, we need more willing bodies to do lots of grunt work if we are to make any major changes.

[benman94]

Originally Posted by tubesrule

On set ordering, perhaps some of the people who thought the order was inappropriate could volunteer to come down on Thursday next year and give us a hand moving literally thousands of pounds of tv's. We can use the help!

I sent an email regarding my willingness to volunteer well in advance of the convention. I don't recall seeing a response to it, though I will admit it is possible that one was sent and I missed it. I have to weed through ~100 to 150 emails a day; things get overlooked.

If my comment offended anyone I sincerely apologize. It wasn't my intent to be glib, and I certainly could have worded it better. Calling the order "moronic" was harsh. I have a tendency to say stupid shit without thinking. I seem to succeed in life in spite of it, certainly not because of it.

As it is, I did help unload Bob Dobush's truck when he brought in all of Jim Cozart's stuff, so I can appreciate the effort involved in moving everything. Especially the projection sets and DuMonts. I would jump at the chance to come down early next year and move stuff.

Regarding the simplicity of auctioning the expensive items first, I don't see how it would have been any harder than having Dave start up front, but if there is more to it than that then again, I apologize. The big ticket stuff was already more or less grouped together up front, thus my confusion regarding the order.

[WISCOJIM]

I don't want to pick on Bob Dobush, I've considered him a friend for many years, and he is very valuable to Steve, the museum, and our hobby.

But we sure could use the space he uses for storage in the auction room so that there would be room for everyone to sit down and stay out of the way. We all know the room is too small, perhaps now we'll finally all realize that it's time to do something about it.

.

[Kamakiri]

Originally Posted by benman94

As it is, I did help unload Bob Dobush's truck when he brought in all of Jim Cozart's stuff, so I can appreciate the effort involved in moving everything. Especially the projection sets and DuMonts. I would jump at the chance to come down early next year and move stuff.

I think I moved every set in the whole museum *but* those. I think I was running around doing something with the media for the presentations when those were being offloaded.

Funny thing....when I was loading my own stuff everyone seemed to scatter. Not on purpose I'm sure. The only person who came over and offered a hand was Julian Burke. Spent quite a bit of time with him at the convention and I'm glad I did......he's a hell of a nice guy

[etype2]

Photos are up. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jsw681...57666687171147

[etype2]

I learned about the ETF through my friend Jerome in 2010. I’m in the Phoenix area and getting up there in age. I get severe pains in my chest from being doubled up in the cramped airline seats, so I don’t go to the convention. I’ve watched the stream every year and have a few suggestions about the auction.

1. Get a wi-fi extender to improve the signal. They are cheap. Lots of buffering and drop outs.

2. Definitely agree that everyone should be seated once the auction starts. It seems that most folks have ample time to inspect the sets they are interested in prior to auction start. Standing up and following the auctioneer blocks the view for everybody.

3. The camera operator should be able to pan, scan and zoom without obstruction.

Reading the “behind the scenes” preparation on this thread was informative and sounds like controlled chaos. I saw the auctioneer was rushed to maintain the timeline of the Saturday schedule with so many items to be auctioned off.

I think everyone did a great job this year as always. Remember it’s all volunteer work.

I’m so sorry I can’t be there, maybe one year I will. I do what I can in my own way to help the museum and our hobby.

[Electronic M]

Good news and more towards the original topic. The green gun was FAR from dead, but WAS deep asleep and tested very weak initially. The green gun has woken up to be the strongest so far centered in the good range. Red is close to green. Blue is at the lower end of good. Edit: Blue woke up more.

This is shaping up to be a good 15GP22 CRT!

[Electronic M]

Here are my buys L-R T-B : Motorola mask+knobs (better ones than on my set), Silvertone roundy, Alignment sweep gen, Duo-view projector NIB, Zenith porthole, 23" Zenith table set, 21FBP22, CT-100, Dumont color monitor, and the corner of Project 'M' (which will remain secret till the time is right).

The CT-100 has sound and video, but the video is weird. Luminance if present appears negative, contrast can extinguish the raster but not affect it much otherwise, if the color is turned to minimum raster extinguishes...Based on that I think the luminance stages are not operating. Cabinet and screen pictures are from before I woke the sleeping CRT.
I built a working video injection amplifier for my 21CT55; if time allows I hope to connect it to the CT-100 tonight to better diagnose the video stages. With luck, I'll be "off to see the wizard".