Official book collectors thread

I expect that everyone on their mailing list will receive notice.

 

Best thing is to register for their newsletter. Then you get previews and an alert, once the auction starts:
https://www.automobilia-ladenburg.de/site/en/pages/newsletter.html

And don't be afraid: They won't spam you.

 

Thank you!

 

Times are changing - and not for the best. I am really disappointed about my recent experience with Automobilia Ladenburg. I sold 20 items at their auction in May, and for 19 of them they charged - as agreed - 23.8 per cent seller's premium (the other one 19.04 per cent). So, I paid several hundred euros in fees. But while it had been agreed that in turn I would get my money for the sales after 10 weeks, I had to remind them after almost 12 weeks for the money. By the way: The time before, for the February auction, they just completely forgot to send the money!

Two of my items were not sold in May and Ladenburg now offered me to put them on auction again for a reduced limit. I agreed. But today, I received a mail that they couldn't do that, because the sale of just two items from me would not cover their costs (although they charge 19.04 / 23.8 per cent from the seller and 19.04 per cent from the buyer!). So, they turned down their own (!) original offer, even as I just paid several hundred euros in fees. What their expense is I don't see, because they have prepared already the lot descriptions for the last auction and could have reactivated them!

Thus, I think, next time I will turn to someone else to sell items.

 

They do? If so, it's definitely something new that I have not yet heard anything about. Sounds like a great idea, though!

 

Experience has made me avoid Ladenburg. Triple check provenances.

 

That's concerning because, at the most basic level, if sellers are driven away, ultimately, there will be no buyers. Twenty years ago, eBay was a great platform for sellers, which benefited buyers because so much became available. Then they became greedy on their fees and, even worse, completely unreasonable on how they treated sellers. The result today is that the platform has become severely degraded. Google the phrase "never sell anything on eBay that you can't afford to lose" to see what I am referring to. It would be unfortunate if Ladenburg ends up following this path.

 

Do you have any experience with Ni-Cola Classics?

 

I would say that is largely true anyplace. If you are not doing your own due diligence, unfortunately, chances are it is not being done.

The concern that I have about Ladenburg is the integrity of their bidding process, specifically "maximum" bids placed in advance. Every time I have done that with them, and I mean EVERY time, the final hammer price magically turns out to be just shy of my maximum. Suspiciously, when I am a phone or online bidder, this rarely happens...

 

eBay has huge problems. Another very important downside is that there are very many dishonest sellers - crooks - selling fake, forged autographed items, and also many sellers who copy and sell photos they have NO rights to - copyright infringement. eBay turns a blind eye to all of this and does nothing to police the items being sold on their platform. It's rather disgusting from all points of view.

 

Only as a buyer, and that was a very positive experience, because I had a challenge for them and they did their utmost to do the job and made it excellently.

 

EXACTLY what happens to me. EVERY time. Too much of a coincidence.

 

After 22 years, I stopped selling things on eBay last year. It would take to long to list my bad experience in recent years. But the core problem is that eBay stopped any support, even in fraud cases.

 

I agree re crooked sellers however have successfully sold items through eBay. Put as much description on as possible and pictures showing any scruffs or similar. I feel that it is possible to sift out most crooked sellers. My favourite was the seller who said a book I had purchased was not written in because the writing had been crossed out!!! EBay rebated all the money.

 

Agree. I would never buy an autograph without actually seeing it. I think the photo issue can apply to the other auctioneers as well.

 

Other news: Porter Press just announced on Instagram that the F40 book by Keith Bluemel is now going to the printers. No more details given.

 

As far as the F40 book is concerned, I can give two further pieces of information: In February, Porter Press wrote to me, that the book is planned to have 240 pages and will be 30 x 30 cm of size.

 

Which of their many series’s is it please

 

I don't have a clue ... I wrote down here every piece of information I have.

 

Yes, definitely he is Franco Bacchelli. Some years ago he sold his "Autosport di Bacchelli e Villa" body shop in Bastiglia (MO) to Piero Ferrari family member Giacomo Mattioli, who renamed it as "Bacchelli & Villa", the two founders names who opened the body shop in 1972: Franco Bacchelli and his cousin Roberto Villa.

Giacomo Mattioli married Antonella Ferrari - Piero Ferrari daugther - many years ago and now he is the CEO of Mattioli Automotive Group, who owns several Ferrari dealerships in USA, a racing team in USA and Bacchelli & Villa bodyshop here in Bastiglia, very close to Modena and not too far from my home.

Mattioli Group put a lot of money in that body shop renovation and now the body shop "Bacchelli & Villa" is very nice indeed: their best "panel beater" (battilastra, in Italian, who is the man who with an hammer and other manual tools transforms a piece of coil into a body panel) is a neighbour here at my village.

In 2009 I asked mr. Franco Bacchelli to sell me his 308 GTB vetroresina: he denied.

The world is very small.

Ciao

 

got this book few days ago: it's a private book not for sale. It was a precious gift given to me by mr. Giuliano Michelotto.

500 copies.

Ciao

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Yes, true artists!
Talk about 'old world craftsmanship'
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New world prices!

 

“Old World craftsmanship, New World prices.” I think I coined that term more than 40 years ago when I saw the bill to rebuild a Porsche 4-cam motor. But that job did require some special skills and knowledge.

 

I can tell you why that is the case: When I sold my items in May, I followed the auctions live on the Web. And at least at half of the items, these were shown only for three or four seconds and thus were sold so rapidly that I could barely write down the results even before the next lot had already ended. This was done so rapidly that I cannot imagine that in these fractions of a few seconds people were able to place bids.

As it seems - in my private opinion, for which I have no prove, but just observation - Automobilia Ladenburg just took the pre-auction bids and sold these items for these prices. Only a few artikels were shown longer, so that a real bidding contest started.