Featured Good Profit Margin Story

I LOVE Carole Lombard. I've always thought she was the most beautiful woman on earth. She was married to Clark Gable when she died in a airplane crash in 1942. She was out selling war bonds.


Gable had a compact made for her. In May it went up for auction in Dallas TX.

Paul Flato Retro Diamond, Multi-Stone, Enamel, Platinum, Gold Compact Gifted to Carole Lombard by Clark Gable Stones: Single and baguette-cut diamonds weighing a total of approximately 1.50 carats; baguette-cut rubies; carved ruby and sapphires; round-cut demantoid garnets Element: Enamel Metal: Platinum, 14k gold Attributed to: Paul Flato Gross Weight: 158.00 grams Dimensions: 3 inches x 3-5/16 inches Gifted to Carole Lombard by Clark Gable HID03101062020 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Condition
Diamonds:
Avg Color: G-H-I
Avg Clarity: VS
Shape(s): Single, Baguette
Count: 76 - 100

Colored Gems:
Type(s): Ruby, Sapphire, Garnet, Synthetic Ruby
Shape(s): Baguette, Carved Round
Count: 26 - 50
Avg Quality: Good

Metals:
Platinum
Gold

It sold for $6,500

Yesterday it sold at a NY auction house -


This is a great story of profit margin. But, I'm just curious, both auctions were on the same site (liveauctioneers). Is this a case where the NY buyer probably wasn't actively searching for something on Lombard or Gable. But, is a follower of the NY auction house? I can't understand how someone would pay $73,500 (plus all the extras) when a month ago they could have gotten it for $6,500.

Personally, if I bought it, I'd be buried with it.

 

liveauctioneers is a platform....not an auictionhouse

 

a month ago they could have gotten it for $6,500.
Could have.........but didn't !
The 1st auction house sale likely went under the radar of these serious collectors...

I recently sold an 18K Haida carved ring.... at auction.....native auction.....and it went for $600........ the guy who bought it has it on his web site for $2000.

Why would anyone pay 2 grand when they could have got it for less than half that??

Cuz.... they didn't !
They didn't see it ...they weren't looking...they weren't there......... there's a hundred reasons why...... who can say ???

 

If there's any positive you can chalk up for the big, international auction houses, they get a lot of eyes on things.

In both cases, do you know if the compact was sold to an on line bidder or to someone on the floor?

 

$6500 seems low for that compact even without the celebrity connections. Probably some behind the scene things going on with that.

 

At $6500 it was scrap price.

The Texas auction house was Heritage

 

Somebody wasn't looking. Maybe a lot of somebodies. The next time it was where the search engines could find it and... jet assist applied. I bet the second seller was a happy camper.

 

hmm...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/135053942560
https://www.instagram.com/dearmrgablecom/p/C61YzbUOh4k/?img_index=1

 

Well there we go.
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/ite...-lombard-gold-platinum-box-made-by-paul-flato
https://www.yelp.com/biz/bidhaus-auctions-new-york

 

so........scams scams and more scams.....!

good detective work @Kronos .....

 

As they say on Antiques Roadshow "At a well advertised auction with the right people, this item could sell for the moon." I've seen this type of thing happen many many times (although on a much smaller scale). That first auction was either not advertised well or at all or the wrong audience had eyes on it. Also, may have been at the wrong auction venue. I saw a giant diamond ring at a local auction once that nobody bid on because they didn't have a market for resale. The auctioneer should have told the consignor to place the ring at an auction house with the ability to sell it for what it was worth. Instead, it was sold to a local jeweler for peanuts.

 

For all the STUPID people (ME), can you explain this.

Here's what I'm thinking, and it doesn't make sense.

The person that bought it for 6500 has it up at ebay for 95000.

Myrt doesn't own it. They put it up for $10 starting bid, and it manages to get up to 73,500. With the 25% premium it totals 91875. They would have to get the ebay seller to lower the price for them to make any profit. Or do they just tell their buyer that the item isn't available? It sounds like a fine scam, but if they bought it for 95 they'd end up losing money. This is all around confusing.

 

I would assume they have bots bidding their items up to well above what the original item they have faked having is going for. If they get an actual bidder above that certain threshold to make a profit, then the sale goes through.

Basically what drop shippers do, but with more deception and scamming.

 

That's nasty !

 

That's an old scam, old as the hills. Been on eBay forever.

 

Never had I have had this happen. You can not message the seller? I tried several times. Lol

 

It is also listed as a reproduction.

 

most people when they make a listing on eBay they search for a somewhat similar item. When they find one they click “sell one like this”. When you do that many of the fields are auto populated with the other sellers specs. This is how I do most of my listings. Sometimes I forget to change one of their specs. I’d guess that is how this happened. Maybe they really are selling a repro though.

 

is there a photo of...or documentation ... that he gave it to her......and what happened to it??

 

I bought a presidential signature at auction once. Someone chased the bidding up to $700 or so on me. Just me and one other bidder going back and forth until he bailed out at around $700 or so. It was a local/regional auction house. Once I had the item I listed it on eBay and another user contacted me and let me know he wanted to buy it and that he was the under bidder in the original auction. He offered me a decent amount over the auction price but after auction and eBay fees not much of a profit. He finally ended up buying it for well over $1,000 more than the auction ending price. Turns out he had collected every single presidential signature other than that one. It was the only hole in his collection. Very nice guy and ended up trading me another political related signature in addition to the amount he paid for the item, a cash + trade type scenario. Sometimes you regret not bidding more in an auction and this was one of those scenarios.