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Marc Hanes

Marc Hanes

Marc Hanes
Hello, please forgive the nature of this crassly commercial post, Politburo feel free to delete and excoriate me as warranted. As some Disorderlies know, I work as the warehouse manager for the newly created Wally's Auction House. We are having our first online wine auction starting Friday February 14th.

It occurred to me that because we are so new there may be fewer bidders and thus some good deals, better than might be the case were we more established and well known. And, as a result, people would want to know there might be deals to be had. It is in this spirit that I post this here.

I encourage people to check it out. Even if you don't bid, feel free to send me feedback on the website, wine offerings, total user experience, etc. Our team wants to improve and become an auction house known more for quality than quantity, being more about the wine than the glitz and pomp. Even if we do push lots of Ponsot, Lafite and DRC (pays the bills and generates my paycheck which I translate into Huet and Baudry).

Thanks for the indulgence of this post, it shall be the final time I mention my employer hereabouts. Unless they fire me.

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www.wallysauctions.com
 
Marc,
I just took a look at the site and noticed that there is very little mention of the efforts put into authentication/validation of consigned lots. Given the recent spate of forgeries in the secondary wine market, what confidence should a prospective bidder have that the wines on offer have been vetted by a qualified professional staff? (and maybe that information should be made available on the website?)

Mark Lipton
 
Dr Lipton, is this kind of info typically available for other online/live auctions?
I have no idea; just asking.

[Edited] Isn't this pretty much par for the course?

"Wally’s is pleased to display photographs of many, many bottles in the auction, as well as the same consignment introductions and provenance information you’re accustomed to in our live auction catalogs, but if you’re interested in further images or information about any lots, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at auction@wallywine.com. "
 
Hello Mark, that's a good comment and one I will pass along. The leadership group has numerous years working in the wine auction arena and are about as qualified as a group whom one will find to sniff out forgeries. This is my first job in auctioneering, having worked in other areas of the wine industry previously. I watch the wine assessments and a good deal of effort goes into that work.

As a wine collector myself I have only bought at auction once or twice in my life so I cannot speak from primary experience. For those who *do* buy often at auction I would guess it is a matter of personal relationship and trust, built over years. Every auction house is in some way "suspect" due to the mentioned recent spate of forgeries. I am not sure what kind of empirical evidence could be presented to potential bidders. I mean, who is going to say "Don't trust us, we barely look at the bottles and just want to make as much money as possible before the game is up?" I totally get where you are coming from but, again, it's not like there is an objective third party out there credentializing auction houses and vetting their work and diligence.

On a personal note, all I can say is that I trust the people I work with and if I didn't I'd simply move on. As in any business, all one really has is one's reputation and it is unwise to do anything to smudge that. I guess the future will show which auction houses are able to maintain a sterling reputation after recent news (assuming any auction houses can).

Thanks,

Marc
 
I tried to look at the auction contents and they are not visible, presumably because I didn't register. Don't like that. Signed up, having to give my credit card number, and, even so, I still can't see anything, only got a message saying a representative will contact me. I don't want to be contacted by a representative. And the sign up form is poorly designed, with country before state, etc., and shipping as a required field when I have things shipped to different places each time. So, not a good first impression of the site design (only saying because you asked, Marc; super good luck with the new job!).
 
Following up on Sasha's edited post, I do often pull lots and take close up, high resolution pictures of bottles based on potential bidder requests. That happened a bit with our first live auction. You can request photographs if desired, which may help.
 
Hi Oswaldo, I am not running the website *but* I think the lots will not be listed until the auction begins tomorrow. *I* can't see anything online yet either! Check back tomorrow and everything should be viewable.

I agree about the sign up form, that bugged me when I signed up myself and will add your comments to the feedback I provide to my bosses. As with anything, it's a work in progress and any and all input helps!
 
... As some Disorderlies know, I work as the warehouse manager for the newly created Wally's Auction House....
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I'm not sure what anyone does around this place unless they spell it out for me.

Not really into auctions myself. Good luck though!
 
originally posted by .sasha:
Dr Lipton, is this kind of info typically available for other online/live auctions?
I have no idea; just asking.

[Edited] Isn't this pretty much par for the course?

"Wally’s is pleased to display photographs of many, many bottles in the auction, as well as the same consignment introductions and provenance information you’re accustomed to in our live auction catalogs, but if you’re interested in further images or information about any lots, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at auction@wallywine.com. "
Click to expand...

Not exactly, dotster. HDH, the one I mostly deal with, goes to great lengths to describe the bona fides of the principals and then also gives some detail of the provenance of each lot. Perhaps Wally's will do the same, but it's not very clearly laid out. Beyond HDH, Christie's takes pains to present the qualifications of their staff (not that I deal with them). Dunno about Zachy's, and we know all too much about some of those other auction houses' shortcomings.

Mark Lipton
 
There's a case of '06 Magdelaine there at an attractive estimate in case people are interested. I already own a few bottles myself so I probably wouldn't go in on that one.
 
Thanks for the detailed response, Marc. You're absolutely right that the relationship must be based on trust. What struck me is that, although I see the names and faces of the staff under the Bios heading, no actual biographical information is available. Since none of those names apart from yours are familiar to me, a little bit of biographical background on the various staff members would be (I think) helpful to the wary consumer. I'll also wait and see what information about provenance is presented in the auction catalog.

Thanks,
Mark Lipton
 
You should have them fix Lots 475 and 484. All it says is:

Lot: 0475
2 750ML Mixed Bordeaux 2008

Estimated value: 200 - 300 USD

Lot: 0484
2 750ML Mixed Bordeaux 1982

Estimated value: 340 - 500 USD
 
Howdy, I will try to check in but naturally have a lot to do today!

Jay - pinged my boss about lots 475 and 484, just the header is showing, not the lot contents, correct

Mark - If you actually look at a lot specific page, there are four tabs. The one to the far right is called "Consignor Info" and to the best of my knowledge that has detailed information about the consignor and provenance of each lot. Please let me know if this information is the sort you would be looking for or not. We can try and make it more robust next time based on feedback.

Mark - I am not sure why there isn't real biographical information there for the company principals but I can ask and hopefully this can be added easily enough going forward.
 
originally posted by Jay Miller:
You should have them fix Lots 475 and 484. All it says is:

Lot: 0475
2 750ML Mixed Bordeaux 2008

Estimated value: 200 - 300 USD

Lot: 0484
2 750ML Mixed Bordeaux 1982

Estimated value: 340 - 500 USD
Click to expand...

Mixed? These must be Yixin's.
 
Jeff - There's no Excel or PDF download that I am aware of. But did you look at the Advanced Search function? It seems to have the "standard" search categories and such:

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www.wallysauctions.com
 
originally posted by Marc Hanes:
Mark - I am not sure why there isn't real biographical information there for the company principals but I can ask and hopefully this can be added easily enough going forward.
Click to expand...

especially considering that they happen to be a very impressive group
 
originally posted by Marc Hanes:
Jeff - There's no Excel or PDF download that I am aware of. But did you look at the Advanced Search function? It seems to have the "standard" search categories and such:

Loading…

www.wallysauctions.com

Yeah and it turns up two red burgundy lots.
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