For those in the business or otherwise in the know: why would an auction house create a large mixed lot? Just to take one page from the forthcoming HDH auction, there is a lot that has 31 bottles, another with 50 bottles and two mags, another with 18 bottles, 8 splits and 18 mags, with different wines, producers, vintages, etc. in each lot. One would think for duty’s sake it would be to maximize sales, although I can also see a case for administrative convenience. Who are the purchasers? Restaurants?
The major purchasers at auctions are retailers and brokers. They typically don’t bother with very small lots. Sometimes the grouping of lots has to do with the overall sale. Auctions can take 6-8+ hours and you lose your audience if it goes too long, either to boredom or time zone issues. Obviously, fewer lots=shorter auction.
Yes, I should have included retailers with restaurants (a more obvious example of a business that needs inventory and can break up the lot to sell bottles in smaller increments to customers).
Would an auction house reach out to major purchasers in advance to create a lot? For instance, is the reason for creating one 50-bottle lot rather than two 25-bottle lots because a potential buyer has said they were interested in all of it and it is the type of wine that might typically only draw one buyer?
That didn’t happen where I worked. I can’t speak for other auction houses. There are typically several large buyers who bid in every auction. I can’t imagine any single lot where we would know only one interested buyer. It’s likely that the large lot is just the type of wine that is either fairly inexpensive, there are several other bottles of the same wine in the auction, or just not an interesting wine that typically gets a lot of action. I also would never make a 25-bottle lot due to packaging.
I sort of echo what Ray and Poppy said.
If it’s not a vertical, it really doesn’t make any sense why someone would make a 31 bottle lot (as Poppy noted, the shipping on that makes even less sense).
MAYBE they allowed the client to do their own lotting, but if I was allowing a client ANY input in to the lotting, I would push back like hell on a 31 bottle lot. You are just begging for bad results (unless of course it was a whole mess of something rare and geeky, like Tempier or Juge, and that was ALL the client had, but even then, you can find a better way to sell it).
Many auctions are from estates where they received the entire collection. They single out the most expensive bottles then group the other bottles together in a way that they will sell. Sometimes they will put a couple good bottles in with a bunch of lesser bottles so that they can sell the lesser bottles (you don’t want to be left with unsold lots at the end) knowing that someone will go after the good bottles.
Agree with that less valuable wines detract from the main business of auctions where the high priced wines are getting the bulk of the attention. This type of wine is sold quickly in a way that doesn’t take much time or resources.
The internet auctions means that these lots can be put together in more user friendly ways, so I am surprised to hear about 31 bottle mixed lots. Does HDH have internet only auctions?
I know this is done, but if it were me selling the wine, I’d be pissed. Anchor down the best stuff with dead weight? Not for nothing, but if you paired my 99 La Tache with some 04 Bertagna NSG Perrieres and the argument was “well it’s just easier to offer it that way”, I’d fly off the handle. You’d lose hundreds on the La Tache while the paltry value of the Bertagna wouldn’t off set the loses. That’s bad business.
Just sell the cheap stuff another way. Or better yet, say you won’t take it at all, and if the client walks, is it that big of a deal? You’re talking about a few thousand dollars out of millions need for a single sale.
Those who work(ed) for an auction house could answer with certainty, but I’d be surprised if estates make up anything more than a very small fraction of consignments.
What are the major sources? Ex chateau? Collectors thinning their cellars? Investors dumping product? Bankrupt restaurants? Retailers or distributors with excess inventory? wineries with excess inventory? Just curious.
I have a friend who focuses entirely in mixed case lots at Christie’s auctions. He gets a hodgepodge of aged Bordeaux and he loves that. I figure he’s buying someone else’s random leftovers.
Collector’s are #1 with a bullet. Sadly, the three D’s do come up (death, divorice and debt) which can produce large collections to come to market, but I’d very much venture to say that they were really serious collectors first that had something take a wrong turn in their life… Casual collectors rarely have more than low 5 figure cellars.