Twinkle VanWinkle, “Listen!” associate producer
Interview with Bill Kranz of The Antique Helper, Indianapolis, May 7, 2009

Twinkle VanWinkle: Can you state your name, location and where you work?
Bill Kranz: My name is Bill Kranz, and I work at Antique Helper, 2754 E. 55th Place, in Indianapolis.

TVW: What is your position? What exactly do you do there?
Kranz: That is difficult. I’m an appraiser, description writer, cataloguer, and I’m an auctioneer and part-time in-house counsel.

TVW: Who hires an auction house or service? What would somebody be looking for?
Kranz: Usually it is somebody who is downsizing, moving or people who have inherited or need to dispose of an estate. Those are the things we see most often, and they just don’t know how to handle things. That’s why we’re here to help them with their merchandise. With their real and personal property.

TVW: What is the most important thing a consumer should look for in an auction service?
Kranz: Like everything right now, it gets down to service. If we take good care of the consigners and their merchandise — give the merchandise the respect and the attention it deserves, and the marketing. Again when we have our sales, we sell live in the showroom, live on the Internet and live on the telephone simultaneously so anybody, anywhere gets to play. That’s the main thing is service and handling the merchandise.

TVW: What is the process of hiring an auction service? What are the steps you and the customer (and their merchandise) go through?
Kranz: When someone contacts us we try to determine immediately whether it is an estate or jut a few individual items they need to sell. Then we go from there and we try to give them an idea of possibly what their items might be worth. The best way to dispose of them, which is not always auction, but we try to help them, guide them, in the best possible direction. Once we have the merchandise — smaller things we like to have brought in, larger things or quantity we arrange to have those picked up — then we get them in here and the consigner is pretty much done until the check arrives. We bring it in, identify it, do the photography for catalog pieces, the descriptions, presale estimates, and we handle part of the consumer service we do all the shipping arrangements after the auction, too. Not too many houses do that. So we handle them from beginning to end. They just need to get the merchandise to us, and then it’s our job.

TVW: How does an auction service help the consignor? Does it really make a difference?
Kranz: Absolutely. Where people don’t have a clue or they’re overwhelmed by the amount or the situation. We try to help them and give them direction.

TVW: What is the cost for hiring an auction house, or what fees are incurred?
Kranz: Well, there are a couple of different things involved. If we have to do the hauling, there is a fee for the pickup, on larger items. As far as selling, that’s on a consignment basis, just like everybody, that’s a sliding scale; the more an item brings the smaller the commission. Then we have when the items that are catalogued and listed on the Internet sell, we have to pay a small fee for that, and that covers the photography and the Internet auction, too. That’s it, just basically, commission basis.

TVW: What are some questions you ask the consignor?
Kranz: Again we ask them quantities and if they have a general idea of what they have and then proceed from there. Also at times we ask them if they do have expectations about what their items will realize. Sometimes they do not have a clear idea or sometimes they might be a little high, so we have to deal with that also. Kind of let them know what the market is.

TVW: What are some questions a possible consignor should ask when hiring an auction service?
Kranz: All the questions you have asked me! Again how do we handle their merchandise, how do we conduct the sale, and how much it costs to have the sale. Those we explain to them right up front, in out initial meeting we explain all the terms.

TVW: Has the recent economy shift affected your business? Has it gone up or down?
Kranz: That’s kind of a difficult answer. I think we are getting a few more consignments.  I think it is up somewhat. The middle-range market, let’s say we are getting more consignments in that middle range than we normally do. And we kind of divide the market. The lower-end market has pretty much disappeared. Middle-range market, from say $50 to a couple of hundred dollars. And then the higher-end market is still good and strong as it always will be. The middle market got soft for a while. As for the economy, the stock market and auctions seemed to reflect a change a little earlier than the rest of the market does. So the middle market and the stock market are trying to come back. The middle market is gaining ground once again.

TVW: Has the downturn in the economy affected your auction turnout?
Kranz: We are still getting good crowds. The people, the collectors are still very strong and very active. The high-end market is absolutely there. The mid-range dealers are coming back again and spending quite a bit. They realize this is still a good time to buy. They remain pretty consistent.

TVW: What is your auction house specialty?
Kranz: Dan, the owner is well known for being, he truly is an expert in Italian glass. We have a couple of specialty sales every year with Italian glass and modern design — mission to modern — 20th century design. Those things, ’50s items are doing well, doing very well. Like most things certain areas are up, they’re down, but the high-end, the unusual, the high-quality pieces always hold. They always do well. The 1950s.

TVW: Do you have to be licensed, certified or trained to be an auctioneer?
Kranz: Oh yes. You have to graduate from an accredited school, and then pass the state exam. Then you’re licensed by the state. You have to do continuing education to renew your license.

TVW: Do you have your own style? Are all auctioneers the same?
Kranz: Well it varies from auctioneer to auctioneer, as far as your style, the way you call or as they say, cry. Some are very fast, some are slower. It just all depends. And what you are used to doing, what your crowd is used to seeing and again whatever will help the crowd to understand and keep the sale moving along. That is most important thing. You want the crowd to understand and you want to keep moving. Keep the flow.

TVW: What goes on in the auction? How is the Internet involved?
Kranz: Again, during the sale people who are participating on the Internet in the sale, there is audio. So they do hear live time what is going on. Occasionally the auctioneer will address the people on the Internet just to let them know that we care and we are aware that they are there. Of course they can’t respond to us, but we do address them just to occasionally say, “Thanks for participating and we know you’re there.” Again there is, of course, more interaction with the live audience on the floor.

TVW: The Internet seems to be becoming a bigger part of an auction. Is this a new thing?
Kranz: Fairly recent. It’s getting to be, of course, more and more widespread just simply because the marketing and you need to expose your items and your merchandise to the widest market possible. Quite a bit of our business is international. Especially with the specialty sales, we find quite a bit. We do business with Europe and Asia. More and more to expose better merchandise you need to be on the Internet. 

TVW: How can you tell if someone is really bidding, or if they are just scratching their head, or coughing?
Kranz: Of course the Internet or on the phone we know immediately. As far as in-house they have a bid number, a paddle. We ask them to hold up their bid number or paddle, call out, whatever they need to do to get our attention. Then again, some people, regulars, have their own little idiosyncratic methods they use and we get used to those and know those people. It’s easy for us to recognize. It’s just doing it, it’s experience. We know who’s doing what so we don’t sell something to somebody they don’t want, or catch wrong bids. It happens occasionally but it’s just experience. If there are any questions we simply ask them to hold up their bid numbers. So it’s very easy.

TVW: Do you like being an auctioneer? Have you done this for a while?
Kranz: Absolutely. I’ve been with Dan for about three years now. I’m the token senior citizen here and I am having a blast. It’s a bunch of bright kids here. They’re all kids to me. Bright kids and I’ve enjoyed the business for a long time. I had an antique business for a while, and enjoy it immensely. I get to meet some wonderful people. We get to handle some incredible merchandise. That’s great fun for all of us. Again, just a lot of nice, nice people come through. The action is fun. Like all jobs, there are days that aren’t so great, like this morning in the smoke-filled musty house. But that’s part of it. But for the most part of it, I really do enjoy it. Everyday is different. That’s what makes it fun.