The Internet and the eBay effect on vintage Mexican silver and other collectibles

From time to time we post information about live auctions at traditonal auction houses that include lots of vintage Mexican silver jewelry or hollowware. It wasn’t too long ago that the primary venue for live auctions online was eBay’s Live Auctions, which linked eBay users remotely to auctions moderated by live auctioneers, both in physical locations and online. That ended in December 2008, when eBay discontinued the service because “maintaining and improving this platform falls outside our immediate focus.”

Auctionbytes.com recently published a two-part interview with Kerry Shrives, Vice President at Skinner Auctioneers and Appraisers in Boston. In the interview Shrives discusses how Skinner’s Internet bidding was affected by eBay’s decision and how the pricing of antiques and collectibles have been affected by eBay.

Understanding the current environment is important for collectors of vintage Mexican silver and others who collect, whatever their niches may be – as Shrives points out, auction lots can and do sell for much less than expected. This has certainly happened with live auctions for vintage Mexican silver jewelry, hollowware and metalware. eBay can definitely help you build your collection, but live auctions can sometimes be the best way to score an underpriced treasure.

Read Part 1 of the interview.
Read Part 2 of the interview.

What’s on eBay now? Here are some listings for vintage silver pieces by Los Castillo:

VINTAGE MEXICAN MEXICO STERLING SILVER FUR CLIP AZTEC WARRIOR LOS CASTILLO 1940s US $179.99 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: Saturday Feb-11-2012 21:46:39 PST   | Watch this Item

XRARE LOS CASTILLO VTG TAXCO MEXICAN STERLING SILVER & AVENTURINE BRACELET 84 gm US $121.38 (6 Bids) Auction Ends: Monday Feb-13-2012 18:20:48 PST   | Watch this Item

VINTAGE LOS CASTILLO TAXCO MEXICAN STERLING SILVER DANGLING PIN 15329 US $115.00 Auction Ends: Tuesday Feb-14-2012 9:24:06 PST   | Watch this Item

OLDER VINTAGE STERLING SILVER HEAVY MEXICAN BRACELET by CITLAL CASTILLO US $99.97 (0 Bid) Auction Ends: Thursday Feb-16-2012 16:53:28 PST   | Watch this Item