RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES — Column #1520

Copyright © Harry Rinker, LLC 2016

There Is More Than One Fox in the Antiques and Collectibles Henhouse

“Don’t let the fox guard the henhouse” is a common idiom. The fox cannot fathom the ethical responsibility it has toward the chickens.  It is not even a neutral party.  The lure and lust to take advantage of the situation overcomes decency and right.  Although not a justifiable explanation for the fox’s action, the temptation offered by the chickens is too great to resist.  Of course, the person who put the fox in charge is absolved of all blame.

The fox is symbolic.  The idiom’s fox represents a person or group whose actions can easily lead to a disastrous future course, especially for individuals for whom they profess to serve.  These human foxes delight in exploiting a situation to its fullest advantage for themselves.

There are many foxes in the antiques and collectibles trade.  Using another common idiom, many are dressed as benevolent sheep who seem to have the best interests of the individuals they purport to serve at heart but whose clothing is a guise to their real intent – taking advantage of a person without the person realizing what is being done to them.

Two recent events caused me to think about the fox and henhouse analogy.  The first was a February 14, 2016, email from a listener to WHATCHA GOT?, my antiques and collectibles call-in radio show.  The email read: “I have already begun downsizing by selling items at our community garage sale and donating to charitable organizations….we still have furniture, antiques, and collectibles to sell.  I do not want the stress of getting rid of these items through consignment shops and auction houses.  When we are ready to sell the house, I would like to have a Senior Move Manager come in and do an onsite auction of these items and possibly the house…” 

Attached to the email was a scanned copy of business cards from two realtors.  Each was a member of the National Association of Senior Move Managers.  Among the services offered were: “Sell home though Auction or Realtor” and “Auction unneeded items or collections.”  Do you recognize the fox?

These two realtors are using their membership in the National Association of Senior Move Managers as a “compassionate invite” to get a foot in the door.  Once a client signs with one of them, they are not going to suggest comparison shopping for a realtor to sell the home but urge the client to use his/her services.  While some auctioneers are realtors, most realtors are not auctioneers, especially in states that have a licensed auctioneer requirement.

These realtors are not neutral parties.  They have a vested interest; and, it is not that of the client.  When downsizing, most individuals take their most valued possessions with them.  In most cases, there is not enough left to attract an auctioneer or an estate sale manager.  Too suggest otherwise in an advertisement is deceitful.

Americans are trustful, especially of those who offer to help solve difficult problems.  They are not trained to ask: what is the adviser’s vested interest?  If the answer is client service, then the only income the adviser should receive is an hourly fee and not additional income from other aspects of his/her business.  Ethically, the adviser should not profit in any additional manner unless there is a clear understanding between the adviser and the client.

I was under the false impression that the National Association of Senior Move Managers’ ethical standards prohibited those directly involved in the selling of personal property and real estate from becoming members of the association.  Dumb me!  I read more than I should have into the statement “NASMM members are experienced professionals, bound by a pledge of integrity, committed to safety and ethics, and dedicated to continuing professional development.”  I should have been suspicious when the first advantage listed on the “Join NASMM” URL is “Strengthening Your Competitive Advantage.”  [See: www.nasmm.org.]

Matthew 6:24 reads: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”  When a person needs advice about property disposal, it is imperative that he/she find an individual whose sole focus is the needs of the client.

Senior Move Managers are not the only foxes in the antiques and collectibles trade who use the guise of providing a service to gain the confidence of a client and an inside advantage in the decision making process.  Auctioneers and dealers have been known to offer appraisal services to gain entry into a house filled with antiques and collectibles.  There are exceptions.  There always are exceptions.  Woe unto those who blindly accept what service providers in this trade tell them without checking the accuracy of their claims.

I always have had trouble with auction bidders, especially those who are unable to attend a preview, relying heavily on the advice received from auction house employees.  These employees are paid to tout the objects in the auction.  They “Accentuate the positive / Eliminate the negative / Latch on to the affirmative / Don’t mess with Mister in-Between.” [From Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive; music by Harold Arlen; lyrics by Johnny Mercer; 1944] 

It was with some astonishment and a great deal of dread when I read S. Clayton Pennington’s editorial in the February 2016 “Maine Antique Digest” entitled “SOTHEBY’S $50 MILLION GUTSY GAMBIT.”  The editorial focused on Sotheby’s acquisition of Art Agency Partners, a two-year-old art advisory firm.  Art Agency Partners provides advice to buyers in the high-end art market, a role played in the past by dealers and individual advisers.  The firm also manages collections (a polite way of stating that the firm enjoys spending other people’s money), conducts private treaty sales (another way of stating the goal is to keep the money under the table and away from the prying eyes of the IRS and state sales tax officials), and maintains the allure that high-end antiques and collectibles are investments first and aesthetically pleasing works of art second.

Sotheby’s is one shrewd fox.  The henhouse it is guarding is its own vested interests.  It is inconceivable to believe anyone will trust such advice, let alone pay for it.

Imagine this scenario.  A Sotheby’s competitor has a piece at auction that is of slightly better quality than a comparable piece Sotheby’s has at auction.  The client asks the Sotheby’s Art Agency Partners which of the two pieces he should buy.  I would like to be a fly on the wall overhearing this conversation.

Expertise in the antiques and collectibles field is a valuable commodity.  Those with the qualifications and ethics to disperse it in an unbiased neutral manner should be compensated.  Those who disperse it to achieve an unfair advantage should be despised.  Unfortunately, most are unware of the deception or ignore it as one more of many ethically questionable trade practices.

The truth is that neutrality does not play an integral role in the antiques and collectible trade.  The antiques and collectibles business is subjective rather than objective.  Opinions, often unsubstantiated, rule.  Father does not know best, with apologies to Robert Young.  Everyone knows best.

[Author’s Aside:  If the above analogy does not mean anything to you, checkout https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Knows_Best.]

What is the solution?  To borrow a favorite phrase from David Lindquist of Whitehall at the Villa (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) – to be aware is to beware.  The lack of neutrality is endemic.  It is not going away.  It is something with which everyone has to deal.

The first step is to question, question, question.  Does the person who is offering advice or a service have a hidden vested interest?  If the person reveals this interest, is its revelation enough to remove the concern?

The second step is to comparison shop.  Talk to multiple people.  Ask individuals for their credentials.  Request the names of those the adviser has served, fully understanding that the person is highly unlikely to recommend someone who was dissatisfied.

The third step is to do homework.  Determine the expert advice needed.  In some cases, the best advice is found in books.  Do not be afraid to act alone.

Cheap advice is not always the best advice nor is the most expensive.  Buy the best possible advice you can afford.

Finally, listen to the advice.  The best and most honest advice often is the one with which there is most disagreement.  If the adviser is neutral, he/she will see past personal attachment, love at first sight, and a desire to buy or sell no matter what.

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.  Selected letters will be answered in this column.  Harry cannot provide personal answers.  Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned.  Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5955 Mill Point Court SE, Kentwood, MI  49512.  You also can e-mail your questions to harrylrinker@aol.com. Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered.

You can listen and participate in WHATCHA GOT?, Harry’s antiques and collectibles radio call-in show, on Sunday mornings between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM Eastern Time.  If you cannot find it on a station in your area, WHATCHA GOT? streams live on the Internet at www.gcnlive.com.