This is the category where the room most often knows more than the seller, and that is an advantage if you let it be one.
Say what you know, start low, listen
For anything you cannot confidently identify, a low start with an honest description is better than a high start with a guess. The bidding will find the level, and the chat will frequently tell you what you have.
Where a reserve belongs
When you can identify the piece and it is genuinely scarce. What a reserve price is, and say in the show that there is one.
What moves the number
- Edition and edition size
- Condition of the object
- Condition of the box
- Completeness
- Whether the identification is certain
That last line is real. Certainty is part of what a bidder pays for.
Lots
Mixed collectibles sell well as themed lots — one subject, one era, one maker — and badly as a pile of unrelated objects. Keep anything identified and scarce out of the lot.
Questions people ask
Should I research before the show?
Enough to describe it correctly. You do not need a valuation to run an honest auction.
What if a bidder tells me it is worth more?
Thank them, and let the bidding run. That is the room doing its job.
Is a high start ever right?
Only where you would genuinely rather keep it, and then a reserve is the cleaner tool.