Austin auction has 25 sellers sign up to sell their magic!

The Austin Magic Auction already has 26 sellers for the April 14, 2012 auction. We are currently ahead of this time last year when we finished with 33 sellers.15 of the sellers who have signed upwere sellers at the 2011 auction andeleven are new sellers. The current sellers are:

• #1 Assembly 206, Austin
• #2 Bertil Fredstrom, Austin
• #3 Chris Walden, Austin
• #4 Ron Cartlidge, Austin
• #5 Yeager Markin
• #6 Opie Houston, Austin
• #7 Robert Castillo, Austin
• #8 Doug Gorman, San Antonio
• #9 John McClenahan, Las Vegas
• #10 Michael Ross, Austin
• #11 Carl Seagren, Austin
• #12 George Nash, Florence
• #13 Doug Kelm, Boston area
• #14 Robbins Magic
• #15 Magic Camp, Austin
• #16 Kent Cummins, Austin
• #17 Dan Page, Austin
• #18 Randy Naylor, Abilene
• #19 Will Mannis, Austin
• #20 Trixie Bond, Burnet
• #21 Faber McMullen, Navasota
• #23 Ken Wallace, Arlington
• #25 Larry Kibbey, Houston
• #28 Claude Crowe, San Antonio
• #30 Tom Britton, Hutto
• #31 David Lumpkins, Round Rock

Committee meets to discuss improvements to auction

Eleven members of the auction committee met on January 17 to discuss ways to improve the Austin Magic Auction for 2012. Most of the improvements are because of suggestions given to David Hira after the auction last year. Here are the improvements we will be implementing this year:

1. Quality over Quantity! Our limit per seller this year will by 75 items. Our stage auction has always featured quality items, but we hope to have less items in the silent auction area this year for better management of that area.  We had over 1,200 last year in the silent auction area.
2. Book/magazine room. We are looking to move our books into a separate room from the regular silent auction area. Thiswould give us more room in the silent auction area and allow us to display the book section better.
3. Items that do not sell from the stage will be given back to the seller if he/she is at the auction. Otherwise unsold items will go on a table on stage behind the curtain. The stage manager will remove all unsold items off the stage at the close of the auction.
4. Most stage items will be in a viewing area one hour before the stage auction begins. You may ask a volunteer to inspect an item and it will be brought to you to look at and inspect. Absolutely no one permitted in the stage auction display area.
5. We will continue our popular collector's corner in the silent auction area. There will probablybe some high dollar items in this area if they are not in the stage auction. We will probably continue an "as is" table in the silent auction area. Any item that is not in good working order would be considered for this table or not be placed in the auction.
6. 250 items will be sold from the stage.Staff will select the best items for the stage. Therewillbe a variety of items. The remaining items will be sold in the silent auction.
7. We will strive to make our speed auctions just that, speedy, with a briefdescription.
8. We are currently working on the parking situation in the downtown area.
9. Our check-out will be much improved this year. There will be more people to check you out and we promise it will be faster.
10. We are considering cutting one of the three tagson an item this year sincebuyers and sellers get a print-out of the items they either sold or bought.
11. Our goal is to sell only items that are in good working order.  Please made sure that all items are in that condition before you send them to the auction. Also include instructions that are original, copies, or hand-written.

Collectors' night to feature magic history

Chip Romero has just been confirmed as one of the guest speakers during our Friday night Texas Magic Collectors' meeting at the home of Doc Seaton. His living area has been renovated into a mini theater complete with stage. Last year was our first use of this facility and it was well received.

Chip will discuss themagic of Virgil and we presume Julie. For those of you that do not know, Chip Romero has an extensive magic collection in Lake Charles, Louisiana and will be bringing several pieces from his selection of Virgil & Julie items. He is our third speaker to be confirmed.

Kent Cummins, David Hiram and Scott Wells!

These three auctioneers have been an important part of the Austin Magic Auction for the past seven years. David Hira has been the most important piece of that puzzle.He received an invitation to perform in Colorado this year and it is one of those events that you just can't turn down. We fully understand and David remains committed to the Austin Magic Auction and plans a full return in 2013. He will be difficult to replace, but we will do our best with several guest auctioneers. We have already succeeded inattracting four auctioneers to take his place with include Grant Walsh, Peter the Adequate, Eddie Boswell, and Doug Gorman. I'm sure David will be pleased to hear that it took four auctioneers to take his place. But wait! Weare not through. We hope to feature other auctioneers in David's place and we still have those two gifted auctioneers, Kent Cummins from Austin and Scott Wells from Houston. Still, we'll miss you David. Don't be gone too long.

Sellers!  You man you ship your items...

We are currently receiving items for the Austin Magic Auction to go with the 275 items that we already have. Items should be shipped to the following address:

Items will stay at this location for a short period of time and then moved to our warehouse, "TheHogwarts Annex", were they will be checked in, tagged, and sorted.

Trixie Bond expresses her thoughts at our first meeting

When asked her views as to what went on at the first Austin Magic Auction meeting, Trixie used one word, "WOW"! She then continued, "This auction is soooooo well organized!"

Particulars

Current: Items now being accepted for consignment!

March 31: Deadline for consignments into Austin!

April 13: Auction Setup. Noon. Magic Collectors meet at Doc Seaton's, 7 p.m.

April 14: Doors open and Silent Auction begins at 8 a.m., stage 9 a.m.

April 15:T.A.O.M. Board meets 1 p.m.

Site: First Baptist Church, 9th & Trinity, downtown Austin