From the auctioneer:

I am proud that we are collecting all of the items to be auctioned off at my warehouse, the "Hogwarts Annex," where we will also hold our tagging parties for the 2012 World Famous Austin Magic Auction. At our last meeting, we discussed how to make the auction better for both buyers and sellers. The one overriding suggestion was to limit the number of items that we accept for the auction.

Ron has already told you that this year we are limiting the number of items per seller to no more than 75. You already know that we will reject items that appear to be knock-offs, or broken, or otherwise unworthy of the auction. We limit acceptance of duplicate items, and only select 250 items to be auctioned off from the stage. But the number of silent auction items last year was more than we could reasonably display and sell, resulting in disappointed buyers as well as sellers. It was hard to bid on items when they were stacked three high, and it created a nightmare for our bookkeeping staff...resulting in slower check out.

To make everything run smoother, I have asked Ron to stop accepting items once we reach 250 stage and 1,000 silent. We already have hundreds of items in the warehouse, with more coming in all the time. But once we reach the "magic number" of 1250, we will have to stop accepting items. Watch this newsletter and the web site for the latest information.

This year, our anthem is "QUALITY NOT QUANTITY!"

38 sellers booked to sell this year!

A few more sellers have signed up for this year's auction. We would like to welcome the latest sellers to the 2012 auction:

#32 Tim Wallace

#33 David Frenkel (Ausitn)

#35 David Hira (Dallas)

#36 Jim Gentile (Lakeway)

#37 Eugene Wilkes (Longview)

#38 Grant Walsh (Dallas)

2012 "A book lovers auction!"

As Kent said, we already have several hundred items at the warehouse. Included in this year's auction are already a number of books including Roberto Giobbi's Card College (all five volumes), Darwin Ortiz' Annotated Erdnase, Paul Curry's World Beyond, Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz, The Complete Guide to Restaurant & Walk- around Magic by Charles, and Sidney W. Clarke's book on conjuring. We will be listing more of these treasures in other newsletters.

Alvin Gentile collection at the auction

Gentile's collection is set to be auctioned off in this year's auction. It includes many old props and some real gems such as the Card Sword by Merv Taylor that he purchased in 1966. How do we know that? The original bill of sale is in the box along with the original instructions. This should bring far more than the $29.50 he purchased it for back then.

Where is the free parking?

As you may know, Austin has become a huge city that now ranks 15th largest in the United States. The city council in an attempt to raise money for the city has included Saturday on parking meters from 11 a.m. until midnight. This includes meters around our auction site.

We will have plenty of quarters available at the auction. However we have located FREE parking just four blocks from the auction site. You can park your car at this location and leave it until the auction is over. It won't cost you a dime. This parking is on 8th street just east of IH 35. As a matter of fact, all the parking east of IH 35 is FREE! The Sheraton Hotel is four blocks from the auction site and it was our headquarters last year. We will have maps in our newsletter as we get closer to the auction date and maps will be available at the auction site to help you locate this FREE parking.

T.A.O.M. board meeting location

We have located a site for our T.A.O.M. board of directors meeting on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. The site is the same location as the Texas Magic Collectors' meeting on Friday night April 13. This is the home of Doc Seaton and the meeting site will be set up with tables and chairs as well as some soft seats that you won't find in a hotel chain. Also it is FREE to the T.A.O.M. and I'm sure Doc will have some snacks out.

First official tagging party at the warehouse set for Thursday, February 15

We have enough items in to start tagging. There are two collections that have arrived from Houston as well as two boxes from Robbins Magic. In additon we have some Faber McMullen stuff as well as the Alvin Gentile collection. We are also expecting Ken Wallace's items before the tagging party.

The new tagging site is located on Old Bee Caves Road just before you get to the "Y" in Oak Hill. As a matter of fact, you turn to the right just before you get to the "Y". The auction warehouse is about a half mile on the right. The mail box will definitely have an arrow on it and you may see some balloons. Snacks and drinks will be available for workers and this appears to be a great site to do our tagging. As boxes are filled, they will be loaded on a trailer for the trip to the auction site.

The actual address is 7704 Old Bee Caves Road. Come check out our new warehouse!!

Bruce Chadwick to give sneak peak at collectors' meeting

Bruce Chadwick, the T.A.O.M. historian has promised a sneak peak at the vintage photographs that have been purchased by T.A.O.M. from the Herman Yeager collection. He is currently in the process of going through all the photos, some as old as the 1930's. Bruce will be one of five presenters at the Texas Magic Collectors meeting.

Don't forget these important facts

April 14 is the auction date at the First Baptist Church.

901 Trinity Street in downtown Austin.

Our auction entrance is on the back side of the church.

Texas Magic Collectors meet on Friday night.

T.A.O.M. board of directors meet Sunday afternoon.

The lower the minimum the more action you receive.

The sooner you get your items in, the better.

Please include instructions with your items.

All items should be in good working order.

75 item limit per seller.

12% commission on items sold.

No buyers fee.

$10 admission per person.

www.austinmagicauction.com (web stie) all newsletters!

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Doors open 8 a.m.