AUSTIN MAGIC AUCTION SET FOR APRIL 16, 2011

The 30th annual Austin Magic Auction will be held on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at the First Baptist Church in downtown Austin.  For the last few years the weekend has been called "An Event, not just a Magic Auction!"  That term still applies.  Many attendees come early to enjoy the magic of Ray Anderson, who performs at Esther's Follies which is located just a few blocks from the auction site.  This popular show which is in the Sixth Street Entertainment District almost always sells out.  Discounted tickets are available through the Austin Magic Auction for Thursday or Friday nights.  The show is alsot held on Saturday night, but discounted tickets are unavailable for that night.  On Friday evening the Texas Magic Collectors meeting at the home of Doc Seaton.  His home comes complete with a stage, so it will be a good venue for our meeting this year.  On Sunday the Texas Association of Magicians will meet once again in Austin although the convention will be held 75 miles to the south in San Antonio on Labor Day weekend.  Doors to the auction open at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning for the "live" stage auction and the "silent" auction.  At least 250 items are offered from the stage by auctioneers Kent Cummins, David Hira, and Scott Wells.

Last year there were almost 1,500 items in the "silent" auction area.  Sales in 2010 hit $25,000.  Admission to the all day show and auction is still just $10.

SELLER INFORMATION

This is extremely important information if you want to participate in the auction as a seller.  We are attempting to go high-tech this year with the auction.  All sellers must complete the seller's form which will be available for you to print out from our web site.  No exceptions!  We must have your list on this form.  Place a copy of this form with the items that you send in for the auction.  Your items should be bagged (zip lock) when possible and marked with your sellers' number and the item number.  This will help our people who tag items to better keep up with your items.  ALL SELLERS' MAY USE THE NUMBER THAT THEY WERE ISSUED LAST YEAR IF YOU NOTIFY US ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) WITHIN THREE WEEKS OF RECEIVING THIS NEWSLETTER OF YOUR INTENTION TO ENTER ITEMS IN THE 2011 AUSTIN MAGIC AUCTION.  After that date, unclaimed numbers will be issued to new sellers.  Last year we had 35 sellers.

We will explain in more detail in our next newsletter information on our new high-tech efforts.  Although we have received many compliments the past few years on how smooth this auction runs, we want to improve it even more.  This is especially true in our financial department and check-out.

Our auction will continue not to charge you if we can't sell your item.  The assembly will retain 12% of the purchase price of all items sold.  All items must be in good working order, otherwise they will be returned to the seller.  Instructions should be provided.  Original is best, but we will accept copies or written instructions.  This will especially help if your item is to be demonstrated on the stage.  A set of the auction rules is listed on our web site:  austinmagicauction.com.

INITIAL AUCTION MEETING HELD JANUARY 24

Attending the first auction meeting were Chairman Ron Cartlidge, Auctioneer Kent Cummins, Stage Manager Will Mannis, Finance Team member Heather Poggie-Mannis, Sound System Manager James Caldwell, Past T.A.O.M. President Hull Youngblood, and crew members David Frenkel, Opie Houston, and Dick Todd.  The biggest news at the meeting was that we would attempt to go high-tech in a trial run this year.  We will give more information on this in a later newsletter.  Information on the Lone Star Magic Auction was presented by Ron Cartlidge as well as the City of Austin's effort to charge for downtown street parking from 6 a.m. Monday through Saturday until midnight.  There is a lot of opposition to this by the downtown churches and of course the Austin Magic Auction.  David Frenkel and Opie Houston will be in charge of a telephone committee to get people out to auction planning meetings.  We do not think that the parking situation will have any effect on this year's auction and there should be plenty of free street parking near the auction site.

WEB SITE UP AND RUNNING AT austinmagicauction.com

Our web site has been updated except for our section on hotels and our calendar.  36 photographs have been loaded into the web site by Web Master Chris Walden.  These are photos of possible stage items although we reserve the right to move any of these items to the silent auction area as new items come in.  Watch this web site as we will update photographs as items come into the auction.  As of tonight, we have not placed any descriptions with the phtographs except the name of the item.  Please keep checking back as this is one of the items that our attendees say that they like the best.  They can see actual items that will be sold at the Austin Magic Auction.

LONE STAR MAGIC AUCTION SEEMS TO BE A GO

I talked with Art Emerson in Boston back in November who told me that me would not be participating in the L.S.M.A. this year and did not know if they would even have an auction.  I had reported to some of my friends that it looked as if there would be no February auction in Fort Worth.  However, I received an email from Arthur Moses, my friend in Fort Worth who had invited me to the Texas Collectors' meeting which would be at his home the night before the auction.  I always like to visit with Arthur so I told him that I would be there.  Since then I've learned that this will be a somewhat downsized auction this year.  The schedule for the auction is a swap meet from 9 until noon.  There is a $10 charge for tables, but no charge to participate.  Going on at the same time will be a silent auction which also begins at 9 a.m., but lasts until 1:30 p.m.  I will be interested to see how this works.  The live stage auction will begin at one until done.  This means that the live auction may have cut three hours off (about 90 items) or, it could go until late in the night.  I'm disappointed in this and especially that the auction may run late into the night meaning that those of us who travel from as far away as Austin would have trouble getting back until perhaps the wee hours of the morning on Sunday.

DEADLINE FOR ITEMS IS SUNDAY MARCH 27, 2011

All items for the auction should be in our hands by March 27 which is a little over seven (7) weeks away.  We already have a ton of stuff including PART 2 of the Faber McMullen collection.  We presented about 100 items from that collection last year including a number of RICE SKS SILKS in mint condition.  You will see the rest of that collection this year including the majority of the RICE SKS SILK collection which I can tell you is massive.   If you ever wanted an original RICE SKS SILK, then this will be your opportunity to obtain one.  There will be several lots of beautiful RICE SKS SILKS in this auction.  Also from the McMullen collection are a number of beautiful stage props.  Soooooo, come and be prepared to buy!

As always, if you wish to be deleted from this auction newsletter, please let us know at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  We send this information to members of the magic community interested in magic and of course to those who have participated in our auction before.