I have had an enthusiasm for auctions since I was a child. The enthusiasm has continued during my experiences helping clients needing to sell their valuable items over the past 15 years. I love the auction format and the “power of auction” through bidding with the bids going only one direction, higher.
This article focuses on an experience about the auction business which “clicked on like a light bulb” a few years after I began working with Kamelot, and introduced me to the concept that auctions are green.
I have been a very active member of the Main Line Chamber of Commerce since 2009. I registered for an event being organized by the Go Green Committee of the Chamber. Go Green Committee events were hosted at and featured sustainable venues. Content focused on educating and showing people how to follow a greener lifestyle and protect our environment.
When my event registration was verified, I also received a note from the committee chair saying, “Tim, I look forward to seeing you at the event and having the opportunity to talk with you. You know, auctions are a naturally green business”.
I had not thought about it that way. However, he was exactly right. It is not possible to get much greener than selling items for the reason they were originally intended and extending their useful life. This recognition added even more reason for me to be happy working in the auction business. It inspired me so much that I chose green as the color for my newsletter!
I want to share a couple of client stories emphasizing the environmental benefits of auctions. I have a very good friend who has been purchasing items at our auctions since being introduced to Kamelot. She has also sold many of these same items through our auctions after using them for a period of time. They included coffee tables, console tables, a garden seat, a commode, art, chests, rugs and other decorative items. She shared with me, “It is wonderful to be able to buy beautiful items, enjoy them for several years and then resell them through your auctions for someone else to appreciate”. She added, “and I never have to feel guilty throwing them away”.
A business networking friend referred his Main Line client for her beautiful antique fireplace mantel with fluted columns and carved capitals. We were happy to offer it for her in an upcoming architectural auction. She contacted me a couple days later and asked if we would offer a pair of dressers she also wanted to sell. As we often do, I asked her to send pictures and any receipts or information she could find about how she acquired them. I received an enthusiastic phone call a few days later and had to move my cell phone away from my ear.
I heard, “Tim, guess what!” I had no time to guess before she continued, “we actually bought those dressers from Kamelot Auctions! We bought them from you! Do you believe it?”
Well, I did believe it. She had not remembered how or where she had purchased them over 12 years earlier. She didn’t even remember it was at auction!. We were happy to offer those dressers again, this time as a seller instead of a buyer.
Both of these client stories are illustrations of auctions being naturally green, extending the life of items and helping our carbon footprint.
At that Go Green event many years ago, I remember them addressing the question, “What is Green and how do you ‘be green?” They shared that you do not need to be a “tree hugger” to make a difference, to recycle and live in an environmentally thoughtful way. Each of us doing our part can make a big difference.
I am happy our auctions contribute to helping us live in a more thoughtful, sustainable way.