For example, the section on "Choosing an Auction House" discusses catalogs, commissions, marketing, etc. The Internet information included in this same section included selling basics, attracting a clientele, feedback, opening bids, and fraud disputes. These topics just do not fit into a chapter with live auction information.
Another thing--the Internet topics are not even listed in the Table of Contents, giving me more reason to suspect that they were afterthought!
One reviewer listed all the chapters and their contents, so I will not duplicate that.
I did learn a lot about appraisals, estimates, "as is", and the top ten auction bargains including silver flatware, chandeliers, old books, and monogrammed objects.
Unfortuneately, the only subject she really covers adequately is buying at live auction (and she does an excellent job at it). Her comments about selling at live auction boil down to how to pick an auction house. You can find much more than she tells you about buying online in the Ebay help pages. And she says even less on selling online.
It's too bad! She could probably give us Ebay sellers some really good advice about how to present our articles and how to put together and split up lots to maximize appeal. She knows how to do these things and she writes very well. I get the feeling that she wanted to do a book that encouraged people to attend auctions (she founded a big auction house in the MidWest so she would be interested in that) but her publisher wanted to do the Ultimate Guide.
She won the argument -- and we all lost out!
Good for someone who wants to attend live auctions; practically useless otherwise!
Now that I have read this book ad applied some of its principles I can tell you that it is a keeper. If you already know the subject it is nice to have it restated in a different way. If you do not know the subject you can live on every word she says. There are very few color plats in the book; yet the descriptions are so clear that color plates are not necessary.
Even online auctions are covered and I found the fact that there are very many online auction locations not just the big three of interest. For those people that have never been to an auction this book will give them the courage and the tools needed.