Latest / Money News / Muscle Cars & Meteorites: Inside Lloyds Auction House 🏎️🚀

Transcript

Muscle Cars & Meteorites: Inside Lloyds Auction House 🏎️🚀 · Money News

• 0:00
  S1: Welcome back to Money News. We like to check in
• 0:02
  S1: regularly with our friends at Lloyds Auctions, who are responsible
• 0:05
  S1: for some incredible auctions that go to market, everything from
• 0:09
  S1: Don Bradman's baggy green to the largest Lego auction in
• 0:13
  S1: the world. And last time we spoke, they were auctioning
• 0:16
  S1: off a meteorite that was literally billions of years old.
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  S1: And I'm pleased to say Lee Hames, chief operating officer
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  S1: at Lloyds Auction House, joins me again on the line tonight. Lee,
• 0:27
  S1: welcome back to Money News.
• 0:29
  S2: Yes. Good evening. Thank you so much for having me.
• 0:32
  S2: We're so busy. I've got two phones now. I never
• 0:35
  S2: thought that would happen. I now carry around two phones.
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  S1: Did you buy it at auction? Of course.
• 0:41
  S2: Yeah.
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  S1: Well, we always like to check in on you in
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  S1: particular on what you've sold recently. Run me through some
• 0:48
  S1: of your highlights over the last month.
• 0:50
  S2: Oh, that's that's really hard to do, but, you know, but, um, there's,
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  S2: there's so many great stories and we really measure ourselves on,
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  S2: you know, getting great results for our sellers and exciting
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  S2: new buyers for for buyers. And one of the ones
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  S2: that sticks out for me is obviously selling off everything
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  S2: out of Victoria Park venue, a beloved venue. It's been
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  S2: around for 25 years. Everybody has a a connection and
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  S2: it was a massive project to get everything out of
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  S2: there into our auction rooms, and then it was an
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  S2: even bigger task to get everything sold and out of
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  S2: there as well. We got an amazing result. They were
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  S2: obviously in a bit of a pickle there, and they
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  S2: needed they needed some good news and the auction just
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  S2: went gangbusters. So we're really happy. And all the buyers
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  S2: were happy they got a piece of Victoria Park. Um,
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  S2: obviously the Lego auctions are still going and we've seen
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  S2: some uptick in classic car sales as well. So collectible cars,
• 1:46
  S2: you know, they, they sort of, you know, they can have,
• 1:49
  S2: they can have hot seasons and cooler seasons. But one
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  S2: thing's for sure is that Australians passion for collector cars
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  S2: is still, you know, alive and kicking. Um, you know,
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  S2: if you consider that we might do 160 200 classic
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  S2: cars a month on the final Saturday of the month, uh,
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  S2: you know, we're, we're selling over 100 cars, a classic cars,
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  S2: you know, from the 70s 60s some European stuff. And
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  S2: then it goes into the Aussie muscle, which is the
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  S2: finishes with the Holdens and the Fords, and they always
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  S2: battle it out. But, you know, it's crazy to consider
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  S2: that nobody's financing these cars. You know, they're selling for
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  S2: big money and everyone's paying straight away. So the market's
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  S2: still going extremely well there. There was a lot of
• 2:37
  S2: fun last month.
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  S1: I want to talk about a particular car that caught
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  S1: your eye in a moment. But firstly back to Victoria Park.
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  S1: What were people buying. Were they buying seats? Were they
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  S1: buying a kiosk? Were they buying the turf? What were
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  S1: some of the things that were a bit unusual that
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  S1: you sold?
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  S2: Mate? Our instructions were sell everything. If you could pull
• 2:53
  S2: it out of the of the venue, we took it.
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  S2: So we're talking like, you know, a basket of 200
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  S2: knives and forks. They went for extraordinary money. I guess
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  S2: if you were trying to buy them again, um, you know,
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  S2: you'd have to pay a fair chunk. So they were
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  S2: going well, you know, there was stuff with Victoria Park
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  S2: on them. There was a chandelier, uh, combi ovens, you know,
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  S2: golf buggies, ATVs that would go around and they look
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  S2: like they're out of mad Max. Um, just some of
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  S2: the items that, uh, went through. So yeah, it was
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  S2: everything you can imagine at a hospitality venue was there.
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  S2: We picked it up and we, we took it to auction.
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  S2: Everything started at a dollar. And, um, the family are
• 3:31
  S2: just absolutely rapt with the result. There's, there is another
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  S2: thing that just came to mind if I, if I
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  S2: have some time, have enough time, uh, we sold a
• 3:39
  S2: and we brought it up at our last, um, catch up,
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  S2: but it was the Rockhampton Plaza Hotel on the main
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  S2: street of Rockhampton. If you remember, it was an abandoned
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  S2: hotel on 4000m² and it was six stories high with
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  S2: something like 60 rooms. And it was the scariest place
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  S2: I had visited in all of my career, you know. um, wow.
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  S2: We got, we got the call and from the trustee
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  S2: and he said, can you sell property? I said, yes,
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  S2: we're doing very well in property. He goes, I've got
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  S2: an abandoned. What about an abandoned hotel? I said, I'll
• 4:12
  S2: be on a plane. I'll be up there straight away.
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  S2: And um, first what we do when we're going into
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  S2: an environment that we're, you know, unsure of is we
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  S2: interviewed some of the neighboring businesses, said, hey, we're going
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  S2: to go in here and have a look. Is there
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  S2: anything we should be aware of? And, you know, some
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  S2: of the stories to come out of there, it was obviously,
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  S2: you know, housed a lot of the, um, sadly, it
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  S2: housed a lot of the homeless population up there. It
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  S2: was well covered, you know, the history of it. It
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  S2: had been abandoned for five years. There was no fixtures
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  S2: left in the place. Everything was stripped out and we
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  S2: went level by level, you know. Hello, hello, torches, uh,
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  S2: security hazmat suits. Thankfully, the council and the police have
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  S2: done a really good job to make sure that no
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  S2: one was in there because it was very unsafe. And
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  S2: then we had the, you know, the task of working
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  S2: out what the marketing strategy was. Um, and Lloyds offer
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  S2: a bit of a different, um, uh, platform where we
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  S2: had a live auction. We had a, we ran it
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  S2: for a month online. You could bid online up until
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  S2: that day. And then on the day we had the
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  S2: live auctioneer in front of the building, we had phone
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  S2: bidding and we had online bidding all at once, and
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  S2: it was live streamed. And so we had bids coming
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  S2: in thick and fast online bids on the phone. I know, um, we,
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  S2: we had a reserve on the day, I think it
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  S2: was about two and a half to 3 million. And uh,
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  S2: on the day we thought, oh no, we're going, okay,
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  S2: we're starting at 2 million. And the trustee was satisfied
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  S2: that everyone was going to, you know, get out of it. Okay.
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  S2: And then it quickly got to 2.5 and then three
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  S2: and then 3.5. And the funny thing was the increments
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  S2: were five grand online. So it would go 3.5 off
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  S2: the floor and then 3.5005 online. So it was going
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  S2: up in five grand increments anyway, kept going. It took
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  S2: about an hour and um, we got over $5.5 million.
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  S2: I think we finished at 5,000,750, which is more than
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  S2: double the reserve and about, I don't know, a thousand
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  S2: times the valuation. So it was a fantastic result and
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  S2: just a testament to that great platform and offering that
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  S2: we've put together, um, which is that online bidding, phone
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  S2: bidding and the live auctioneer as well, all at the
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  S2: same time.
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  S1: An amazing point of difference. I've never heard of anything
• 6:23
  S1: like that with three different platforms. Our money news team
• 6:27
  S1: and money news listeners have been texting in, and we've
• 6:29
  S1: had all sorts of correspondence over the meteorite. Now, you
• 6:33
  S1: told it about us, told us about it last time.
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  S1: So where are you at with that one? Because who
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  S1: knows what that's worth?
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  S2: Uh, we are, we're still online, obviously, because it's like
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  S2: it's an international campaign, which my wife absolutely loves, by
• 6:48
  S2: the way, because it means my phone starts ringing about
• 6:51
  S2: 2 a.m. and then finishes ringing about 7 a.m. and
• 6:54
  S2: then I start my Australian shift. No, I I'm just kidding.
• 6:57
  S2: And if she hears this. I love you, babe. Um, she, uh, no,
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  S2: the meteors are getting a lot of attention around the place.
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  S2: We're ramping up marketing, but it is a longer campaign.
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  S2: So whether or not we're talking to the end end
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  S2: buyer yet, I'm not too sure. But it's you can
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  S2: imagine the type of conversations I'm having. They're very, very
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  S2: interesting and, and well off people around the world.
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  S1: I can't wait to hear about the postage and handling
• 7:22
  S1: on that. That's going to be more intriguing as well
• 7:23
  S1: when we catch you next time. So what else? What
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  S1: else is in what else is in the pipeline? What
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  S1: are the big collections have come across your desk and
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  S1: what have you got coming up?
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  S2: Something that always catches my eye is militaria, you know,
• 7:36
  S2: historic arms and militaria. We've got an amazing single seller
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  S2: collection over in Perth. And so for your listeners, we
• 7:43
  S2: do provide shipping and freight. So that auction is open
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  S2: to the country. But, um, what I love about those auctions,
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  S2: I can't keep my eye off those auctions. And you
• 7:53
  S2: scroll through and you see so much history and you
• 7:56
  S2: realize like, I realized, you know, I didn't, I didn't
• 7:59
  S2: know I needed a samurai sword until I saw one.
• 8:01
  S1: Good grief.
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  S2: A Japanese military sword, you know, with the sheath. How
• 8:08
  S2: good would that look on the wall, you know?
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  S1: Well, I'm glad you said on the wall. I'm seeing
• 8:11
  S1: Lee Hames from Lloyds running around in either Pulp Fiction
• 8:14
  S1: or Kill Bill, uh, with the samurai sword.
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  S2: So not a good idea.
• 8:19
  S1: No. Oh, you are a character. The money news team
• 8:23
  S1: loves you. You're great for our audience as well. Thank
• 8:26
  S1: you so much for joining me this evening on Money News.
• 8:29
  S2: Always a pleasure. We love being on and I look
• 8:31
  S2: forward to speaking again. It'll be something completely. We just
• 8:34
  S2: went from, you know, World War Two memorabilia to space
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  S2: to Rockhampton. You know what's going to happen next. Not sure,
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  S2: but I'm sure it'll be interesting. And, uh, you know, it's,
• 8:45
  S2: it's just such a, you know, our site and, and
• 8:48
  S2: what we offer is just such a great testament to
• 8:51
  S2: how awesome living in Australia is and the opportunities that
• 8:54
  S2: it presents.
• 8:55
  S1: Just imagine a dinner party with Lee Hames and the team.
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  S1: It would be absolutely enthralling. Lee Hames, chief operations officer
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  S1: at Lloyds Auction House thank you again so much for
• 9:04
  S1: joining me.
• 9:04
  S2: Thanks very much. My pleasure.