Signed Yankees baseballs, fur coats, a Rolex watch, African art, and even a Mercedes sedan were on the auction block Monday at La Reggia.
In what organizer Steven Monetti Jr. claims is a Secaucus first, a company called Affordable Auction Sales held an estate auction at the restaurant and catering hall better known for wedding receptions and political dinners.
After years of selling goods at flea markets and consignment stores, the event marked Monetti’s debut as an auctioneer and Affordable Auction’s first attempt to sell high quality jewelry, art, and other collectibles.
“Everything I won was like $10, $15. I had fun.” – Bidder No. 58
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One man’s junk, some woman’s treasure
With such an eclectic collection of items available for purchase, the obvious question is, how on earth does Monetti acquire all this stuff?
“I have a business,” Monetti said. “I clean out houses.”
Bereaved relatives of the recently departed, he said, pay him to clear out old homes and dispose of the contents. Occasionally, people will also ask him to sell items on consignment.
“Anything that’s real low-end, I’ll sell at the flea markets,” said Monetti, who vends at markets throughout northern and central New Jersey. “Higher end” items he said he hangs onto and will now sell through his Affordable Auction Sales at La Reggia.
But the “higher end” tag shouldn’t scare off curious buyers, he said.
At his debut auction on Monday, very many items sold for a little as $20 or $25. And with the Mercedes sedan being the clear exception, bidding rarely went higher than $200. The Mercedes sold for $3,200.
Last week all sales were cash-only, although Monetti said he may allow online and credit card purchases in the future.
Buyers paid no admission fee to enter the auction.
“I had some higher-end items that I unfortunately had to pull [off the auction block] because I have them on consignment and I have to get a certain price for them,” Monetti explained. “But there was a lot there and there was a lot in every price range. This wasn’t a New York City auction where you’d go bankrupt bidding on nice stuff.”
Buyers last week seemed to agree.
One woman, Bidder No. 58 – who refused to give her name because she had skipped work to attend the auction – said she was able to buy nice items for her home in Lyndhurst.
“I won 12 things,” she said. “They were little things, not too expensive. It may look like I spent a lot of money ‘cause I got so much stuff. But everything I won was like $10, $15. I had fun.”
‘A light went on’
While many auctioneers go to school and receive formal training to hone their skills, Monetti said he did not. In fact, he said he fell into the world of estate auctions by chance.
Primarily a children’s entertainer by trade, Monetti for years kept most of his props and costumes in a storage warehouse. After having major surgery about eight years ago, he lost his storage space while he was trying to get back on his feet and the storage company held an auction of his property.
“I was in a position where I had to go to the auction to try to buy back some of my own stuff,” Monetti said. “So, I get to this auction, and I can’t believe how much money people were willing to pay. It was like a light when on. A friend of mine said, ‘You could do that.’ ”
Although Monetti occasionally still dons face paint and wigs for the kids, he shifted his focus to auctions around 2004.
He said he reached out to experienced auctioneers, like Jack Wootton, who took him under his wing and helped him learn the ins and outs of the live auction business. The veteran auctioneer of Old Feed Mill Auction Center fame became something of a mentor. During a break in Monday’s auction Monetti hinted the business can be very competitive among auctioneers who are, naturally, trying to carve out a niche for themselves and get a corner on the market.
But Richard Vetterlein, another auctioneer who buys and sells antiques in Manhattan and who attended Monetti’s auction, said, “This is his first time doing this. He’s still learning his way. He’s doing some things most auctioneers wouldn’t do, like having reserve prices. But, I think it’s great having something like this in Hudson County. So I came here to support him.”
More to come
Monetti estimated he probably made about a $1,000 profit on the Monday auction after expenses – respectable enough for him to bring his show back to Secaucus roads.
“Obviously I want to see if we can grow it,” he said, “get more people through word of mouth.”
He plans to conduct one auction at La Reggia per month starting in September.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.