We were lucky to catch up with Patti Baldini recently and have shared our conversation below.
Patti, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?
I have been an auctioneer for just over 30 years, and my company sells primarily specialty collections, estates including real estate and personal property using the online auction platform. I believe one of the major factors affecting auction trends is the shift in the ability to conduct online and simulcast auctions. We are now able to create more opportunities to bid on items 24 hours a day for any period of time to a worldwide audience. A bigger audience naturally creates more competitive bidding. Also, shipping items to our bidders has become easier which provides a level of convenience. We want to make bidding as easy as we can so people will participate. In a live auction format, people who want to participate need to physically be there to bid on a certain day, at a certain time and usually pick up their items that day. Both formats are effective. It just depends on what you’re selling.
When I started in this business in the early 90’s, porcelain tea cups and fine china were selling at auction for exceptional prices. Today, those same items would bring a quarter of what they once sold for. Dining room tables with china cabinets have gone by the wayside since formal dining rooms are now being converted in to home office spaces. The millennials are taking advantage of the opportunity to buy quality furniture and they are repurposing its use. For example, repurpose a china cabinet by taking the glass cabinet top off, put hairpin legs on the bottom and convert that piece into a bookcase. Then, use the bottom half as a credenza. Genius!
Ten to fifteen years ago, antique furniture was selling very competitively. However, we have been seeing a decline in the antique furniture market for quite some time. At a recent online auction of an auction colleague, the old griswold cast iron skillets your grandmother used to make that tasty cornbread were bringing $400 each. At the same auction the Davis Cabinet Company Dresser and other fine antique furniture was bringing far below what it sold for new it seemed. Mid Century Modern (MCM) furniture has held a top selling spot for quite some time and primitive furniture is close behind. It seems the current trend shows us that unique and unusual collectible items are also selling well.
Do you have something in your collection of stuff or something you perhaps inherited from a relative that makes you kind of scratch your head and say “What’s that”? Here’s an example; ugly pottery face jugs (yes, that’s what they’re called) are hard to find. I had a client who was clearing out his Mother’s home and asked me to come and see if there was anything of value. As soon as I saw the pottery face jug, I knew it was something special. I had my client send it to an auctioneer in Maine who I knew specialized in those jugs. I knew this auctioneer had that niche market and this face jug would bring top dollar at one of his auctions. The jug my client was going to donate ended up selling in an online auction and it brought just over $5,000. So, the next time you’re not sure about getting rid of something, call a well-seasoned professional auctioneer for a walk-through. We see a lot of stuff and may be able to spot a treasure.
Trends change weekly and It’s important for an auctioneer to study what’s selling well in their market in order to keep up with what’s hot and what’s not. We must also be able to identify what kind of auction is a good fit. After all, we are working in the best interest of our client. I don’t sell heavy equipment anymore, but I can refer those type of inventories to someone who does a good job selling equipment. As well, other auctioneers will call me for inventories they think I will do a good job selling. Auctioneers work together. We’re a great community who cooperate with each other.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a first generation female auctioneer and business owner. I didn’t come from a long family line of auctioneers. Years ago, I simply fell in love with auctions just by going to auctions with my Mother. I found them entertaining and nerve wracking. Every time I raised my paddle to bid on something my heart would jump to my throat and the adrenaline rush would take over until the auctioneer said “Sold”.
In the Fall of 1993, my Mother and I went to a Sunday live auction event with some very fancy furniture and collectibles. At the time, I was a ballet teacher and was going through a divorce. I had two small children and was looking for a career change that would be more financially stable and would provide me with the flexibility I needed as a single parent. There she was…a female auctioneer. I had never seen a female auctioneer. I thought, like many others, being an auctioneer was a male driven industry. Well, at that time it was. As soon as I got back home I pulled out the phone book (look it up), and I found the Nashville Auction School. The next morning, I called and asked “How do I train to become an auctioneer”? The man on the other end of the land line told me they had just started a new session that very morning. I said, “Save a seat. I’m on my way”. I was one of two females in a class of forty-five.
I’m not going to lie, it’s been a tough road. I had to prove myself not only to the male auctioneers in the industry, but also to potential clients. You can imagine a young lady in the early 90’s talking to representatives from a construction company about selling surplus equipment inventory, or to a fabrication shop manager about selling inventory overages. Even talking to family members who had just lost a loved one about selling an entire estate which included the real estate and all the personal property was tough, but I was confident.
I decided early in my journey I was not going to compare myself to anyone. I was going to be myself and try to work harder than anyone else. I was fortunate to complete my two-year apprenticeship with a very honorable and ethical auctioneer who took me under his wing. His entire family was my support team. I tried to learn as much as I could about my industry and I got involved and participated on a national level. I needed to bring something to the table that set me apart from everyone else so I could solve my client’s problems and come to a good resolve for them.
After years of working for other auction companies, I decided it was time to open my own business. I wanted to do things my way. I consider myself and my company to be the auction concierge in this industry. We may not do as many auctions as the big box auction companies, but I am involved every step of the auction process. My staff all share my philosophy of hard work and attention to details. It’s hard to imagine after 30 years of selling, but I’m still learning and I still see something new in every auction I have never seen before. That’s the draw for me…the discovery.
What brings people to sell at auction are varied. Some simple and some heartbreaking. Some families are barely able to function because of the loss of a family member or the way the family member was lost. My company puts the client’s needs first and we try to do what is best for the client. We listen. And sometimes, we have to keep some sacred secrets. People trust us and I have learned without trust in life and in business, there is nothing.
I am most proud of being the first female inducted into the Tennessee Auctioneers Hall of Fame in 2015, and the first female President of the Tennessee Auctioneers Association (TAA) in 2020 through the pandemic. I was awarded the TAA State Bid Calling Champion in 2004 and the National Auction Association (NAA) International First Runner Up, Women’s Division in 2008. I am also proud to have been the recipient of a Resolution from the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2020 recognizing me as a leader in my community. The honor tied into the centennial celebration of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution which granted women the right to vote.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
On March 3, 2020, it was a very stormy night with tornados expected in Nashville, Tennessee. While Nashville is no stranger to tornados, it seemed all of Middle Tennessee was sleeping with one eye open that night because the thunder storms and weather warnings somehow felt different this time.
I was awake at 1 a.m. watching the weather as a tornado had been spotted in downtown Nashville. I called my oldest daughter, who lived within a half a mile from my business, and told her to get her family to a safe space. She did. We kept in contact as it was evident the tornado was nearby. Once I knew her family was okay, I was still on edge. Less than 30 minutes went by and I received a phone call from a business neighbor who was in the same business park. She said “Patti, the tornado hit the building”. I said, “Will you look through my front door and see if you can see any damage”? There was a long pause and then she said “Patti, there is no front door”. Even typing those words still bring emotion. I lost everything.
By the second day following the tornado, I could access the building. My office was a storyboard of my entire career and every time I looked at a framed newspaper article, a picture from a past auction or an award I had earned, it sparked a visual cue and brought me back to that time. It was my second home, my happy place. For six days following the tornado I went to what was left of the building. Auctioneer friends showed up to try to salvage whatever they could for me. They were my angels and I can never thank them enough. I even had some friends from high school I called “My girl squad” who came to help. Those people literally risked working in a dangerous environment just to help me salvage anything I could. We took whatever we could fit in the back of everyone’s pick-up trucks. Almost 30 years of visual reminders of my career from day one were forever gone.
Two days after the tornado, COVID shut down the world and seven days after the tornado, I fell and broke my ankle and wrist. For the next two years, we had to navigate the auction world in a bubble. I wasn’t sure if I could create a new normal, but then I did. I had to change my business platform completely. I still do what I do best, I just don’t have a warehouse. My last estate client, who was moving back to Alaska after losing her son and husband, called us her Angels. We helped her put one foot in front of the other and begin to move forward again with life. So, I think I found my new normal.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
A reputation is earned. It only takes one person to say something bad about your company or your name to ruin a lifetime of good work. Your name is all you really have so treat it like gold. I try to live up to my client’s expectations, but I don’t overpromise. I am transparent about what I do and how I do it. A very wise successful business woman, my mother, once told me the old adage “Knowledge is power”. It’s true. Take every opportunity to learn something new.
Contact Info:
- Website: Baldiniauction.com
- Instagram: Baldiniauctionllc
- Facebook: Baldiniauction.com
- Youtube: Baldini Auction Company