Lifestyles

J.S. Dill Auctions

The New Year will add a few new -- and welcome -- wrinkles to J.S. Dill Auctions. While the Zelienople-based auction house will continue with its traditional New Year's Day sale, co-owners Jack Dill and Bob Hanks also will kick off 2007 by introducing a series of changes to the company's business plan.

"We realized it was time to revise our operation," Hanks says. "We saw 2007 shaping up as a strong market for local auctioneers and had to decide if we were going to be players. So we decided it was time to refresh our company and the way we do business."

Among the last of the region's auctioneers to institute a buyer's premium, the company also is revamping its consignor's commissions. Instead of the longtime 35-percent cut it took on final hammer prices, Dill will now negotiate that percentage based on a number of considerations, including the quality of the goods and other factors. That move alone helped "open the floodgates" for a higher level of items for its next auction, which will be cataloged online.

"It's the way that some of the bigger names around here have operated for years," Hanks says. "They instituted the buyer's premium as a way to help lower the commission on the seller. It doesn't take customers long to realize that they can make more money by going with a company that takes less money out of their pockets at the end of the day."

In addition, the company will start computerizing its operations. Customers soon will be able to register and check out sales online. Eventually, Hanks says, bidders will be able to participate in sales through eBay.

Another noticeable difference will be the building's physical appearance. During the past few weeks, contractors have been reconfiguring the interior to make it more "user friendly." To provide more merchandise display space on sale days, workers are relocating restrooms and moving walls. Hanks says he expects all remodeling to be completed shortly after the start of the year.

Still, the biggest change is the company's sales schedule. The usual hell-or-high-water weekly Thursday auctions are history. Instead, sales will be scheduled when the quality and quantity of the merchandise warrant them.

"From now on, you'll see more Saturday and Sunday sales," Hanks says. "If we don't have good stuff to present, we're not going to have an auction just to meet an arbitrary schedule. It's just a better way to do business."

So, with a new game plan for the New Year, what can bidders expect on New Year's Day? Plenty, if the six hours Hanks spent cataloging the sale is any indication.

"The sale should be interesting because it's a mixed up, shook up affair of all different types of things," he says. "Antiques make up about 70 (percent) to 80 percent of the sale, with newer furniture from top manufacturers accounting for the remaining 20 percent."

The biggest sales item -- a massive Henredon Furniture TV cabinet -- will require plenty of room and muscle to find its way to a new home. According to Hanks, the two-piece unit required four men to move it. In nearly new condition, it originally sold for $21,000 retail.

Almost light years away in auction terms, several primitive antique cupboards represent the sale's opposite spectrum. In between the extremes, bidders can vie for locally produced stoneware, a nice array of paintings, a sampling of modest reverse painted glass lamps, some nice local historical memorabilia, old-fashioned pocket watches and much more among the 420 lots that kick off this 2007 inaugural sale.

On the heels of the Jan 1. event, the crew returns to action Jan. 6 for a sale that should surprise Hanks as much as bidders. Due to some last-minute scheduling changes, the consignors packed away much of the merchandise before he had a chance to see what went into the boxes.

While much has changed, J.S. Dill remains at 2341 Evans City Road, Zelienople. Previews for Monday's sale are from noon-4 p.m. Sunday and 11 a.m.-noon Monday, followed by the noon sale.

For the Jan. 6 sale, previews start one hour before the noon auction.

Details: 724-453-0853 or 412-362-9001 or www.jsdillauctions.com

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