Update: In July 2020, Holabird found the two lots that were lost last December! It took ~7 months to get the outstanding items, but they did follow up.Im updating this review from 2 stars to 5. After dealing with several other auction houses online, to be frank, this was better service than Ive received from most other places. Everything got here eventually, and intact. Much, much less of a headache than some other recent purchases.Im confused by the negative reviews on here complaining about buyers premiums. A 15-30% buyers commission is standard for auctions, online and in person. Nothing to gripe about; if auction houses didnt charge a commission on sales, they wouldnt make any money. Thats the auction houses cut of the sale.------ Old review ------Short version: Disappointing. Some won items were lost, never arrived. I was refunded for them.Long version: Wanted an item in one of their auctions a month ago -- a lot of rough Montana sapphires: lot 4066 in the December 8, 2019 auction. I made sure Id be at home and awake that morning for the 8am Sunday auction.While watching that auction, I saw some other interesting things and wound up getting 14 lots in total. The total was $700-800 with shipping and commission. The sapphires were the biggest single item at ~$250. Nothing huge, but theyre what I really wanted.Holabird lost that lot before shipping. They held onto everything for a month while they tried to find it.They finally refunded me for the sapphires and shipped the rest of the items ~5 weeks after the auction. When I opened the box, one of the other 13 lots was missing. They refunded me for the missing lot within a few hours, but -- they didnt even say they looked for it. I followed up, got no response.So...Holabird refunded me for the lost lots, but...what the hell. 2/14 items didnt get here, including the thing Id really wanted. I wound up getting ~$500 of add-on items, and not even all of them.Just disappointing.Ill revise this if they find the missing things.

I won a stamp collection sold by this vendor recently via liveauctioneers. That was confirmed via email. They issued me an invoice and i paid the item. After I paid the item. I got an email saying that theyre cancelling the sale due to clerical error and low bidder turnout. I disagreed but i never heard back from this vendor and they just refunded my payment. Very disgusting way of conducting business!!! Beware of this vendor!!!

BUYER’S PREMIUMThis auction house charges you a “Buyer’s Premium”, as if it is somehow a great privilege that you are allowed to buy from them. Just think about it. Would you go into any other business and pay this. Go into any major or minor retailer. Pick say $1000.00 in merchandise. You get your sales slip and they want $1250.00 plus any applicable taxes. You show them the mistake and they tell you it is a “Buyer’s Premium”. Would you pay it? Why pay it here? The hammer price is the same as the price in a retail shop. Why are you paying more?The bidder has $1,000.00 to spend on an item you have consigned and must take into consideration the buyers premium. Say that premium is 20% that means on the $1,000.00 dollar item there is only $834.00 to spend before the rest is eaten away by the premium. The higher the premium the less the bidder has before the rest is eaten away by the premium.Just something to think about.

Ive known Fred Holabird for over 10 years. Fred is an expert in his field, and one of the last honest, fair auctioneers in the collectibles business.Fred Holabird treats every customer like a friend and gives a $500 consignment the same time, thought, research, and marketing he gives a $50,000 consignment. He is a genuine, honest, hardworking businessman, the utmost professional, and a brilliant researcher. He takes a scientific approach to authentication and appraisal projects and is credited with groundbreaking research in his field.I highly recommend Fred Holabird as an expert appraiser, researcher, legal witness and precious metal fingerprinter, and his auction business is well known for its incredible catalogs, historical research services, comprehensive database of clients/collectors, National marketing efforts and professional auction services.If you want to get the most information you can about your heirloom, discovery or collectible investment, Fred Holabird is a respected expert WITH INTEGRITY and Fred Holabirds Western Americana auctions consistently earn consignors some of the highest prices realized in the industry.

I purchased a 22 rifle form this auction house, hammer price $325 . The buyers premium was $81.25, shipping $47.32, FFL fee? $30.00 and a handling fee? of $50.00 for a total of $533.57. I have been in the firearm business for 30 years, use online auctions often, I have never seen an auction house gouge its customers in such a way, shipping is overpriced, what is a FFl fee and a handling fee? I will never use holabird again and would recommend that others be aware of these charges before bidding on any auctions by this auction house.

Fred Holabird may be one of the smartest people I know. His brain is a walking encyclopedia of western ephemera, geology and history in general. And...his ethics and honesty are untouchable. I am failing to mention his amazing staff...smart, smart, smart.