Rod Bellars collection

[rob love]

Are those lot numbers 270,271 and 272? The photos don't match the descriptions. The descriptions are for an oerlikon, a solothurn and a hispano. Lot 273 would appear to be an American 60mm mortar, but it's listed as an Australian 2" mortar.

[Tim Bell]

Originally Posted by rob love

Are those lot numbers 270,271 and 272? The photos don't match the descriptions. The descriptions are for an oerlikon, a solothurn and a hispano. Lot 273 would appear to be an American 60mm mortar, but it's listed as an Australian 2" mortar.

Hmm... you have a point... poor listing.

[Bob Phillips]

Lots 279 & 291 show a Luger pistol while the descriptions are for a Japanese pistol and a 2 inch mortar. Hmm

[rob love]

I guess it's kind of like when Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood) says in the movie: "Do you feel lucky....well do ya, punk"?. You might get a luger, you might get a 2" mortar. I know which one I would prefer, and it's not German.



I actually bid on a lot on the first series of auctions that had a poor description and no picture. They called it "war tools" and it came right after another listing for war tools that was the same size as the mystery batch. I surmised it was for 10 of the Vickers belt awls like the previous auction, and got the batch for $27, less than half of what the proceeding lot went for.


One thing I will say about this auction house is that they are very receptive and very forthcoming. If you send them an email, they answer back quickly and do everything they can to assist. I am pretty sure the same will go for the listings. If you send them a note about an inaccuracy of a listing, they will sort it out. I saw a few of the lots in the previous auctions where the listing was changed, and it was obviously written by someone who knew what they were talking about.

[colin jones]

Rob, it's funny you say they are very receptive and forthcoming. I have had nothing but silence. I have asked numerous times! As Lloyds have total access
to the highest bidders, what action is in place to protect the bidders from Lloyds increasing the bids with dummy bidders to maximize the price. I asked the question on 3 separate occasions and received only answers from the reception saying they will pass it on to the appropriate person. Again there was no response. The last one was telling them that I and other people NEVER received what was bid on as there was items missing. I was then told my questions were to be "escalated" to the Armory auctioneer and again there was no response. There are stories of people that put on a very high bid when they could not be there at the fall of the hammer only to find that they had won the bid and just happened to be the exact amount of their highest bid. Another one of my friends bought a artillery piece only to find a significant sighting part and tool box were removed and got no response or help. I was also missing numerous parts from boxes as well. I would suggest people to save the pictures of what you were bidding o and check what you get. I don't have a lot of confidence with on line auctions now and in particular Lloyds.

[Harry Moon]

basically your question is are you thieves? not likely to get a receptive answer.

[rob love]

I have had some of what you describe happen to me over the years at auctions Colin. At one auction, I bought a couple of airsoft M-72 launchers in their original packages. When I brought them back from the podium, I noticed one did not weigh what the other one did. Turns out it had a couple pieces of 2x4 lumber tossed into it. There was previewing going on for most of the previous day, and it likely happened then. I knew the guy who the auction was for, and when I showed him, he had the auctioneers fix it immediately.

I have also seen where, during the previews, people will move items from other lots into ones they desire, and bury them deep into the box. Sometimes it is items that belong to the set, other times it is just fraud. Problem with an auction like this is that the photos were taken months and months ago, and there could have been a lot of hands on the stuff since then. But I agree with you that if there are items missing when you go to pick it up, the auction house should make it right. But they, and not the family or owners, should take that loss, as the auction house had care and custody.
As to the max bid also being the wining bid, I have also seen some auction houses that will toss the entire max pre-bid into a live auction. I have also been at auctions where the auctioneer will have a list of pre-bids, and leaves it on the table for anyone in the front rows to see. But for an auction house to up-bid an online auction...if they got caught doing that, they would soon be out of business.

As near as I can see, the photos that were presented for this batch of auctions are still available to be viewed or saved. But once you have removed your goods from the auction house, it will be hard to prove that anything was missing. The time to do that is during pickup, and then the purchaser would have to decide if he is willing to walk away from the goods and seek a full refund.

I feel for you and others that feel they did not get what they paid for. Having been on that end of the stick myself, it doesn't feel good.