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Questions for Hakes

9 posts in this topic

We now have a representative of a fairly big auction house here on the boards. 893applaud-thumb.gif I think he will be a valuable asset to this board, and can give us many insider insights that we would never know otherwise.

Hopefully, we can treat him with respect and courtesy. 893whatthe.gif

I would like to know some background on how the company got it's start....

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We now have a representative of a fairly big auction house here on the boards. 893applaud-thumb.gif

 

We've had them before. They've been run off.

 

These boards are not for the thin skinned or easily offended. poke2.gif

 

Or people that are only here long enough to post spamm without bothering to read the rules.

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In answer to the questions as to the origins of Hake's, here's a small portion of our history, as it appears on our website.

 

...In 1965, while still a college student, Ted Hake began to issue carbon-copy sales list consisting of political pin-back buttons. Customer response to the lists were beyond his expectations. With many potential buyers scattered across the country, some people were disappointed to learn that specific items of interest had been sold a day or two earlier.

 

Inspired by a concept initiated by George Rinsland's Americana Mail Auctions in the early 1960's, Hake resolved to conduct his sales in an auction format. [Then (as now), upon receipt of their catalogs, customers could submit their bids by mail and later raise those bids by telephone on the auction closing day.] This practice proved both fair and successful.

 

Throughout the late 1960's, Hake gradually added a number of "special interest" categories to his lists which had previously been limited to buttons. New additions included radio premiums, toys and comic character merchandise. By the fourth auction, the items were photo-illustrated - a clever strategy based on the theory that people would be more inclined to buy what they could see. "Talk about crude," Ted remembers. "I shot them (the auction items) out on the roof of my apartment. I had no lights! I had a camera that probably wouldn't focus down any closer than two feet. I'd photograph at four in the afternoon so that all of the shadows would shoot off to one side!"

 

Any short comings were over looked as business boomed in the midst of a nationwide wave of nostalgia for the collectibles of yesteryear. So encouraging was the response, that by 1971 he decided to devote his full-time attention to developing Hake's Americana & Collectibles, with particular emphasis on "trying to cultivate collectors over the years" - a unique perspective at the time.

 

In the intervening years, prior to the move into professional offices, the business operated out of the Hake household. Today, Jonell Hake laughingly reminisces about having to schedule wash days around photo sessions in the family laundry room...

 

New categories continue to be added to Hake's auctions, including the recent addition of CGC-graded comic books.

 

Mike

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don't be bothered by comments from anyone here.

 

Good advice, applicable to everyone.

 

Also applicable to everyone: Don't spam here and you wont have comments to be bothered by. thumbsup2.gif

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