Auctions
One of the largest militaria auctions held anywhere in New Zealand.
Our Annual Auction
The annual auction is a great social gathering and the highlight of many a collector’s year – especially when they ‘win’ a long sought after item.
OVERVIEW
Each year for over 30 years the Wellington Branch NZA&HAA has held a club militaria auction.
- Our auction has become synonymous with a wide range of items up for sale. We normally expect the catalogue to have over 1500 items to be sold, and we often have another 300 – 500 odd lots on the Tender Tables.
- The annual auction has become the first port of call for many of the Association’s members throughout the country when it comes to the sale of their collections and surplus items. Cataloguing the items takes months of the members’ time, and they enjoy seeing new and interesting items that surface from time to time.
AUCTION 2023
Each year for over 30 years the Wellington Branch NZA&HAA has held a club militaria auction. This is one of the largest militaria auctions held anywhere in New Zealand, and it has become synonymous with a wide range of items up for sale.
THE CATALOGUE
Those who have not been involved with an event like this it is necessary to understand the work that goes into the preparation of the catalogue.
- As with every auction, collection begins in the months following the previous auction. This can involve trips away to all parts of the South & North Islands to log and record collections of all sizes. It is the practice of this Branch to leave as much detail as possible behind with the Vendor as to the items that have been removed for the inclusion in the next auction. To this end, a signed receipt for the items is a part of our routine.
- All items are tagged with a unique Vendor code and tag number and each item is given a thorough description for listing in our catalogue. We have a good number of people whose own collections provide them with ‘category related’ expertise to enable them to give a good description. However, if there is something unique or interesting about any item it is up to the Vendor to ensure that our cataloguers have been advised of the variations and details. No-one can be an all-round expert in everything!
- All items are then wrapped and placed in secure storage. Items of particular interest are stored in an easier to reach location for the purposes of photography for the catalogue.
- This process involves months of commitment and dedication to the purpose by Branch volunteers who do the job as part of their contribution to the Branch activities. We get asked by people once the catalogue is out to provide additional photographs or details for individual items. With some 2000 items in each of our catalogues it is not possible to pull everything out of storage to satisfy these requests. Please do not ask!
- With our July auction we look to start the photography process around March in the same year. By the end of March, we focus on pulling together all the catalogue descriptions into one file, apply proof reading to ensure that we eliminate as many spelling and grammatical errors as possible, and then create the colour pages and review the Conditions of Sale.
- Once the catalogue has been sent to the printer in early May the Vendor Lists are created and sent for review and reserves / estimates checking.
Labels are generated for the catalogue envelopes and we have a wonderful lady who constantly checks and updates the catalogue mailing list, applies the address labels and sorts the envelopes into post code order, as required by NZ Post. - So, as you can see, adding late lots is not possible within our processes. However, if you want to have your items included in the next auction you need to be thinking about contacting our Auction Convenor at the end of the year so you can be included in any pick up runs.
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