Auctioneer sees value in anything, everything
Ray Delaporte, pictured a few years ago, wearing a bowler hat with name “Landau Co.,” in the lining. At the time of this photo, his business, Carpetbaggers, was located at 1408 Market, in the building that formerly housed Aldoph and Jacob Landau’s men’s clothing business. “I paid a fortune for that hat, but I had to have it.” File photo by Mary Lou Montgomery.
MARY LOU MONTGOMERY
Ray Delaporte’s 43-year career as an auctioneer has given him a unique perspective on human nature.
“It is harder work than just talking,” he said. “Behind the scene there is the work of getting the sale ready. You have to be a psychologist,” he said, “to settle family fights.
“You have to be a preacher and a sheriff at the same time. Just about every sale will have some fight of some sort. They say that money is the main root of all evil, and that is true. Everyone thinks it’s sad that dear old grandma passed away, but deep down, they all want the money.
“I’ve seen many a family break up over such like that.”
One auction, for example, “Judge Wilson called and said it would be a nasty one. A guard stood beside me because the family was fighting so bad. It went pretty smooth that day,” Delaporte said, until after the sale, when someone told him, “That guy over there wanted to kill you. He said ‘if we got rid of the auctioneer, we wouldn’t have to sell this stuff.’”
Honorary title
The title of colonel for an auctioneer dates back to the Civil War, Delaporte said, “when army colonels were in charge of selling surplus equipment. It is an honorary title, like Dr. or Professor. A lot of the older people still call me Col. Delaporte.”
Family business
Delaporte, the son of Don and Gloria Delaporte, grew up in the Monroe City and Hunnewell area.
“Raymond McClain, my mother’s dad, lived on a farm, and he was lonely. He moved me in with him when I was young, and we went to every auction.” In those days, “everybody knew everybody; you had to go see what they had and get a memento. Back before the Cannon Dam was built, and everybody had to move, there were a lot of auctions during that time period.
“My grandpa took me to every auction there was in the country. Once I started, I enjoyed it; it’s something that has to be bred into you.
“My folks sent me to auction school to get me over my shyness. I started when I was 12 years old. Out of 207 students, in 1985, I graduated top of my class.
“When I was 12, I was selling livestock for the Shelbina Livestock market every Wednesday. I was one of three auctioneers.”
Now, at the age of 55, he has been in the business for 43 years.
Interesting auction
Among the most interesting auctions he remembers is that of Doris Rouse, who lived at 210 North Fifth Street.
“The house was like a museum,” he said. “48 of 50 states were represented at her auction, which continued for four days.
“Her husband was (Raymond J. ‘Judge’) Rouse, and they collected antiques. They had the Hornets Nest antique store on Mark Twain Avenue and she said that everything that was good that came through her door, always went home with her. Everything in the house was antiques. A beautiful house. It was in good shape when she moved out if it.”
Later owners tore it up, he said, even removing the fireplace mantles, and all the pocket doors.
In preparation for the auction, Delaporte had taken a video, mostly showing the furniture in place.
When Nora Creason and her husband, Don Metcalf purchased the property with plans to restore it, Ray shared the video with them.
“It really came in useful to Nora. She was able to get fireplace mantles just like what were in there. That is the original house where they had Laura Hawkins’ funeral. They had a funeral right there.”
(Beginning this spring, the Laura Hawkins house will be open for public tours.)
Family business
“This used to be a family business; everyone was kin to me. My mom, dad, grandma, my aunts. Now nobody is kin to me. They died off. It used to be so much family.
“My mom was the really picky one. ‘No, you’re not setting that old bucket out to sell until it is clean.’ Presentation is the main selling point. If it looks good, it will sell good. She’s right.”
Online auctions
These days, many of Delaporte’s auctions are conducted online.
During Covid, outdoor auctions were shut down. Mary Schaible from Taylor, made a suggestion that turned his business around.
“She knew I was struggling during Covid, and she said, ‘Why don’t you try an online auction?’ We did, and it flew from there. I’m very shocked at how much (online auctions) have grown. We have 123 sales waiting for next year. People already booked up that much.”
Antiques are his best sellers, along with primitives, including knives and quilts.
“Dishes are the worst selling. China, glassware, crystal will still sell; pressed glass is practically worthless right now.
“It is pretty stuff but it is not selling.
“There was a time when quilts weren’t worth nothing.
“Record albums are coming back. For awhile you couldn’t even give records away.
“For awhile, bell bottom pants went out of style, and then they came back. Works in circles. Good walnut furniture is not selling right now, but I still buy it because I like it, and one of these days it will come back again.”
“I just rented my third building to put my stuff in. I hate to admit it but I’m kind of a hoarder. My secretary would say I’m probably a big one.
“Being an auctioneer, I can see the value of anything and everything, I hate to throw something away if it has a value to it.
“If you’re invited,” to a dinner, “turn the sliverware over and look at the name. It’s a bad habit. I look at the value of stuff in people’s houses.”
Molly Brown house
“When I had Carpetbaggers, (at 1408 Market) we helped furnish the Molly Brown house. They came in wanting a desk, and while they were in there looking, we found pictures and chairs. We delivered them and put them right in the house.
“That was a long time ago, before the Dempseys bought it,” he said.
Learning curve
At a traditional yard auction, Delaporte said he can sell three or four items a minute. But online, it can take 5 to 8 minutes to sell things because there is lag time with the computers.
John Bridgeman, another veteran Hannibal-area auctioneer, is learning the ins and outs of online auctions.
“The other night I trained John to help me on these sales. He found out it is a lot harder than it looks. He broke out in a sweat on the first couple of items, like a kid taking a test he didn’t study for. But he did fine after that.”
Relocation
Two or three years ago, Delaporte moved his business from the old Carpetbaggers location at 1408 Market, where he had been in business for about 20 years, to 3533 Market St.
The roof of the old building caved in, he said. “It’s nice to have a building now that don’t leak.”
After closing the business at that location, he was approached by a woman regarding the inventory at 1408 Market. “She came in one day and wanted to buy (the inventory) everything for one price. It was like a prayer being answered. I didn’t have to move nothing.”
Yard auctions
Delaporte still conducts yard auctions. “We had a couple in Quincy last year; most of my sales are within a 100-mile radius. I think we had 15 outdoor sales this year; the rest were online.”
Outdoor auctions don’t attract crowds like they used to. “Since Covid hit, people don’t want to do nothing no more. It used to be an average of 400 or 500 people at an outside auction, now its 60 to 100 at an outside sale. It used to be people who went to a farm sale would park, and walk 2 or 3 miles to get there. Now if they can’t park right out front, they don’t even want to go to it.
“Progress is ugly at times. People are getting lazier every day.
“This Covid had drawn people so far apart, it really separated this country.”
Live auctions
Delaporte conducts three Facebook online auctions a week, at 6 p.m. every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. “People tune in and watch live and bid. Some buyers are there every week, they are a family,” he said. “They live for these sales. They are very addictive.
“We range around 100 people per auction online, which is very, very good.”
Thursday evening’s auction was the last one before Christmas, and many of the buyers got an extra bonus in the way of Missouri lottery tickets.
Mike bought a Truglo bow, which needed to be restrung, for $50.
Mike also bought a heavy duty army coat, insulated, for $20.
During the sale, participants could hear a crash. “Don’t go in the back room” Delaporte warned John Bridgeman, who was assisting with the sale, “cause everything fell over.”
From there the sale continued without a glitch.
Janet bought a Walls hooded coat for $35.
Carla bought a Sportrax coat, missing a zipper pull, for $20.
Per usual, the lucky bidders picked up their items at his office the following day.
A Rytera bow was among the items auctioned Thursday evening on Facebook, by Ray Delaporte. Screenshot by Mary Lou Montgomery
John Bridgeman holds a men’s coat during an online auction Thursday evening, while Ray Delaporte does a visual countdown to end the bidding. Screenshot by Mary Lou Montgomery
