Name one camera that you regret not winning at an auction and why ..

[smiffy_smiffy]

By auction we mean any auction at all, not just on-line.

The biggest regret we have is just missing a mint & complete Le Coultre Compass outfit which went for £60 odd ( yes £60 ! ) back in the early '90s. at a local auction.

The guy who won it could not believe his luck... shortly afterwards one sold at Christie's for £4500 😨

[kmac]

Two folding cameras, online, 1) A true near mint Kodak No4 and, 2) a fairly rare, I would say quite rare, red Kodak 2A Model B Rainbow Hawkeye with it's original red bellows. Right at a time when I was putting the brakes on buying more cameras and became half-hearted. Only later on did I really regret not bidding higher on both, I was the second highest bidder in each case.

[smiffy_smiffy]

3 minutes ago, kmac said:

Two folding cameras, online, 1) A true near mint Kodak No4 and, 2) a fairly rare, I would say quite rare, red Kodak 2A Model B Rainbow Hawkeye with it's original red bellows. Right at a time when I was putting the brakes on buying more cameras and became half-hearted. Only later on did I really regret not bidding higher on both, I was the second highest bidder in each case.

Yes we were the second highest bidders on the Compass.... and it still hurts !!

[Niels - NHSN]

I regret I didn’t sign the Beatles and Taylor Swift - among other things.

[samstevens]

A great philosopher once said ...

Quote

"I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done."
—Lucille Ball

 

Edited June 22, 2023 by samstevens

[John Seaman]

Having bid many thousands of times on the auction site, and many hundreds of times at local auctions, I can't honestly recall any particular item I've regretted missing out on. I'm better at remembering successes. For example a Rolleiflex 3.5F for £200, a pre-war Zeiss Olympia Sonnar for £85, and a complete Envoy Wide Angle kit for £75.

Edited June 22, 2023 by John Seaman

[smiffy_smiffy]

2 hours ago, John Seaman said:

Having bid many thousands of times on the auction site, and many hundreds of times at local auctions, I can't honestly recall any particular item I've regretted missing out on. I'm better at remembering successes. For example a Rolleiflex 3.5F for £200, a pre-war Zeiss Olympia Sonnar for £85, and a complete Envoy Wide Angle kit for £75.

Fair comment John

[smiffy_smiffy]

3 hours ago, samstevens said:

A great philosopher once said ...

 

Another fair comment Sam :0)

[smiffy_smiffy]

4 hours ago, kmac said:

Two folding cameras, online, 1) A true near mint Kodak No4 and, 2) a fairly rare, I would say quite rare, red Kodak 2A Model B Rainbow Hawkeye with it's original red bellows. Right at a time when I was putting the brakes on buying more cameras and became half-hearted. Only later on did I really regret not bidding higher on both, I was the second highest bidder in each case.

A recognisable scenario without doubt :0) 

[smiffy_smiffy]

6 hours ago, Normanski said:

Why didn’t you bid more, you tight twat? You could’ve saved us all this grief/mirth

You sound just like my ex husband 😝

[glen_h]

My auction system is mostly to bid low, and win too many cameras.

(Both shopgoodwill and the Goodwill eBay site.)

The only two I specifically wanted are the Canon Pellix, and Beseler Topcon Auto 100.

The Pellix my dad had until it was stolen out of his car trunk while watching the taping of Johnny Carson.

The Auto 100, my grandfather had when I was younger.  When I was 10, I inherited much of his photography equipment, but not that one.

(I still have the Nikor 35mm tank, and some other darkroom equipment, over 50 years later.)

 

Both the Pellix and Auto 100 I eventually won at auction, but not the first ones I bid on.

[kmac]

It's impossible to tell if you will win an auction anyway. You could just keep bidding until you go into hock to get the item, win it that way, not me though.

I was watching the last seconds of an auction once and the highest and the second highest bidders both threw in insanely high bids hoping to outbid each other on a cheap camera that both bidders obviously wanted, but hardly anyone else would. The winning bidder ended up paying about four times in excess of the real market value of the camera. There was nothing special about that camera that I could fathom.

Edited June 23, 2023 by kmac

[kmac]

11 hours ago, John Seaman said:

Having bid many thousands of times on the auction site, and many hundreds of times at local auctions, I can't honestly recall any particular item I've regretted missing out on. I'm better at remembering successes. For example a Rolleiflex 3.5F for £200, a pre-war Zeiss Olympia Sonnar for £85, and a complete Envoy Wide Angle kit for £75.

Yes of course ... my regrets on missing out on the two desirable Kodaks I wanted waned when I picked up a few near new folders. An all original 3A red bellows Kodak for US$39 (strange auction that was for this beautiful 3A, bidding slowed early in the auction, then nothing. I waited the remaining days, and stepped in with my bid at the last seconds and grabbed it with no opposing bids. Good 3A red bellows usually go for over US$100)

A maroon Kodak 2A Rainbow Hawkeye without a scratch or blemish for US$100. Very nice camera but with course pleat black bellows. I'll be changing the bellows to the correct fine pleat and paint them redish maroon.

A truly near mint 70mm film Zeiss Ikon 530/15 for half the price that others are listed for, and I only had to make a new bright line plastic piece for the viewfinder, not rough, I spent a week trying different ways to make it right, finally succeeded.

A new looking No1 Pocket Kodak with gleaming chrome work and bright shiny stylus mounted on the lens standard, for very few dollars.

One last one, a very neat new looking bottom of the ladder 4.5x6 Zeiss Nettar Anastigmat f6.3. Well kept little camera for US$46 IIRC, a good buy IMO

Yes, I don't feel so bad now.

[JDMvW]

Like many of us, I have a history of being the second-highest bidder. A few times I have bid higher than I should have and actually won. I'm not so sure that has been all that satisfying, though.