Visit The Garmisch Auction House
If you’re visiting Garmisch and The Merry Old England Auction House is hosting an auction, I recommend you go! If you can’t make the auction, there are a few things you can do to ensure you can bid on the items you want. In this blog post, I’ll break down everything you need to know before visiting the auction.
There are two different types of auctions. The Euro Auction and The Big Auction. These auctions take place on different days and weeks.
The Euro Auction
The Euro auction happens once a month. You can check out the calendar here to see the schedule.
You can preview all the euro auction items a few days before the auction begins. Head to the auction house and let the front desk know you want to preview the items. If you don’t have time to arrive a few days before, you can also show up an hour before the auction begins and look at the items.
Tip: I use Google Docs on my phone to write down all the numbers of the items I’m interested in. This helps me stay organized, I also write notes on how much items sold for so next time I know what to expect.
Step 1: Fill out your auction card at the front desk. (Mine is the red card with number 11 just like the picture above)
Step 2: Find a seat and review your numbers on your Google doc.
When the auction starts, you’ll sit in a large room. On the screen, you’ll see the items with the number. The auctioneer will call out the numbers and start the bidding at one Euro, Two Euros, Three Euros, etc. If you’re interested in an item, throw up your card and hold it until you’ve reached your maximum number. (This is all done in German, but everyone at the auction house speaks excellent English for the most part! Don’t be afraid to ask questions; they’re really nice)
Tip: Most of the items. at this auction stay below 20 Euro, there are a few items that tend to go over but not by much. You also don’t have to stay for the entire auction once you bid on the items you want, you can pay, pick up your items and go home. The auction house told me they do about 1 number every 2 mins and the euro auction averages about 3 hours sometimes more if they have more items.
Step 3: After you‘ve placed your bid on all the items, you’re ready to check out. Take your bid card to the front desk; they’ll check you out there. You can then take your receipt to the room where you look at the items, pick them up, and go home! If you can’t take your items home that day, that’s okay. Just let them know! You have up to two weeks to pick up your items.
If you cannot attend the auction and bid on items yourself, you have two options.
Option 1. They will call you when your item is up and bid for you while you’re on the phone.
Option 2. You can fill out a silent auction form and put your max bid.
I never get close to my max bid when I’ve done a silent auction, and I’ve always won my items.
The Big Auction
This auction is held monthly for higher-end items (jewelry, paintings, furniture, carpets, etc.).
Just like the Euro auction, you can preview the items in person, but can also look at the items online in the catalog and know the minimal bidding price.
How to bid on items.
Option 1: You can go in person and bid live.
Option 2: You can silently bid, make sure to talk to the front desk to get the silent auction form. I’ve done this with carpets, I was then notified the next day that I won and was able to pick up my items the next day.
Option 3: You can have them call you, and you can bid on the items over the phone.
If you’re bidding in person, when you’re done bidding, you can check out at the front desk, and you can pick up your items. If you need to come back to pick up your items, just let them know. You have two weeks to pick up your things.
I’ve had a lot of success at the Euro Auction—it’s my personal favorite! I’ve only done the silent bid for my carpets (I won) at the big auction but my friends have had a lot of success with other items like an antique piano for 200 Euro! (Also silent bid)
I hope this blog post has encouraged you to visit The Merry Old England! If you decide to go tell them that I sent you!
Useful Resources
You can find out the schedule of the auctions, preview the big auction items and get directions on there website.