Michaan’s Auctions

A loved one died and his belongings ended up going to Michaan’s. My loved one’s daughter tried to purchase a dining set and sideboard (which Michaan’s split up into two different lots). She got only the sideboard. Then they lost the shelves within the sideboard and shipped it to her on the east coast before she could stop them. I wanted just one lamp of his. It had been in my house when we lived together for 16 years. Michaan’s placed three of his lamps and only two of the shades in one lot. The shade to the only lamp I wanted ended up in a separate lot… so ridiculous! I only managed to win the bid on the shade, which is useless without the lamp and it’s not a shade that will fit on any old lamp. The man who bought the three lamps (and only two shades)…some dealer in Nevada I guess) wasn’t willing to sell me the lamp body so now I have a shade (for $ 60) with no lamp body. It was a beautiful lamp. I can only imagine what kind of an ugly shade the dealer who got the lamp put on it. Michaan’s tried (I was told) to get the lamp body owner to sell it back to me. He’s either heartless or Michaan’s never tried. dunno. Michaan’s stopped communicating with me and I’m selling the shade at a yard sale. I would have at least felt better if they made an attempt to get back to me. What I do know is that the lamp shade never should have been sold in a separate lot from the lamp body and they never should have lost the shelves within the custom-​made sideboard. Very disappointing.

Only auction house I know of that won, t help you remove stuff from their bulilding much less load it, so plan on hiring help. They also won’t let you pick up at 5PM even if auction continues till 6PM. With them being in such an out of the way location it means you might have to make an extra trip to pick up 1 small item. No carts were available for loading today. They leave them 300 feet from the building in a pile and tell you not to use them. Makes no sense. Guess I will stop buying the large pieces that sit here month after month.

I bought a beautiful art deco dining room set for a good price, so I am happy!

A great estate liquidator — I can’t comment on the «auction house» aspect of the firm.
Back in 2012, they sold thousands and thousands of dollars of my ex-​wifes abandoned things, including top shelf level designer hand bags, fashions and shoes, for pennies on the dollar in huge grouped lots. Many antique items sold for near ¹⁄₁₀^th the value I’d paid at the Alameda Flea Market where we’d purchased many of them — but I was soooo thankful for the lack of effort I needed to put into this process — it was totally worth it. I didn’t have to answer any annoying phone calls or emails, they were great. In fact all communication was USPS mailed to me… Often these letters listing out lot groupings and prices, or discussing cost reductions would arrive days after the listed sale date so there was nothing to even respond too — the items would be sold.
In fact, I’d suggest the tagline for this company be — «Poof gone.»
But I’ll put my copyright on that first: © 2015 David M — but it is for sale if anyone at Michaan’s is interested?
Really this is the place to go to ship all of your ex’s abandoned junk. They’ll sell anything, for anything they can get… and you get a few bucks in your pocket and you don’t even need to talk to anyone about it.
Just perfect! Just what I needed. Thank you Michaan’s.

Very professional, I was really impressed with the facility and the staff.

A while ago I would have given 4 – 5 stars but after our most recent transaction I would drop it to zero if I could… so I’m giving them 1 star now. My family sold a number of higher end Asian items with Harry and things went basically well. The first time one of my items sold (for a LOT more than any of us thought it would!!) the buyer never paid so it had to be offered a second time, it did really well that time and we got paid. My mother then had Nick come to the house to look at everything, after Harry had already earmarked a number of things for estate auction that he didn’t want for the Asian specialty auction. My brother took multiple truckloads of furniture and housewares to the warehouse and was told multiple times that we would be notified what items were chosen for the estate sale and which ones would go to the Annex sale. The Annex sale is the bargain basement where things can sell for as little as a dollar. We made it clear we may not want items sold in the Annex sale and to inform us before any sale where our items would be placed. We received notification by mail AFTER the annex sale that the bulk of our items had been sold in the annex sale for very little. We were shocked and heart broken. Some of these items we would NOT have sold but would have kept in the family if they weren’t going to bring in some nice money for my mother. I guess if you are a buyer this is the place to find amazing bargains, but if you are a seller be sure to be a VERY squeaky wheel before any auction to make sure your items aren’t selling where you don’t want them sold.
In response to the Michaan’s comment– the letter Michaan’s sent was dated ²⁄₁₉ but the envelope was postmarked ³⁄₂ and the annex sale was on ³⁄₃ and ¾. Shame on them. My family still has items to be sold because they had not been sold yet and retrieving them in the midst of moving my elderly mother was too great a burden. I will say that Rhonda in Jewelry and Kim in Asian Specialty have both been very kind and attentive and a credit to a company that on other levels shows little care for their sellers.

I love the annex (general stuff, antiques, furniture, art, etc) auctions! My routine is to preview the auction on the weekend, then leave absentee bids (because these auctions are held on weekdays when I work, and besides absentee bidding keeps emotional bidding in check). I have made. a lot of money reselling hidden gems that turned up in lots I bought cheap!
I love the staff — so helpful and nothing is too much trouble. This weekend I lost my phone somewhere in the warehouse and you would think the guys had nothing to do but help me look until the phone turned up. Thanks again.

Wow!!! Unilocal needs to have zero star. This is probably the worse auction house. I went to the free appraisal today with 5 high end pocket watches. I waited about an hour before I saw a so called specialist sitting in the front room. She was not friendly and acted like I was wasting her time. She told me to put all my stuff on the desk. She glanced at the pocket watches and said most of them are are not original. She said my Patek pocket watch movement was definitely not the original. She did not realized that I have the original certificate for the watch and certificate of origin from Patek company confirming the the movement. I asked her a few questions and she got a little defensive. She cut me off and said she need to help the next person and don’t have time to answer anymore questions. She said if I wanted to auction my watch she would put my 151 grams solid 18k gold Howard pocket watch with a large center diamond at $ 700. I told her the melt value on that watch would be at least double that price. She said i dont have time for this. Anyways she just booted me out and called the next person. I took the watch to a high end watch reseller in SF and sold the watch for $ 4800. I understand the appraisal is free but it does not mean you can treat people like crap and lie to them. I have seen bad service in some places but this has to be the worse. Note to the owner… you need new employees who will treat people with respect. Horrible!!!

Beautiful and upscale stage and seating center. Lots of leg room and bathrooms easy to access too. Looks like a barrack from the outside but fabulous inside.

Michaan’s epitomizes what’s great about an auction house.
They are:
1) Knowledgeable and passionate; from Rhonda in Jewelry, to Harry in Asian art and Alan with his incredible insight to all things Tiffany, they don’t miss a beat from a staff perspective.
2) Integrity; as a buyer, they do their VERY best to shoot it straight, putting their reputation in front of chasing the almighty buck. I only wish other auction houses in the East Bay subscribed to the same theory. There’s trust with the staff at Michaans and that starts at the top with Alan Michaan and permeates the entire staff from top to bottom. Arnette rocks!
3) Friendly and helpful. Running a company myself, I’ve become fairly astute in assessing charter of employee’s and there isn’t a weak link in the bunch.
4) Fantastic merchandise! I think because they treat people like they’d like to be treated (The Golden Rule people) and for the reasons mentioned above, they attract the best consigners. The Bay Area has a history of wealth and good taste, so it makes sense that there are so many amazing finds that happen at their auctions. Anybody can go out and buy something new; Michaan’s literally has treasures from the past.
5) Great prices (most times)
If I could give them 10 stars I would.

An update — this past month all of my purchases were still there when I went to do my pick up and only one thing had been broken between purchase and pick up. Big change, thanks Michaan’s! And I love, love, love the women on the floor, they are the best. And Emily — what can I say? She’s the best, too.

Great spot to buy and/​or sell practically anything. As a consigner, I was very happy with their extremely low fees. The employees are wonderful and knowledgable. Every month, I find a new plethora of treasures for sale at unbeatable prices.

Michaan’s Auctions was very helpful when it came to liquidating my parents estate. The people were friendly and knowledgable about the items sold and we just can’t believe some of the prices we got for our fathers furniture! It made the whole process easier for us. Three thumbs up for this auction house!!!

The staff at Michaan’s is so very very lovely. I cannot say enough about their kindness.
However, because I went on their complimentary appraisal Wednesday, they were eager to be done with just about everyone in the place. My appraiser vocally pointed out that he had to be leaving soon, so my appraisal was rushed. After I had patiently waited 2-​hours, he had impatiently spent 15 mins on my appraisal.
He told me I definitely had «something.» A few grand worth of art prints. But, I feel like whatever resources he possessed, they weren’t any different than the resources I had. The Internet. He told me that one of the artists that was listed on the cover sheet of my collection was supposed to be worth something, but because he’s not a specialist in the specific arena of art my collection belonged to, we thought the artist print wasn’t included.
Well, after I did some more research, through the Christie’s website, come to find out, through a hunch on some characteristics from a piece I saw that looked like characteristics of the piece I possessed… IT WAS THE ARTIST WE THOUGHT WASN’T INCLUDED! Signatures matched perfectly.
So, I could have done just as well on my own without the 2-​hour wait.
This doesn’t mean that with a private appraisal they can’t do glorious things. But, I’m just a little disappointed it really came down to diligence on my part.

On behalf of my family, I would like to commend the entire staff at Michaan’s Auctions for their courteous service and expert advise in the selling of my late father’s Chinese antique and art collection. Kim and Harry have been great, with their knowledge of the market and strategies on how to maximize realized prices on the pieces.
Sincerely,
Duane Tom

Ok, first of all, I am VERY surprised about the negative feedback.
I have been working with auction houses for more than 15 years.
SF, NYC, China and Europe…
I worked with Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonhams, Ketterer Kunst and many, many
more and I must say that Michaans is one of the VERY best !
They are very professional, extremely knowledgeable and always happy to go the extra mile for their clients. I have been working with Michaans for more than 10 years
and I always had very successful transactions. Always 100% satisfled.
Their team is always helpful and they will make sure their clients are satisfied.
Give them a shot, you will NOT regret it… Small or large cases, they will make sure you get the best result possible.
I would give them 10 out of 10 !! HIGHLY recommended !
Try Bonhams if you are looking for a negative experience…

Great staff, take the same extreme care and precautions with a beat up chair as they do with a 250k Tiffany lamp. The staff is helpful and friendly, then you can get some awesome deals on all kinds of things.

Michaan’s treated our family very shabbily. We had them appraise our art collection and paid for the appraisal. There were some issues with missed appointments and errors in the documents but we were willing to overlook that and give them a fair comparison. We decided to go with another auction house who took the best and most expensive pieces. They were upset by this naturally, but assured us we could come back.
When we went back to them to sell the remainder they said they would not take «sloppy seconds.» Since we had selected the other company they would not do business with us and we should go with the other company. Certainly it is with in their rights to choose who they do business with, but the reaction and treatment was very immature and showed an unenlightened attitude.

Michaan’s Auctions has something for everyone. With a big auction house like this in the area no one ever needs to shop retail again.
Weather you are looking for housewares (the best values in my opinion) or Fine Art, you will find it at a reasonable price at Michaan’s. The Main Gallery has some screaming deals, especially on furniture, and the Annex (or Warehouse) Auction has EVERYTHING a girl could ask for. Vintage Clothes– GOT IT! Dinnerware– GOT IT! A sofa for the front room– GOT IT! Bracelets, rings or watches for Valentines Sweetie– Go GET IT!
Even with the buyers premium and sales tax I got everything a whole lot cheaper at Michaan’s than at Target, or Macy’s or any Boutique shop. A careful and thrifty shopper could outfit an entire apartment, wear designer clothes and still have money to spend.
Do yourself a favor and go shopping there first!

We’ve had nothing but good experiences with Michaans Auctions. We’ve both bought and sold through them and found it to be a great way to liquidate the items we don’t want to keep (like through their estate auctions or annex sale (not sure what they call it) and trade up into better items, like with their antique auctions. We’ve found them to be well-​organized and an easy way to buy and sell antiques and collectibles.
I would highly recommend them to anyone. Although, to be clear, we haven’t used their estate liquidation service, which I understand to be a somewhat different but related kind of service, like geared towards liquidating whole estates and stuff. We’ve only bought and sold small groups of items… not an estate liquidator kind of thing. I imagine it’s a good service and that they put the better items in the antique auction and the other stuff in an estate auction or kind of a lower end salvage auction in a warehouse out on one of the runways at the former Alameda Naval base.
Even if you’re not going to buy or sell, it’s worth it to come see one of their auctions in process.