Consignors, then judging the book selling sites by their proverbial covers on line, had more information about Baltimore’s competitors than they did about Baltimore and this probably cost him consignments. He could catalogue and sell their material but he didn’t always get a chance to make his pitch. Consignors liked gloss and could justify their decisions to consign elsewhere to expectations they would net more money elsewhere. Consignments were becoming more competitive.
Net all in and even if they couldn't clearly explain it consignors instinctively preferred auctions with a retail feel. In compensation Chris’s sales shifted toward the less expensive material that other houses increasingly shunned.
In the transition Chris continued to do well, if not as well as the trade generally. Baltimore became the alternative frequently mentioned by auction houses in very positive terms as they gently turned material down.
This formula would inevitably run out and on January 17th it did, not because Chris couldn’t continue to sell but because the consignments were getting tougher and the consignors more demanding. To me in our conversations recently he emphasized:
“I want you to understand that I took pride in my work, and felt I was contributing, not just taking advantage and settling for crumbs – and the way I went about things became extremely easy for potential buyers because I kept things very simple – no fake bids off back walls, no abuse of advance bids, no special treatment in bid sequence based on who was on the phone, just straight up and forward – in short, just what I would hope for if I attended an auction elsewhere – a confused bidder is a reluctant bidder, and a confused seller just goes somewhere else. In this business, as I have said ever so many times, you can be the nicest, most gracious and smartest person around, but you don’t make any money at all if you don’t get consignments – and Baltimore Book Company was never a principal consignor to any of its auctions, never advanced money in order to obtain consignments. Playing games is for recreation, and playing straight has always been the hallmark of successful businesses, always has been and always will be. If there is any secret to my being successful for decades in a competitive and occasionally cut-throat business, it is this last observation – slow and steady and straight doesn’t always win the race, but it always gets you to where you are headed.”
He also expressed concern that in this story [that I sent to him for comment and adjusted somewhat based on his feedback] his company was portrayed as a small town operation and he as a small town guy. This is neither my intention nor even a passing thought. Baltimore is a city saturated in history and he almost single handedly provided its citizens with opportunities to buy and consign for more than two decades.
Chris, now 64 and looking forward to golf, retirement and doing good deeds for others will, in his next chapter continue, in his solitary determination, to do what he feels is right and continue to be able to sleep at night, knowing he is making every effort to get the best outcomes.
After covering Baltimore’s sales for many years we stopped in 2008. His text format was awkward and he never was willing to use up-to-date software, the precondition for all versions of wide spread online coverage. He never made his electronic files compatible and we, after doggedly capturing his sales for our global auction search for seven years finally said enough already. He just didn’t want to make it easy and we didn’t want to expend disproportionate resources on a reluctant auction house. So we walked away and this unfortunately probably contributed to his decline. It’s too bad.
This said, I have the greatest respect for the consistency of Chris’s view. He never shifted, never contemplated. He went from day one with a variation of the Harris model, a dying idea and stayed with it right to the final bang of his auctioneer’s gavel. Consistency is uncommon in the trade. For Chris it was in his bones.
His final sale was recently again in our upcoming auction search and his final outcomes in our weekly auction reports. And you never know, perhaps there will be another auction. Bookselling is one of the few fields where age is a virtue. If so, he’ll no doubt stick with his formula and I’ll hope for his sake and the sake of his consignors that it works because it deserves to.
For the past twenty-five years he’s been selling copies. And it turns out he’s an original, an American original.
Here is Chris's contact information:
Baltimore Book Company
34 Cedar Avenue
Towson, Maryland 21286
Telephone: [410] 494-1075
Email: baltobook@comcast.net
