George Cole Auctions & Realty, Red Hook NY

As a seller, I not only can not recommend George Cole but I am taking this time to warn anyone who wants to use his “service” to sell to beware. My situation was what we hear about as almost cliché, I was in terrible grief and I made rash decisions that I’ve since regretted very deeply. One decision in particular was to call Cole to sell my large inherited collection of antiques. There were pier glass huge mirrors, one being 10feet tall. There were beautiful ornamented tables, one was a library table that had been restored at great cost; mantel clocks; girandoles; wooden cabinets; a kitchen wooden hutch; wardrobes; a craved headboard sleigh bed; 3 crystal chandeliers and one early American chandelier; hanging pull down lamps; two antique desks, one with crackled varnish and, being so big, it had to go out through the window; a riding John Deere 18hp tractor; a one year old $900 Ariens snowblower; an 18th century blanket chest; a 1912 steamer trunk; rocking chairs; a Morris chair; a lady’s hoop skirt chair; 3 pictures in beautiful frames each costing hundreds of dollars; antique brass candlesticks that filled up a table top; an antique dining room table with six leaves and four matching chairs; an 1830s 7foot claw foot sofa; two marble statuettes; a standing Adirondack coat rack; an antique apple cider press weighing 100lbs; antique dressers; a dining room sideboard; hurricane lamps; a Turkish vase; an Italian ceramic dog; two cast iron bulldog doorstops; a zinc sink; a heavy kitchen work table; 9 Thonet chairs; silver dollars from 1900; a silver set; two beautiful stain glass windows; and more.
70%/30% was the deal. I got $6,283.19. Cole took two days and 5 people to take my antiques and, then, he had to “clean” them. His inventory was sparse, it didn’t include many many items. For all his work he got $2,700? Something isn’t right here. He had to use his truck for two days with all those people and then transport everything and unload it and clean it and photograph it and put it on the website. And he did all that for $2,700? Really? I’m no business man clearly but for all that work, over 100 man hours, he got $2,700? I may have been stupid from grief but how can a business survive on getting a treasure trove and then giving it away? The assessment of my items done in 2006 put its combined total at $33,462. And Cole let that go? Giving him only $2,700? His inventory “missed” items. His itemized sales record shows that multiple items were sold as groups, not individually. One group, which included three framed large pictures and two framed mirrors, one gilted, went for $20. Before the auction George, several times, said “we’re going to do great! ” But I was left wondering just whom did he mean by “we”?

I lost. I made a huge mistake during a time in which I was incredibly vulnerable. So I give this warning to anyone considering Cole auctions: BEWARE.

George has a nice thing going on here. It’s a pleasant experience. Sometimes pretty good items come across the block

The yelp reviews are truer to the reality of dealing with this establishment than any of the reviews written here. Beware!

Unique Alice of life in upstate NY, and a chance to see it disappear into the past as amazing esyat s are sold off for a pittance.

The owner is interested in selling your
items without consideration of its value.
You are better off placing your items on
Craig’s List. Some people have no conscience.

Got great furniture here, the owner is amazing! If you need good stuff without paying an arm and a leg this is the place to go!

If you are looking for an auction they not only have great stuff, they make it a lot of fun.