Pop culture builds auction house

DALLAS — Employees at Heritage Auction Galleries search out treasures forgotten in attics or secreted away in bank vaults. They have sold the very first GI Joe action figure, the watch Buddy Holly was wearing when he died and letters from Abraham Lincoln.

The Dallas company, which bills itself as the world’s largest collectibles auction house, built its success on the pop culture of coins, comics and memorabilia, carving out a populist niche in a field dominated by institutions such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

“Every piece has a story,” says John Petty, a Heritage collectibles and comics expert. “That is what makes them so valuable. You are buying a piece of history, whether it is a big important piece like JFK’s rocking chair or a smaller piece.”

The company is selling John F. Kennedy’s bedroom rocker, kept by the assassinated president’s personal valet until the valet’s death.

Despite high expectations, bids at a recent auction for the chair, which researchers believe was a gift to Kennedy from the leader of Pakistan, did not reach the owners’ minimum asking price of $75,000. That day, though, Amelia Earhart’s historic flight plan claimed $23,900.

Heritage seeks out some consignors, but others contact the company. A pilot’s relatives, not knowing what they were worth, brought in maps that the man had drawn for Earhart’s famous trans-Atlantic journey.

The company promotes the objects, sets up the sale events and usually earns a commission of the final sale price. In rare instances, Heritage simply buys the item outright.

It is impossible to predict how much bidders will pay for a snippet of history or memento of their youth, says Tom Slater, who directed the auction that included the Kennedy rocker. There is always a gambler’s uncertainty for both the seller and the auctioneer.

The risks have paid off for Heritage, which was founded in 1983 as a specialty coin dealer with several dozen staffers. The company has grown to about 300 employees and $500 million in yearly sales.

Company President Greg Rohan says the key has been approachable staff, ambitious publicity campaigns and using the Internet to open up auctions to more and more people.

“We are trying to bring collecting to everyone, not just an exclusive club for the wealthy,” he says.

He credits EBay and other Internet platforms with bringing to the masses an understanding of auctions, once considered the province of the very rich. Heritage takes Internet bids on everything it sells and saw a major boost in sales as EBay and other sites took off in the 1990s.

While the company hopes one day to overtake the East Coast auction houses in pricey fine art, Heritage’s staples remain the movie posters, coins, currency, comics and memorabilia that more people can afford, Mr. Rohan says. A baseball signed in 1961 by slugger Joe DiMaggio and actress Marilyn Monroe recently claimed $191,200.

The company’s four stories in a sleek uptown skyscraper can seal up like vast vaults if security is compromised, and Heritage recently used guards from Brinks Co. and an armored car to transport an action figure.

Collector Bill Hughes, a longtime Heritage consignor and bidder, locks his 1927 Babe Ruth poster in a vault. He paid $138,000 for the poster. A high-grade reproduction hangs in his home.

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