The auction of Burwood Press's printing equipment has ended with about half of the equipment sold - but the two Roland B2 offset presses failed to meet the reserve price of $40,000.
Richard Rasmussen of Ascent Partners, who ran the auction on the Print Machinery Auctions website, said he expects most of the gear to be sold within the next few days. "I’d expect by the end of the day we’ll be up to 70 percent sold, getting to 85 percent in the next week or so," he said.
The two Roland 306 presses for sale failed to meet their reserve price, with bids reaching $8000 each - far below the $40,000 reserve price. Rasmussen says Ascent Partners is speaking with the bidders to secure sales. "We’re negotiating with a couple of parties on those, and we expect they’ll sell in the next day or so," he said.
The largest lot which sold at auction was a 54cm by 77cm Heidelberg cylinder from Rawson Print Co, who bought out Burwood Press in August; the cylinder sold for $13,100. "We’ve run four auctions this year, and there’s been a cylinder in each one, and they always sell well - particularly at that size. It’s an old machine, but there’s no other die cutter that can really compete against it unless you’re prepared to spend more than $100,000 or so," Rasmussen said. "It’s a bit unusual, but the 1960s machines are still very popular in the marketplace and still hold their value very well."
Rasmussen anticipates this will be the last auction Ascent Partners holds this year, after four successful auctions of equipment from business closures or buyouts over the course of 2017.