Josh Levine thinks his love of the “old and unusual” may come from his father, who grew up in Brooklyn as a child of the Depression and was a master at hoarding and collecting. At one time the Levine garage was home to 27 circular saws and 35 gas cans, for example. This early exposure plus other happenings along the way made it serendipitous for Josh to land in the auction business.
Few people actually set out to become auctioneers. Josh was an accountant by education and a guitarist by trade. He spent a lot of time on the road performing with his band (and doing their books on the side). But when he married, his wife encouraged him to give up the touring.
“We had met on the road,” Josh explained in a recent interview. “She didn’t want another groupie to catch me,” he adds with a grin.
Josh was born in New Jersey but grew up in the small town of Hosensack, PA, where it seemed they were the only family with Jewish roots. His paternal grandmother, who kept a home would visit and teach the kids songs and customs. “My mother was very ecumenical,” Josh mentions. “We would celebrate all holidays with family gatherings.”
When Josh “hung up his guitar,” he took over the lease of a local music store where folks would often consign their used instruments. It was an area of both interest and familiarity to him, as his band would often get its equipment wholesale from such places. Then Josh was introduced to eBay in 1996, when the online auction site that began in 1994 was still in its infancy. His business quickly grew to include eight employees, and his inventory expanded past just musical instruments to include other vintage items.
“It was terrific. We would buy local items, particularly toys and musical instruments, and sell them on eBay. Not many people were in the game yet, so it was quite lucrative,” Josh says. But he thought there might be a better way to handle certain items. He hired an auctioneer at one point and saw that with the excitement of a live auction, he was able to get even more than he had been asking for some items.
Josh decided to follow the path to becoming a professional auctioneer. He enrolled in the Reading Area Community College Auctioneering Certificate Program, one of the several programs offered around the country to provide the skills and training needed to become an auctioneer. The RACC program covers areas such as communications, procurement and appraisal of personal items and real estate, laws and regulations, and a 60-hour practicum of “hands-on” experience in the auction business under the supervision of the college and an approved Pennsylvania Licensed Auctioneer. Josh then apprenticed for two years with auction houses in Pennsylvania to become eligible to sit for the PA State Auctioneer Licensing Examination.
After receiving his license, he ran auctions through Pandur and Levine in Pennsylvania for three years. Then “life happened.”
Josh decided he needed a change of pace – and of scenery. He had been divorced for several years, and he and his girlfriend bought an RV (at an auction, of course!) and drove around the country. They took their time and did a little buying and selling along the road, ending up in Prescott in 2005. Josh returned to his earlier practice of buying items and then reselling them on on eBay, but it’s a difficult business.
“No matter what you do, the seller thinks he should have gotten more and the buyer thinks he should have paid less,” he explains. To Josh, ethics are supremely important, and he felt the auction business was a better way to deal with the public. In an auction, the auction house works on straight commission, so the sellers can be confident they will receive the best price possible for their items.
He had come to Phoenix in 2007 to handle an estate auction and started looking around. He determined there were only a handful of auction houses in the Valley, compared to nearly 500 in the Philadelphia area. He also noted that auctioneers didn’t need to be licensed in Arizona and felt his Pennsylvania training and certification would help to give him credibility here.
Josh opened his first location in central Scottsdale, but with the staff and events expanding every year, he soon outgrew the facility. In 2010 he was shown his current building, once used as The Windmill Dinner Theatre, which old-timers in the Valley will remember well at Scottsdale Road and Shea. It had been turned into a nightclub and had a purple floor with black popcorn walls. “It was a real hellhole,” Josh recalls with a grin. The landlord completely refurbished the building to Josh’s specifications.
The building, on the southeast corner of the busy intersection, is now a lovely facility where J. Levine Auctions are held weekly with comfortable seating for eager customers. The auction area includes a stage with a special area for employees to accept phone bids from customers around the world in real time during the auctions.
The storerooms of the auction house are filled with consigned pieces ranging from jewelry to artwork to artifacts and specialty items. Josh receives items in various ways. Oftentimes he’s called in to an estate situation. “Divorce and death can bring out the worst in folks, I’m afraid,” he shares. He says that sibling infighting or spousal animosity can make his work with estates less than pleasurable. He recalled for example the time a distant relative of a recently deceased man said, “I’d like something to remember Uncle ____ by: I’ll take the four-wheeler!”
Each Thursday morning at 11 am there is an auction, open to the public. Special preview times are set aside on Wednesday evenings to get up close looks at the items. “We had been holding our auctions in the evening, but that eliminated the possibility of East Coast bids.
We’ve been pleased with the results of moving to morning auctions.”
Many of the Thursday auctions are generic, including a range of items. Others are specialty auctions. On Feb. 26 there will be a Fine Art Auction and on March 19 there will be a Sports Memorabilia Auction, to coincide with spring training in the Valley. Other specialty areas include Native American Art on March 5, Luxury Handbag and Accessories on April 2 and Photography & Prints on April 16. You can find a full listing at jlevines.com
Josh has partnered with Erik Hoyer to open a second site in Glendale called EJ’s Auction and Consignment. “It’s a little more ‘middle class,’ a place where you can get everything from kitchenware to artwork.” EJ’s holds auctions every Saturday at 10 am and is open for previews 9 am-5 pm, Wednesday-Friday. It is open to the public, and Josh feels it’s a great place for a first-time auction-goer to experience the fun of an auction. The 29,000-square-foot facility has a large consignment store as well, and the partners are happy to accept consignments ranging from one item to an entire estate.
Josh touts the auction experience as “one of the oldest and most exciting ways to shop.” He also sees antiques as a smart investment. “The older generation has accumulated lots of ‘stuff,’ and the next generation doesn’t necessarily embrace that philosophy. Antiques will continue to rise in value,” he explains.
