In Business

For Hobart’s Jonathan Kraft, auctioneering remains popular for three decades

Kraft Auction Service auctioneer Jonathan Kraft calls out bids during an auction at Cedar Lake. Kyle Stepnoski, top right, a display assistant with Kraft, holds up a set of historic prints for sale. Four years ago, Kraft bought the family business from his father, Conrad Kraft, who had established it in 1976. (Photograph by Kyle Telechan/The Times.)

Moving easily from one group of items to another, Jonathan Kraft, 22, doesn’t skip a beat, smiles to a bidder, then adds a bit of folksy humor to good effect.

It’s an appreciative crowd that has gathered at the Lake County Fairgrounds on a Sunday afternoon to bid on everything from credenzas to colorful dishware to cutting tools.

Earlier that day, Kraft auctioned off a lakefront home in Lake Dalecarlia.

“There’s been a big transition. Real estate auctions aren’t customary yet, but they’re growing,” Kraft said, adding that a Realtor had suggested an asking price of $135,000 for the property, but the auction garnered $152,000 for the seller.

Kraft Auction Services charges a buyer’s premium, which can range from 5 percent to 10 percent, he said.

Four years ago, Kraft bought the family business from his father, Conrad Kraft, who had established it in 1976. His father continues to auctioneer part time for the company.

Growing up in the business, Kraft, a full-time MBA student at Purdue’s Krannert School of Management, can authoritatively speak to the field’s changes.

“Now, you see a difference in what people buy. What used to be junk is good now, and what was good is now junk,” he said, explaining that Victorian items, for instance, are no longer a premium buy.

That said, Kraft insists the downturn in the economy has had little impact on auctions. “People sell their stuff,” he said matter-of-factly.

Kraft acknowledges some buyers at auctions become sellers on eBay. “Good for them,” he said, though he’s seeing less of that.

Glenn Hamilton and his wife Debbie of Cedar Lake, both retired, loaded up on items at a recent Kraft Auction. “A lot of people buy and then sell on eBay,” he agreed, adding that they have done it themselves. He said they follow Kraft Auction Services because they are,without dispute, the largest auction business in the area.

It doesn’t hurt that Kraft, with his big smile and winning ways, was named the 2008 Michigan Champion Auctioneer and the 2007 and 2008 Indiana Reserve Champion Auctioneer as well as the recipient of 2007 and 2008 Indiana Auctioneer Association marketing awards.

Those skills are often used for charity, too.

In a heartfelt testimonial to Kraft Auctions’ marketing power, Anne Borg, director of development for Chicago Abused Women and their Children, said the live auction part of the group’s charitable event last year in the historic Walnut Room of Macy’s was magic, as Kraft and his colleague worked the crowd.

“Never before has CAWC been able to raise the amount of money that was raised at this live auction portion of the program,” she said. Kraft Auction “made” the event, she said.

Based in Hobart, Kraft Auction Services is a global concern, attracting buyers from such faraway points as Belgium, Germany and Canada.

“We’re ahead of the curve for auction services. We have a Web site, and people can do online bidding,” Kraft said.

In the case of Belgium, it was Gabel jukeboxes, which went for $1,500 to $7,000, that caught his eye and enticed him across the Atlantic, Kraft said.

“The crowd isn’t changing. The average age is 40 to 45. They have the money,” Kraft said. “My generation isn’t coming to auctions yet, but once you get them here, they always come back.”