| More people are turning to antique auctions online | | | | the 20 $15 charges to bid. |
| than ever before. It's true. The rarefied world of the | | | | However, while your kids might find such bidding |
| antiques auction house where the well-heeled would | | | | interesting and almost like a game, this is, as we said, |
| come by not only to buy antiques, but also to see | | | | not your son's online auction. Instead, we're talking |
| and be seen is starting to become a thing of the | | | | about real, honest to goodness auctions conducted |
| past as fewer people have time, more people | | | | live, with a real auctioneer, a real gavel, and real |
| become interested in antiques (thank you Antiques | | | | antiques for sale. And if there is an iPad for sale, it's |
| Road Show), and more and more people realize that | | | | there because it's part of an estate and not because |
| there are bargains to be had at online auctions. | | | | it's part of a gimmick that the auction house has |
| But rest assured, the major houses are in no danger | | | | come up with to make money. |
| of disappearing. The multi-million dollar Matisse or the | | | | Conducted by Well Respected Auction Houses |
| rare Rembrandt up for sale will always be the | | | | While there will always be the fly by night operations, |
| province of the traditional auction house, at least for | | | | both in the antique auctions online business and in the |
| the foreseeable future. However, for the more "run | | | | more traditional antiques auction business, most of |
| of the mill" antiques, the sort of things that cost | | | | the better known online auction houses have been |
| hundreds or thousands of dollars, the future is here | | | | doing business for a number of years already and |
| and it's called online auctions. | | | | understand the needs of the professional and |
| Not Your Son's Online Auction | | | | hobbyist antiques collector. |
| You know the old joke about it being "not your | | | | They are able to provide as much detail about an |
| father's Oldsmobile," well this is not your son's online | | | | object as any traditional auction house will provide |
| auction. We know there are all kinds of new | | | | and where appropriate, will provide you with the |
| schemes out there for online auctions (and we use | | | | provenance and any story behind a particular object |
| that term in the American sense of the word - | | | | if appropriate. In fact, many, though not all, of the |
| meaning something a bit unsavory, not in the British | | | | houses that offer antique auctions online either also |
| sense meaning a way of doing things).eBay is so last | | | | run a traditional auction house or are staffed by |
| year. These days, the biggest deals in online auctions | | | | people who are veterans of the traditional auction |
| are those sites where you pay for the right to bid | | | | scene and who can make the online auction just as |
| and each bid raises the price by a penny and extends | | | | interesting and exciting as any traditional auction you |
| the bidding by 15 minutes. Meaning you might score | | | | may have had to drive miles to get to. |
| an iPad for $22 but you'll still spend $300 for each of | | | | |