The auctioneer raises his gabble, the room has reached a fair price of £85. “Anymore, for anymore? Then I am selling…” the auctioneer shouts out, keen to keep the energy of the room alive. But wait a second, a online bidder is stirring. The action isn’t quite over yet. The people in the the auction room aren’t the only actors in this drama. Someone, somewhere is online and has just clicked on his or her computer, laptop, tablet or mobile to raise the price, making the auctioneer and the room work that little bit harder. Reluctantly the person in the room keen to see this through, tests the online bidder out and bids back, leading to push the price that little bit higher. Finally the hammer comes down at a very respectable £110.
Price paid for the item, a fine pair of landscapes signed Fordyce (shown below), just £20. I too was bidding online some months earlier, and had purchased the pair from an auction miles away in Penkridge, Staffordshire. I had therefore made £90 on the hammer price, and my first respectable profit on a sale at a live auction. This was in the same week as according to a report by Hiscox’s the online art market grew 15% in the last year to $3.75 billion. My respectable profit could be a sign of greater things to come.
People are keyboard warriors these days, too busy to travel out to their provincial auction houses (this lot was sold in rural Epping Forest). Instead, everything can be just as easily as access sitting at home or lying in bed, having a cuppa or even something stronger. The choice online is also so much greater, any potential bidder is not merely tied down to one place at a time. A busy online bidder can open multiple tabs to follow all manner of auctions and desired purchases. The power is in the digitally enabled fingertips, and those with a keen eye for a bargain!
