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INVEST IT . . . OR BLOW IT!The walls cametumbling downJeremy Lamond of HallsFine Art on the internet’sall-encompassing reachAs the world shrinks andcommunications improve, theauction business has gone from alocal service selling to national buyers toa national service selling to internationalbuyers.In 20 short years, the internet has giventhe auctioneer on your doorstep thesame global reach as the traditionallyrecognised ‘big players’ such as Sotheby’sand Christie’s.What does this mean in practice? It meansthat the whole industry has been turnedon its head. Before the internet, andthe ready availability of information onany subject at the click of a mouse, theantiques business was a fairly private one.Local auction houses would clear homes,and sell to a room largely made up ofantiques dealers who would often sell toother antiques dealers in London, andprofits would be made along the way.Information was not readily available,and the inability to quickly see marketcomparatives meant that buyers wouldoften pay extraordinary prices for ordinaryitems.Fast forward to 2014, and London dealersare cutting out the middle man andbuying direct from regional auction housesover the internet.Ordinary antiques have been ‘outed’by their availability on internet auctionwebsites and everyone has wised upabout prices. The savvy collector andthe public in general participatemore regularly and moreconfidently in theauction process, andthe ‘mystique’ of theauction room has beendispelled as television hasbrought its cameras intowhat was once a rarified world.The ‘world’ has also arrived atauction houses all over Britainwith the advent of live auctioninternet bidding in real time.Buyers from what used to beconsidered ‘far flung’ places arenow buying furniture and objectson a regular basis in auctions thatmay previously have been considered‘general’.At any one event at Halls we might have60 or 70 people in the room, and between100 and 500 people actively biddingonline. There are no hiding places for theobscure object anymore, and everythingis photographed and picked up byspecialist collectors and dealers with ‘keyword’ searches.Australia, why the Americans likeWedgwood, which particularoil paintings get the Germansexcited, and which shade ofamber is favoured in Thailandcompared to Shanghai.All this knowledge is enhancedby specialist websites, Twitterfeeds, Facebook updates,practical seminars and, whentime permits, the good oldfashionedreference book.Does all this interest help theseller? A few years ago, weoffered for auction a George IIIoak and mahogany cross-bandeddresser, of traditional Shropshire type, withan open rack with cupboards and threedrawers to the base.Normally it would have sold to the localoak trade to be resold to the public.However, internet interest meant that thedresser sold for £2,000 and ended up ina smart New York department store as afurnishing backdrop for expensive clothessales.Clockwise from left:● An early-19th-century Italiancoral seal, 7.5cm long. Sold for£1,250 to an Italian buyer.● Two Coalport Japanese Grovepatternporcelain cabaret sets. Soldfor £680 to an Irish mainland buyer.● A Chinese export silver junk anddisplay case, c1895, by Guang Ji.31cm long. Sold for £1,550 to a NewYork buyer.● A letter from Chinese emperorHong Xiu Quan, c1860. 106cmlong. Sold for £12,000 to aTaiwanese buyer.● An Austrian cold-painted bronzekangaroo, early 20th century. 15cmhigh. Sold for £740 to a Belgian buyer.Being connected to world trends on aweekly basis gives the local auctioneera much broader view of the market thanhe had 30 years ago. He will now be ableto tell you, for instance, what the Chineseare buying, what porcelain is popular inWhoever made the dresser back in 18thcentury Britain could not have possiblyimagined this scenario . . .www.hallsgb.com/fine-art4647