A different kind of Christmas
18th November 2020
As the retail industry faces an uncertain Christmas shopping period, companies are having to adjust in order to try and reach new sections of the market. Among those experimenting with the way they do business are fine art auctioneers Woolley and Wallis.
The leading saleroom has launched its first ever sale of luxury Christmas Gifts, comprising around 300 lots of jewellery, silver, ceramics and other collectable and giftable items, all of which can be posted out in time for Christmas.
It’s not just the theme of the auction which is a first for the Salisbury auction house – this is also its first ever sale to be conducted entirely online.
“We have had internet bidding on our live sales for many years now and this is the next natural step,” explained Woolley and Wallis’s Chairman, John Axford. “It is something that we had discussed at the start of this year, but with everything that has happened since then it certainly feels timely to give this a try and make high quality, unusual and luxury items available to people from the comfort of their own home.”
The sale goes live on the 19th November and will end on 2nd December, with people being able to leave bids at any time and check to see whether they have been outbid. “The format is essentially like eBay,” explained Axford. “That’s the easiest way to explain it to anyone unfamiliar with auctions. Bidders will be able to immediately see the current price of a lot and whether or not they are the highest bidder, and they will be notified if they get outbid at any time.”
The auction includes a range of items to suit most tastes with a good selection of precious and semi-precious jewellery, watches, silver wares for the Christmas table and a number of small and unusual pieces of art. Estimates range between £150 and £25,000 and more details can be found by clicking here.
“This sale is an exciting diversion for us, and while we certainly don’t see all of our sales turning into this format, having timed online-only auctions of this type allows us to combine different areas of specialism and hopefully attract a different sort of client,” continued Axford. “The lots in this sale have been specially chosen so that they are easy to assess without physical handling, and our reputation as the leading regional auctioneer means that clients can be confident in what they are buying.”
