Of the 344 lots devoted to two niche collecting areas, 102 were either bought or underbid by buyers using ATG's online service the-saleroom.com. Internet sales accounted for ten per cent of the £61,390 sale total.
The Leyburn sale, well suited to the age of virtual bidding, was one of four auctions conducted last week to employ the new technology that allows internet surfers to bid in real time while listening to sale proceedings through a computer terminal.
A total of 220 people registered to bid online for the 1672 lot sale held by Bamfords of Nottingham on March 22. Of those 114 were active in the sale buying 129 (nine per cent) lots for a total of £35,069 and underbidding another 134. On the same day Byrne's of Chester sold five percent of lots to internet bidders (more were underbid).
The response to internet bidding at Wallis & Wallis of Lewes on March 21 was less emphatic where Ð with very few images available for internet users to peruse - internet bidders bought 17 lots and underbid 20.
