Auction houses meticulously plan in advance for sales and the timing of the Royal wedding – which kicks off at 11.55am when the bride arrives at St George’s Chapel in Windsor – hasn’t altered most auctioneer plans.
Hansons in Etwall, Derbyshire, is one that decided to close its office on May 19 “to accommodate clients wishing to watch the Royal wedding”. Instead its Furniture, Clocks & Barometers sale will take place at 10am on Wednesday 23, followed by its Toys, Sporting and Cameras sale.
However, online bidding at auction houses has meant most firms with sales scheduled for 19 May have decided to press ahead despite any risk of low attendance in the saleroom.
Multi-platform
Stourbridge’s Fieldings Auctioneers in the West Midlands said its May sale will go ahead as planned. Auctioneer Will Farmer said: “We did discuss whether we would postpone our sale but with the rise of the internet and multi-platforms we decided that many people will still be able to watch the wedding or the football and still bid from a tablet or computer. If it were 15 years ago, and there wasn’t the technology we have now such as thesaleroom.com then possibly we would have postponed. But online bidding means people can be in two places at once.”
Keith Butler, marketing executive, at Nottingham’s Arthur Johnson, said the firm was also going ahead with its scheduled auction. He said: “In advance we are highlighting auction items such as jewellery and engagement rings and linking it to the wedding on social media. It will be interesting to see how many people bid online vs actually visiting the saleroom.”
Lacy Scott & Knight partner Edward Crichton said its Toys and Models sale is going ahead and Crichton described it as “business as usual in Bury St Edmunds”. He added: “We haven’t had a single buyer or seller flag the Royal wedding as a concern. We have 2000 lots to get through and my staff are more focused on whether they can get away for the FA Cup final rather than the wedding.”
