Online portals

ANYONE who thought that Yahoo’s decision to ban the promotion of Nazi memorabilia from its site would spell the end of legal wranglings over the issue were mistaken.

FOLLOWING the suspension of share trading in Icollector, the firm have announced that they are involved in merger talks.

BUILDING confidence in buying on the Web is an ongoing and lengthy process, but one that can be helped by the efforts of those on the sales side.

THREE Scandinavian auction houses – one each from Denmark, Sweden and Norway – have clubbed together to set up a Web presence that they are billing as “the greatest knowledge of fine art in Northern Europe”.

INVALUABLE have secured a £1m injection of capital from an ethical investment fund to help develop their stolen database services further.

ONLY two weeks ago I featured Antique Networking and their plans for the year. What they could not reveal then but have now is their merger with GoAntiques, allowing them to claim the title “largest online antiques business on the Web”.

AS mentioned in recent issues of the Antiques Trade Gazette, some of the dotcom companies blazing the trail last year have gone very quiet in 2001. But that does not mean that all of them have gone under. In fact, in several cases, it is because they have had their heads down while they develop their businesses further and negotiate new funding deals.

EBay are to provide the technology for customers to bid live online at sales held by hundreds of auction houses whose catalogues can be scanned on ICollector’s Website.

HOPES of clarifying ownership rights over items sold at auction on the Internet have suffered a setback with the settling out of court of a potentially precedent-setting case.

YAHOO have decided to ban sales of Nazi memorabilia and other items promoting racism from their Website from January 10.

UK: ANTIQUES Portfolio, the dotcom company which had tied in its future with the now defunct Gavelnet, has itself filed for insolvency

THE German Society of Art Auctioneers is to consider acting as an Internet portal for its members, so that they can all make a “joint appearance” together.

UK: INTERNET auction specialists Gavelnet have announced that they will now be offering dealers a low cost service. All technical problems will be taken care of by Gavelnet – only a phone is necessary.

FRANCE: FRENCH online auction information company Artprice.com became the first dot.com business to hit the Nouveau Marché Paris on Friday January 21. Its stock was placed at Fr125 (£11.67) per share and the 1.15m shares on offer represent 18.4 per cent of the company capital.

UK: HUGH Scully, Antiques Roadshow presenter since 1981, has signed a five-year deal with internet auction house QXL.com, worth £3m.

UK & US: A NEW Internet auction house, due to launch simultaneously in the United States and the UK on October 15, aims to woo dealers in high value art and antiques by special incentives and simplifying the process.

GERMANY: INTERNET art auctioneer Artnet.com which floated on the Frankfurt exchange in May, have denied a claim by magazine Boerse Online that their main shareholders are selling their shares.

THE race for auction supremacy on the Internet took yet another turn last week when Sotheby’s announced a long term alliance with the best known name in e-commerce, amazon.com.

GERMANY: IN another fortnight of rapid developments in e-commerce, Artnet.com, specialist fine art service provider on the Internet, went public on May 17 when it offered shares in its parent company, artnet.com AG, on Frankfurt’s Neuer Markt stock exchange.

UK: PRIVATE collectors, museums, dealers and exhibitions are the target audience for a new art insurance programme launched on the Internet.