Auction Houses Make Cyber Bid for New Clients

Not too long ago, “collectibles” conjured up images of paintings, antiques, stamps and coins. Now, even a gum wrapper can find a collector on the Internet.

As the revolution continues, auction houses, dealers and art galleries are beating a path to your computer screen, so that collectors can bid on high-end items right at home, without having to scratch their nose before an auctioneer.

“Some of the biggest players in the art world have realized that their market is going to be revolutionized by the Internet,” said Michael May, digital commerce analyst at Jupiter Communications Group in New York.

Sotheby’s, the august 255-year-old auction house, has just teamed up with Internet retailer Amazon.com to launch an auction Web site (https://www.sothebys.amazon.com) that brings higher-end items from 4,500 dealers worldwide.

Christie’s plans to upgrade its month-old informational site (https://www.christies.com) by June to remain competitive. And Britain-based Icollector (https://www.icollector.com), which has a similar concept, has begun to advertise aggressively in the U.S.

Even EBay (https://www.ebay.com), the site of choice for low-cost Internet transactions, is moving upscale with its Great Collections fine-art Web pages.

Instead of Pokemon, Beanie Babies and Zippo lighters, high-end e-auctions concentrate on items such as original paintings, antique furniture and rare stamps and coins. Transaction prices are significantly higher than the estimated $40 average on EBay’s regular site, which was created in 1995 by Pierre Omidyar in a quest to build up his collection of candy dispensers.

High-end auctioneers also authenticate and guarantee each item put up for sale. Person-to-person deals, however, are based solely on trust, without a middleman as a safety net.

“When you move up in price, you need the trust, respectability and confidence that established businesses will bring,” said James Corsellis, Icollector chief executive.

And unlike low-cost auctions in which sketchy product data may be adequate, sites such as Sothebys.amazon.com feature sharp photos and 500 experts who write detail pages and recommend price guides to help buyers make an informed purchase.

A landscape oil painting by 20th century American artist Jon Corbino, for instance, appears on a Sothebys.amazon.com page with his dates of birth and death and nationality; the painting’s type, title, materials, techniques, style, measurements and history; exact shipping cost; estimated insurance rate; and export restrictions. Bids were as high as $1,300.

By contrast, on EBay, a Beatles Plaks bubble gum wrapper--which attracted bids of up to $130.95--has just a paragraph description by the seller with a photo and a general note that the winning bidder pays shipping and insurance.