Online Bidders Deliver for Charlton Hall's 'Great Estates' Auction Infinite Bidding and Artfact Live! ring up the online sales sales during Charlton Hall's 'Great Estates' auction.
News-Antique.com - Sep 25,2009 - Using Artfact’s Infinite Bidding™ solution for its ‘Great Estates’ auction on September 12-13, 2009, Charlton Hall offered live online bidding on its own website for the first time ever. Running its sale simultaneously on three platforms - Infinite Bidding™, Artfact Live! and Invaluable Live! (Artfact’s UK sister site) - Charlton Hall was inundated with over 1,400 online bids from fifteen different countries. Nearly 150 lots were successfully won by online bidders across all three channels, with the top lot sold, a Louis XV style kingwood, satine and bronze-mounted bureau rognan, attributed to Theodore Millet, going to an online bidder for $30,000.
Kinga Bender, Charlton Hall’s Fine & Decorative Arts Department Director, comments on the sale, “We are extremely excited about the large volume of online bidders delivered through Infinite Bidding™. Throughout our two-day auction, live bidders from Artfact Live! and Infinite Bidding were extremely active, consistently driving up prices on the auction floor. After just our first auction using Infinite Bidding™, I am convinced it is a major breakthrough for us!"
Built for auction houses to privately brand and directly broadcast live auctions in real-time over the Internet to their own clients, Infinite Bidding™ dramatically enhances bidder access to traditional, live auctions. In addition to the increased bidding volume generated through Infinite Bidding™, Artfact’s partners benefit from the global marketplace of online bidders delivered through Artfact Live! and Invaluable Live!.
To date, twenty-eight Artfact partners have already signed on to use Infinite Bidding™ following the announcement of its launch in early September. Appealing to new bidders unable to make their first trip to the auction room and unwilling to leave absentee bids, Infinite Bidding™ delivers for consignors and auction houses alike. According to Rod Funston, Artfact’s President, “This technology is exactly what auction houses have been asking for, and we are confident it will greatly exceed their expectations.”
About Artfact
Founded in 1989, Artfact is the largest global marketplace of fine and decorative arts, antiques, collectibles, and estate auctions. On January 1, 2009, Artfact launched Artfact Live! and Invaluable Live!, its proprietary live auction bidding platforms, enabling users to bid in real-time on auctions being held around the world by its prestigious auction house partners. Currently, over 1,000 fine auctioneers actively list their catalogues with Artfact.com and its U.K. sister site Invaluable.com, reaching the Artfact community of more than 10 million knowledgeable collectors and dealers worldwide. Artfact's industry leading database includes more than 54 million complete auction results totaling more than $197 billion in value, including information on more than 500,000 international artists. In 2006, Artfact acquired RFC Systems, the leading provider of enterprise software developed specifically for the fine art and antique auction house industry. RFC helps prestigious auction houses around the world manage their businesses by automating their day-to-day operations.
Editor's Notes
- Additional background information available.
- Interviews with Doug Ellinger, VP Marketing, (617) 746-9882
- Complimentary media subscriptions to the Artfact database available.
