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The long awaited moment for all vintage collectors, has arrived. I am of course, referring to the highly anticipated and well attended semi annual Important Estate Jewelry Auction being held today at 10 am, and tomorrow’s Couture Textiles and Accessories Auction, at Doyle New York, 175 east 87th street, website: www.doylenewyork.com
When I asked Clair L. Watson, Doyle’s Couture Specialist (whom I saw on Saturday when I stopped by to view the items) which numbers seemed to be generating the most interest, she admitted there was “a lot of interest in a variety of lots – the Pucci collectors/lovers adore the beaded dress and the float; the Balenciaga feather coat is getting a lot of attention from variety of sources; the fuschia Poiret has been been lovingly inspected; the Dior Musique de Nuit admired.”
She also observed that there “has been a steady stream of people generally enjoying and looking at it all – one of the fun things is the diverse appeal of vintage couture – Sophie Dahl came in and loved the Dolce & Gabbana multi godet creme chiffon mini; the ‘faces’ paper dress obviously rarely up – has generated a lot of interest; the Yrigere Trigere coat; the Desses…”
By the way, one thing I found VERY interesting, and worth noting, is the link to Ebay, which is something new and still somewhat experimental. When I contacted Louis LeB. Webre, Director of Marketing, Media, and Internet for Doyle New York, to get the lowdown, he explained: “The entire Couture catalogue is posted on Ebay. We have contracted with Ebay to utilize their live Internet bidding service for several sales this spring.”
“What this means is that all of the lots were posted on Ebay beginning ten days in advance of the auction date. Our lots show up on Ebay’s search functions, and users may leave absentee bids which will be executed on the day of the auction. Users may also register to participate live at our auction and use their computer mouse as their paddle. They will watch the bidding progress on their monitor, and click their mouse when they wish to bid.”
“As to our goal with this arrangement, our focus has always been to provide maximum visibility to property offered in our auctions and make participation as convenient as possible for interested bidders. By alerting millions of ebay users to our sale and providing convenient bidding capabilities, we are hoping to foster greater competition for each lot, resulting in higher prices for our consignors’ property.”
“A few years ago, we held the auction of the Estate of Jame Cagney. The auction was televised live on Pax Network, and we provided live Internet bidding through the Internet auction company, ibidlive.tv. The arrangement was a success, with 80% of the lots offered receiving bids from Internet bidder, and 25% of the lots actually selling to Internet bidders.”
“Today’s auction of Important Estate Jewelry will be our first auction with Ebay. Tomorrow’s sale of Couture will be the second.” So, whether you attend the auction up close and personal, or track it on Ebay, good luck!
-Posted by Marilyn Kirschner
