A revolution is about to hit the antiques business in the region. As Journal antiques columnist and Brown & Co auctioneer Craig Bewick explains, auctions are going live on the Internet . . . which means that collectors and enthusiasts can join sales live from their armchairs . . .

Craig Bewick, centre, with other on-line team members, Michelle Walker and Fred Kirkby

A not so little bit of history will be made in the Brigg saleroom of Brown & Co next month, when, for the first time, one of our auctions will go live on the Internet. Buyers will be able to follow the sale – and bid – from anywhere in the world.

Brown & Co have signed a deal with leading specialists in the field DMG Media – which is part of the group that owns the Antiques Trades Gazette and The Journal – to have the Autumn Antiques and Fine Art Auction on 12th September and the specialist Collectable Toy Auction a couple of weeks later live on the net.

It works through the Antiques Trade Gazette site: www.the-saleroom.com. Anyone can log on to the website ahead of the auction and have a look at the lots that are coming up for sale, all of which will be illustrated by photographs. On auction day, anyone simply interested in what is happening can log on and follow the sale in real time.

If they wish to bid for an item, they have to register.

What you get on your computer screen during a live sale is a photograph and details of the lot under the hammer, plus information about the state of bidding – the current bid and whether that bid is in the room or on the Internet.

There will be a live audio feed from the saleroom so people who are logged on will have the option of hearing the auctioneer’s voice.

It is also possible that there will be a live video feed, in which case people joining the auction on the Internet will be able to see the rostrum. The experts are looking at that at the moment. It is all to do with broadband speed and other technical stuff that is way beyond the brief of a humble antiques auctioneer.

If you have registered to bid you will also have on your screen a “bid” button. When you wish to enter the fray all you have to do is click on the button and your bid is instantly registered. You will know if you are the current leading bidder.

It is quite brilliant!

The usual practice is to sort out the bidding in the room and bring in the Internet bids when there is just one bidder remaining in the room, rather as telephone bidders are brought in now. Handling bidding in this way keeps the pace of the auction at a respectable level.

A successful Internet bidder pays through the-saleroom.com and the lot is then consigned on to them, or indeed in the case of local buyers, readied for collection if they wish to come in themselves.

From the point-of-view of buyers and collectors, the advantages are obvious. It enables them to bid from the comfort of their own home or office, without having to travel in to the auction room and hang around while their lot or lots are reached.

I am particularly pleased that it will bring auctions within easy reach of column readers all around the region for the first time.

It will also be a help to those people who are a touch nervous about actually being in the rooms during an auction and who might feel rather intimidated by the prospect of having to bid in the atmosphere of a public auction.

However, as I mentioned at the outset, people can join the auction from literally anywhere on the planet – not only Bridlington and Beverley but also Brisbane and Boston (USA). It will have a major impact.

From the vendor’s point of view, the influx of new buyers and collectors that the Internet will bring in – bidders who would not previously have been able to get involved except on the telephone – can only be good news.

It is a development that we believe has the potential to completely change the auctioneering business and we are as confident as we possibly can be at this stage that, following the pilot project, live auctions will be here to stay.

Fortuitously, the September Antiques and Fine Art Auction is an absolute cracker, one of the best sales that we have had at the rooms for ages. Around 300 of the lots in the sale are coming from a house in Nottinghamshire that was absolutely stuffed to the rafters with antiques and collectables built up by a family over the past century.

It was one of the most extraordinary things I’ve seen in a long time. When I’m asked to value contents I usually take a little digital camera along to provide a visual aide memoir. On that day I just about ran out of disc space!

So even apart from the launch of live Internet bidding, this auction will attract a lot of interest.

I would just mention for the benefit of any readers who are considering selling

anything that entries for the sale are being taken until 19th August when the catalogue will close.

A good sale to have your stuff in, I think.