Page 7 - Best Bid 7 | 2017
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UN BRILLANTE A BRILLIANT shown its strength. What’s more, with only two auctions so far,
Aste Bolaffi has already established itself as a top player in the
2016 market of jewellery and precious stones, making headlines for
its record-breaking sales. Two new sectors, watches and modern
e18.380.000 art, got started more quietly, and this year will prove to be a
springboard for them.
Totale ag g i u dicato, diritti inclu s i
Sale s total inclu din g b u yer ' s pre m i u m The following pages reveal and analyse the figures from the
recently concluded season. If I reflect back on 2016, I feel immense
15 satisfaction in remembering it as a record-breaking year in terms
of revenue, number of lots sold, selling price of a single lot,
N u m ero di a s te s volte number of clients, participation of foreign/international buyers,
N u m ber of au ction s h eld the number and value of online sales and number of consignors.
9.968 For the auction world, 2017 promises to be a year of noteworthy
and rapid changes, some positive and others less so. On one hand,
N u m ero di lotti vend u ti more people than ever are showing interest in this type of trading
N u m ber of lot s s old which, thanks to the driving force of the internet, is no longer
solely reserved for professionals and advanced collectors. On the
75% other hand, traditional vendors, unable to sell all of their stock the
old-fashioned way, are saturating the auction market with objects
percent uale di lotti vend u ti already seen in the shops, or are offering their items at super high
percentag e of lot s s old prices or, even worse, a combination of the two.
Vorrei concludere con due ulteriori note di orgoglio. Nel di- Aste Bolaffi prides itself on its very strict “door selection”,
cembre scorso la nostra prima asta di football memorabilia ha including only the right items in its catalogues, which come
dimostrato la capacità di Aste Bolaffi di inventare e organizzare almost exclusively from private consignors. When it is somebody
nuove vendite estemporanee, adattandole alle specificità dei from the trade, however, who proposes his pieces, our experts
singoli oggetti e attirando l’attenzione dei media attorno a pezzi select them with even greater rigor and will only include them in
da collezione che, da vecchi e polverosi, possono trasformarsi in the sale under the conditions they consider accurate, to ensure
glamour. Poco prima, all’inizio dell’autunno, era andata on-line la that the customer is presented with a purchasing opportunity
versione rinnovata del sito astebolaffi.it: esteticamente moder- in line with the other lots in the catalogue. This approach has
na, facile da navigare, ricca di informazioni utili e con alcune fun- led to gratifying percentages of lots sold and results that have
zionalità e personalizzazioni ideate per ottimizzare i risultati di far exceeded their starting prices. All of these figures, published
ricerca. Fra le varie innovazioni che abbiamo apportato nel corso bi-annually in Best Bid, which are shown to our customers or
degli anni, anche queste ultime due confermano ancora una vol- declared proudly to the press, are all true and documented by
ta che, come in tutte le attività commerciali, anche nel settore the financial statement I sign every year and certified by the
delle aste bisogna essere sempre aperti ai cambiamenti, rinno- Reconta Ernst & Young auditors.
vando i prodotti offerti e il modo di proporli. Noi cerchiamo di
farlo, ponendoci come priorità la soddisfazione di conferenti e I would like to conclude with two final sources of pride. Last
clienti e la prova sono i risultati record del 2016, che spero sare- December, our first football memorabilia auction demonstrated
mo in grado di ripetere e magari pure superare nel 2017. Aste Bolaffi’s ability to invent and organise new cutting-edge
sales, adapt them to the uniqueness of the individual objects and
editorial attract media attention to collectibles that, from old and dust-
Ist semester 2017 covered objects, may then transform into something valuable.
Also, not very long ago, in early autumn, the newly revised www.
The past year brought many changes to our auction house, astebolaffi.it website went online: aesthetically modern, easy to
some satisfying confirmations and major achievements, but it navigate, full of useful information and with various functions and
also left us with large expectations to live up to: in addition customizations designed to optimise search results. Among the
to our historic national leadership in the traditional fields of various innovations that we introduced over the years, these final
philately and numismatics, we emerged first in the wine sector two confirm once again that, like in all commercial activities, also
as well, a department that despite being new for us, has already the auction sector must always be open to change, modernizing
both the products it proposes and the way it proposes them. We
strive to do this by making the satisfaction of our consignors and
customers a priority, and the proof is the record-breaking results
of 2016, which we hope to be able to repeat and perhaps even
exceed in 2017.
5b 7.2017 essential
