Auction Anecdote January 21

11th Jan 2021

At Smiths Auctions in Newent, we had hoped that our January antiques and collectables auction would prove to be early enough after Christmas to escape the almost inevitable third national lockdown. However of course, this could not have been further from the truth, and the two-day sale on the 7th & 8th January had to be held without any public viewing and behind closed doors. Buyers have however now become used the ‘online only’ buying format and even the lack of viewing seems to be no deterrent to the current frenzy of lockdown buying.

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Auction Anecdote: Dec '20

4th Dec 2020

Well it has certainly been a year like no other at Smiths Auctions as we have tried to steer our way through all the logistical challenges thrown at us by the Corona virus. It has been a bit of a brain teaser at times trying to work out all the ins and outs of running an auction as the situation has been constantly changing around us. It seems in this latest lockdown salerooms have all adopted quite different strategies with some closing down altogether whilst others have worked around the challenges and soldiered on with exactly the same sale schedule. At Smiths we had already planned to hold the 6th November as an online only sale since the pandemic was obviously on the rise again. We were incredibly lucky to be able to hold viewings by appointment for those who wished to come on the Tuesday and Wednesday before the lockdown on the Thursday.

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Auction Anecdote: Nov '20

1st Jan 2020

Since Smiths Auctions have recently invested in a fancy new back office computer system it has been a rather stressful few weeks for me and the team as we have worked long hours trying to get our heads round a completely different way of doing things. However, it all worked like a dream on sale day and we are enjoying many of the new features and flexibility the improved system can offer us. All this has been going on against the backdrop of an ‘ever increasing’ flow of entries for the sales as clients are venturing out and bringing us the results of many a ‘Lockdown Clear Out’

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