John Weldon Auctioneers in Cow's Lane, Temple Bar, Dublin is the latest Irish auction house to embrace the internet. The sale on Tuesday, April 29th at 2pm, which includes some 480 lots of jewellery, silver, Waterford Crystal and collectibles, will be broadcast on the art auction website, invaluable.com. Weldon said he trialled the new format at last month's auction and "sold goods to clients as far away as Hong Kong, San Francisco, London, Italy and various locations between".
Most of the major Irish and international auction houses broadcast auctions live on the web and all that have reported on traffic have noted a significant increase in business. The catalogue is at jwa.ie.
For those who prefer the traditional saleroom, viewing begins at noon today. Among the highlights is a diamond single stone ring set in platinum, 3.24cts (€25,000- €30,000), and an antique carved elephant ivory tusk that once belonged to the Northern Irish MP Sir Thomas Somerset (€500-€1,000).