Patrizzi Launches 'Innovative’ Auctioneer

By JCK Online Staff -- JCK Online, August 1, 2008

Osvaldo Patrizzi, former chairman of Antiquorum Auctioneers, and members of his former management team have started a new watch auction house, Patrizzi & Co. Auctioneers (www.patrizziauction.com).

Launched in April, the Geneva-based auction house offers several innovative concepts using new I.T. technologies, while eliminating some shortcomings of online auctions and online bidding, it said.

The public will be able to participate on multiscreens in simultaneous auctions, either online or in the auction room, letting them concentrate on a particular session while following parallel ones. This format also allows more lots, with more choices, to be auctioned in less time than traditional auctions now, said Patrizzi & Co.

The first multiscreen auctions will take place in Geneva this fall. Four to six annual auctions—both traditional and thematic—are planned for Geneva, Hong Kong, and New York.

The new company also is abolishing buyer’s commissions—traditionally paid to an auction house by bidders on objects they purchase—and will provide a five-year “guarantee of authenticity” for what clients buy, eliminating the risk factor in buying important pieces in Internet auctions. Downloadable online catalogs, regularly updated, also will be available at the auction house Web site.