Have You Heard of Barneby's?

Last week I was corresponding with fellow appraiser and friend Soodie Beasley, AAA, ASA AM of Kansas City about some mid-century modern pieces I was working on for a consulting assignment.  Although the furniture did not turn out to be valuable, or perhaps even collectible, Soodie passed along a great website called Barneby's.

Barneby's is an auction house sales aggregator, right now with over 450 auctions houses who list their upcoming auctions.  The site is growing quickly.

Additionally, Barneby's archives past auctions.  Barneby's is a site developed in Sweeden, and many of the auction houses are European.  But, the site is now growing in the U.S. and a sampling of auction houses from the US include  Sotheby's, Christie's, Bonhams, Heritage, Phillips, Pook and Pook, Rago, LA Modern, Hindman, Brunk, Neal, New Orleans Auctions, Michaan's, RAgo, Wright, Skinner, Doyle, Stair, Thomaston, Treadway and the list goes on. Even online auction platforms such as Paddle 8, iGavel and Auctionata are listed on the site.

You can search the site by keyword or by category, when the listing comes up you can click on the item and it takes you to the auction website listing.  This simple and intuitive process works upcoming sales as well as archived sales.  The listings are rather amazing, and it is free to use.  You have the option of registering if you wish to save searches.

Check the website out at Barnebys.com, and take a few minutes to view upcoming and past sales. I have done a few searches and have been rather impressed with how the site works and the large amount of price data which is all available for free.

This also shows, as solo professionals appraisers should constantly be networking with fellow appraisers. By reaching out to Soodie, who is an expert in mid-century modern furniture (where I am more of an 18th/19th Century specialist) I not only obtained the info that I needed to assist with my assignment, but I also learned of the Barneby's website.  As solo professionals, it is easy to become overly self-reliant, and by reaching out to fellow appraisers and experts not only expands our knowledge but enhances our appraisal practice.

The Barneby's website states

Recently, the auction market has undergone some dramatic and big changes. Until now, flipping through an auction catalogue required not only the effort to actually get hold of one, but also needing to know industry inside out. The auction houses mainly addressed a small group of sellers and bidders, resembling a clique rather than a market. But this is no longer the case. All over the world more and more people are visiting auctions, which means that the industry is growing – both in number of participants and lots.

We've managed to make all auctions more available by gathering them in one place. By opening up the previously secluded auction world, art, design and antiquities are now just a click away and accessible for everyone to enjoy.

Our central concept is that this transparency should be beneficial to all. By introducing the houses to enthusiastic bidders, we've achieved something new and exciting. We’re providing the auction houses with new, dedicated customers, whilst simultaneously presenting the buyers with the full spectrum of auction houses and lots.

Source: Barneby's