AntiquesandTheArts.com Brings Auction Community Online

Antiques and The Arts Weekly, a leading weekly journal for the antiques industry and sister publication to The Newtown Bee, has launched a new online initiative that is bringing hundreds of offline auction houses online in one place for the first time.

Hundreds of auctioneers, from rural auction halls to major metropolitan auction houses, are now posting detailed listings of thousands of lots of antiques and collectibles in a searchable online database at AntiquesandTheArts.com. The continuously updated listings and photos posted by auction houses nationwide chronicle the vast quantities of antiques, arts, and collectibles that have, until now, passed right by the online community.

“The Internet is truly an astonishing medium for bringing buyers and sellers together,” said Curtiss Clark, who heads up Web projects for The Bee Publishing Co., which publishes Antiques and The Arts Weekly. “Online auctions have proven to be immensely popular, but as serious collectors of antiques and arts know, most of the important pieces are still sold offline in auction galleries and houses around the country. AntiquesandTheArts.com should prove to be an invaluable guide to those who are in the hunt for these items.”

The success of Antiques and The Arts Weekly over the past 25 years has been built on its comprehensive listings and photos of thousands of lots coming up for sale week after week at hundreds of auction venues in this country and abroad, according to Mr Clark. “Now that rich and ever-changing content in our print publication is available online in a fully searchable format.”

AntiquesandTheArts.com also features a calendar of events that is dynamically generated by the site’s online database, providing detailed information about auctions and antiques shows around the nation.

In addition, the site offers continuously updated reports on news, events, and people important to the antiques industry. Trade news from around the world, auction reviews, a round-up of what’s hot in the art galleries, reports from a full schedule of antiques shows, and book reviews are part of a constant stream of coverage included on the site. A chat forum allows private collectors and professionals to interact on a full range of topics, and every week a special “Anatomy Lesson” is presented by experts to help enhance everyone’s appreciation and experience of art and antiques.

The site, created by Telepop.net, an e-commerce Web development firm based in Ridgefield, is designed to be clear, straightforward, and easy to use. “Despite the depth and variety of information on the site, people will find that what they want to know is only a click or two away,” said Mr Clark.

Antiques and The Arts Weekly was created by publisher R. Scudder Smith in 1976 after about 10 years of running as a weekly special section on antiques in The Newtown Bee. Since then, the publication, which runs 225-275 pages weekly, has become well-known in the industry with readers in all 50 states and abroad.