Matthew Girling,
Bonhams
We have found that the online space is an incredibly useful tool for younger bidders and new collectors, and we have fully embraced and invested in online and digital bidding. So far this year, 40 per cent of our bids by volume have come from online bidders.
However, I do believe we need to give buyers and sellers the choice to engage with the objects or the specialists in person, if that is what they wish to do. Where major lots are concerned, it is almost unheard of for buyers — or their advisers — to buy totally sight unseen. I’ve been investing in our teams, in taking on new specialists in our post-war and contemporary department, in our prints department, in our photographs department and in our design department so that we will be relevant to the collectors of the 21st century who want to do business with the auction house.
We’ve become an international company and see ourselves as fleet-footed, initiating new categories. These include our Africa Now sales of modern and contemporary African art at our New Bond Street headquarters.