Wednesday 22 January 2014

Brian Looks Back at 2013...

In advance of the first Auction Events Preview of 2014 this Friday, this month's 'From The Rostrum' feature from director Brian Clements looks back briefly at last year's events.

On the back of a year that saw McTear's named as Britain's favourite auction house, a look back to 2013 brings to mind numerous highlights, with one auction specifically standing out. The Terry Howson Auction, a sale of the personal collection of Peter Howson sketches belonging to the former wife of the celebrated Glasgow artist, saw a record attendance at the 'white glove' (every lot sold!) auction, with the proceeds helping greatly towards the purchase of a property for Terry and Peter’s daughter, Lucie.

The internet continues to attract an ever increasing international audience, with the last twelve months seeing considerably more sold online to overseas buyers than ever before. Additionally,
we were proud forerunners of 'timed bidding' auctions for The-Saleroom.com, a state of the art and innovative facility that allows an efficient auction style for collections and individual objects,
often too bulky, numerous or awkward to be sold in a conventional way.

We cannot start this year off without mention of our auctioneer, Natasha Gemini Raskin, and her new found ‘celebrity’ status! Snapped up as an onscreen expert by BBC'S Bargain Hunt late last year, Natasha has already shown, with an abundance of natural charisma, that auctions are great entertainment all round. In the impending battles of red versus blue, we hope that she will record more wins than losses in this year's busy filming schedule. C’mon Gemini!!

Lastly, a huge thank you to everyone who has purchased this auction catalogue, once again every penny raised through catalogue sales goes to McTear's chosen charity, this month The Little Sisters of The Poor in Greenock. We are continuing our support of local charities this year and hope that we can exceed last year's total raised. In 2013 McTear's staff participated in sponsored events, raffles, auctions and other fundraisers, helping to raise well over £100,000 for charities throughout Scotland.

Don't forget to purchase a charity raffle ticket from the office, up for grabs this month is an iPad2 tablet.

Best wishes to everyone for a happy, successful and peaceful 2014.

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