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First Patrizzi auction realizes $5.4 million

November 20, 2008

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Geneva--A low number of bids and technical problems plagued the first auction for Geneva-based Patrizzi and Co., held at the Hotel Richemond in Switzerland on Tuesday.

According to a release from Patrizzi, the "groundbreaking" auction was a combination of a traditional auction-room type of sale and an online Internet auction, with four sessions going on simultaneously in adjacent auction rooms.

More than 200 attended the event, and while people complimented both the technology involved and the collection of timepieces, "this euphoria did not translate into bids, as many present were there more to see how the new system would work than to bid," according to Patrizzi.

The sale achieved a total of CHF 6.6 million (about $5.4 million), with 47 percent of pieces sold.

The top lot sold was a Breguet 18-karat gold and enamel equation-of-time pocket watch dating from 1857, which fetched CHF 1.1 million (about $901,795).

Other lots sold included a Patek Philippe tonneau-shaped platinum men's wristwatch, which fetched CHF 550,000 (about $450,877), and another Patek Phillippe dating from 1998, which sold for CHF 350,000 (about $287,096.)

In addition to selling less than 50 percent of the pieces offered, technical problems plagued the auction.

According to company founder Osvaldo Patrizzi, a world-renowned watch expert, "We had thought that the technology was capable of helping the auctioneer to manage the auction, but we found that it, in this case, imprisoned the auctioneer, and that created several problems for us during the sale. I believe that we now practically have to rebuild our Internet bidding platform."
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