On the first page of one of the largest Swedish daily newspapers, Bukowskis – the Nordic oldest auction house with an 140–year history – is advertising a call for Empire style chandeliers. Preferably one from the late 1900 century. They are able to make home visits if your piece is too cumbersome to transport to the headquarters near the Royal Gardens of Stockholm.
For people who appreciate fine home decorating, but who have never participated in an auction before, such advertisements may lead to a few conclusions about the kind of people who occupy the world of high–quality auctions – either you have some serious cash to spend on frivolity, or you already possess an impressive collection of luxuriously crafted pieces.
If you´re a new homeowner with a reasonably generous but ultimately limited budget for decorating, shopping for pieces at auctions might not strike you as a viable option. Sure, there´s an adorable armchair from the 1810s, and it would be perfect in your front hall, but you have no idea why the starting price is 17 000 SEK, and you imagine your deflated pride at a dinner party when a more expert eye identifies it as nothing but a knockoff. Besides, if you bought it now, it would probably be a while before you could host that dinner party anyway. In the end, you dismiss the thought and go the way of most sensible people.
This is exactly the stereotype that Bukowskis specialists Henrik Åberg and Anna–Carin Dellert are trying to change. Two years ago they were part of the team who planned and started the Young Collectors program, which is a kind of crash course intended to __________________________________________________________________________  unlock the mystery surrounding auctions, and also help novices decipher the codes of true value.
"We would really like to expand our customer base, and particularly involve younger people. We want to show that auctions are not as exclusive as they may think. So raising awareness is an important part of the program, but of course you should have some knowledge about the object you are buying in order to understand and appreciate its history," Henrik Åberg explains.
Anna–Carin Dellert remembers how surprising it was when she and another colleague realized that many new homeowners, especially young urban professionals, were not even considering auctions in their purchasing decisions.
"It´s definitely not the prices, because many of the items available at our auctions are actually quite inexpensive compared to buying things new, not to mention that they are of excellent quality and have a proven second–hand value."
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  So the real barriers keeping would–be buyers and sellers away from auctions are not necessarily financial, but rather rooted in a perception of inaccessibleness that tends to surround the auction house, as well as a lack of actual knowledge about art and design.
Media publicity does little to help. Bukowskis and other auction houses grab intimidating headlines when a spectacular purchase is made for a record sum, such as the Rubens painting auctioned off by the Uppsala Auction House in 2006. The starting price was approximately €1500, since the auction house did not believe the painting had been made by Rubens himself. But scandalous speculation began after a British couple with a different opinion bought the painting for €1.7m, making it the most expensive foreign–made painting ever sold in Sweden. Three years later, deeper research proved the auction house correct, showing that even the experts have grave disagreements.
So the average–income couple who makes a long–term investment in a fantastic bedroom bureau has a hard time competing with such high–level auction drama.
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 Christies, the world´s largest art business with over 450 auctions per year, has recognized this problem, and therefore clearly guides website visitors to a demystifying page on "How to buy", where they explain that many of the items available are within reach for the entirely average person with a little expendable income.
Another challenge for auction houses, especially when it comes to attracting latent target groups, is the massive competition from the commercial market. The second–hand marketplace must compete with the popular trends and styles served up in irresistible catalogues, retail displays, and design magazines that aggressively work to capture customers´ imaginations with a ready–made aesthetic. Browsing an auction catalogue or the physical auction house is not the same experience. There are no ready–made interiors to hunger for, and people must possess a certain adventurousness in decorating.
Henrik Åberg has an interesting point, however, when he reminds that the commercial marketplace also benefits auction houses in some  ways. Much contemporary design available for retail sale, especially when it comes to functional objects, is either a copy or inspired by already famous Nordic designers. So people who are already shopping through quality retail merchants tend to have some knowledge or familiarity with their work simply by being exposed to their legacies.
Design objects available through auctions have maintained their original quality, and are desirable in part because of their individual histories. Henrik Åberg explains that the closer to the date of the production year, the more the object will cost. Almost all items have a story behind them, both about how they were made and perhaps even the peaks and valleys of the owners´ lives before them.
Ultimately, Henrik Åberg reminds, "participating in auctions comes down to a desire to want to learn. It´s even about a willingness to be creative and even eclectic in decorating, and about wanting to create meaning in one´s environment."
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  The learning element of auctions is certainly timely. These days consumers are learning about everything from the name of the cow they are eating to the exact chemicals contained in their plastics, to exactly how much energy is used by showering twice per day. In short, consumers are more closely connected and conscious of the production processes of everything from spaghetti to sofas – from their beginnings as raw materials until consumption.
This all dovetails nicely with ecological and recycling trends that encourage saving and re–use, and even as places like IKEA are expanding worldwide, lasting quality is re–entering the mainstream as a premium factor for home purchases. These trends, together with a desire – imposed by both necessity and internal reflection – to consume less, are broad and deep–flowing currents in society that may help push auctions into even broader target groups.
The idea, Anna–Carin says, is not that auctions will replace the commercial marketplace, but that they can exist in parallel and enrich our lives with their history and knowledge.
All images are published with permission of Bukowskis.
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