eBay and Sotheby’s

Today, eBay and Sotheby’s will launch the first two live events in the all new Sotheby’s live auctions experience with the themes ‘Photographs’, starting at 10:00 EDT (14:00 GMT), and ‘New York’ starting at 20:00 EDT (0:00 GMT tomorrow). The experience enables art aficionados and casual collectors alike to participate in Sotheby’s live auctions anytime, anywhere with the same confidence and access of those bidding in person in the New York salesroom. The Sotheby’s live auctions destination features an innovative Museum View transitions, that bring the experience of walking through a museum or gallery to life in the online world – including enhanced zoom, in-context images, and item-level video. Participants – regardless of their location – see the exact same item and current real-time bidding online and experience real-time bidding sensitive to the millisecond. Today’s auctions include work by Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Man Ray, Brassaï,  Robert Longo, next to the New York Yankees stadium sign from circa 1973. We love this promising collaboration between the two retail giants, make sure to check out the gems going on sale today – and try your luck.

Since the partnership was first announced, eBay and Sotheby’s have worked together to deliver an engaging virtual entrance to Sotheby’s unique inventory, opening the doors of the prestigious brick-and-mortar auction house to the world. The new design taps both the emotional and rational side of the live auctions experience. The end result is a unique design that incorporates amazing content, rich storytelling (video, articles and of course photos of the lots) where users can get a better understanding and appreciation for the items that are available in the Sotheby’s live auctions – a promising new concept which is strongly enhanced by two beautifully curated sets of products collected for the kick off.

Sotheby’s has been uniting collectors with world-class works of art since 1744. Sotheby’s became the first international auction house when it expanded from London to New York (1955), the first to conduct sales in Hong Kong (1973) and France (2001), and the first international fine art auction house in China (2012). Today, Sotheby’s presents auctions in eight different salesrooms, including New York, London, Hong Kong and Paris. Sotheby’s offers collectors the resources of Sotheby’s Financial Services, the world’s only full-service art financing company, as well as private sale opportunities in more than 70 categories, including S|2, the gallery arm of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art department, as well as Sotheby’s Diamonds and Sotheby’s Wine. Sotheby’s has a global network of 90 offices in 40 countries and is the oldest company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (BID).

For more information and to follow the auctions which will go live later today see here.