the yard in April, good sunny weather. If you look at the calendar, the spring is in full swing, and if you look at the street, then say so, of course, impossible. Drifts hardly give way to thaw on lawns and sidewalks and do not intend to do so in the country. But the auction season is in full swing. Many auction houses to expand its business, boldly experimenting with new directions.

antiquarian theme is very powerful sound in a symphony of art auctions, always collecting a large number of active participants and literally shaking the imagination of trading results. It is not surprising that he was glad I decided to try their hand in the field and used books made special auction.

So, 12:45, before the auction is a few minutes, and the people sitting in the hall about ten . That is not enough even for trading on painting, and even more so for the book. Usually come to the book of forty - fifty people, and if you do not come in advance, before the start of sit on a chair in the room will not be possible, at best, get a place on the windowsill. Delay of 20 minutes, add some more members, and all in the room were about twenty, including journalists. The average age of the participants - 30-40 years, which is not typical for the average amateur portrait of antiquarian books, and even less like a passionate booksellers girls, among whom was sitting in the room, almost half.

All it does not configure the fact that the hall will set the tone at the auction, however, is exactly what happened: 39 lots sold it to the gym, only 7 have lots of members on the phone, and it is absolutely amazing: no win no distance rate. In general, for the first time the general statistics, too, was pretty well - 32 per cent of lots sold.

Lots 10 000 went to fight in five or ten steps, and at the same time auction up to five people. Lots of over 20 000, are generally left to start. Thus, the struggle for twelve steps left three volumes of Pushkin (Lot 51): from the start of 10 000 price reached 24,000 by the end of fighting three people in the room. But the top lot - lifetime edition of "Dead Souls" by Gogol (Lot 58) - without a struggle, to start, for 350 000, went into the hall, and to congratulate the buyer with the successful transaction, because in other circumstances, for a prestigious booksellers the auction price could reach up to a million. Incidentally, in the same conditions, this growth can be predicted even for a fairly decent part of lots: the prices in the catalog, according to people in the know, were good.

Would like to mention a few circumstances, taking into account that organizers can continue to count on better results.

1. Catalogue of the first auction of 99 lots, which is very little compared to the traditional specialized trades antiquarian book there and three hundred and four lots is not the limit. It would seem a small thing, the more so for auction lots 100-150 painting is a normal figure, but a second-hand market for bargain hunters, this change was significant. "Size" in this case is important, and for a serious relationship for trading thickness directory is not the last factor.

2. A description of some lots deterred from participating in the auction a number of famous second-hand booksellers (had the opportunity to talk to them at the Salon just before the auction). Later covers and restoration publications prolong life, but denied their authenticity, and (alas) values. A number of descriptions rather raised questions about the state of a book than to answer them.

3. Another unexpected obstacle was registration, which required to inform themselves about the details too. Perhaps for those who want to make a correspondence rate is justified in some cases, but to participate in a living room seems excessive.

4. The last wish of the organizers for conducting the auction. First, the price has to be understood in any given auction. It seems that is not tricky and also words auctioneer duplicated information on the screen, but, surprisingly, it was not always clear on what the figure is counting - whether at the current rate, or on the other, perhaps, it is followed . Second, the pace of trading is also important: no need to hurry, but to entertain historical digressions and unnecessary comments, thus delaying the time, wrong and wrong. The audience will be comfortable in the clearest of terms, and then the right atmosphere in the room they create themselves. Checked.

Total. Can welcome another undertaking reputable auction house. Believe that a start and started off well. Conjuncture of the market is good, the ability and organizational skills are, left to wish good luck that we are happy and we do.

Constantine Babulin, AI