The role of auction houses to bring supply and demand together and to accumulate price memory is of particular importance in markets such as the art market where information is rare and asymmetrical.
However, to learn a developmental point of view, and what brings in the future depend on several factors.
Eker Gallery Auction House owner Yusuf Şimşekçaktı has invaluable knowledge to enlighten the path of auctions through historical background to look into technological advancement of online auction in a wide range of environments to include generation Y and Z.
Yusuf Şimşekçaktı says; ‘’When we look at the formation of the concept of auction, we encounter a wide history that goes back to the sale of slaves in Ancient Greece. In fact, the works for sale for a closed and bony group make it inevitable for the members of this group to be in a state of ‘conflict’ among themselves. The reserve price (the highest amount to be paid for a work) will determine the severity of the desire to own the work of the masses competing to own the work in that particular environment.’’
‘’The value of the most important works of art is determined by the auction mechanism, by direct selling value, or indirectly by comparison with other sales. In order to understand the auction mechanism, it is necessary to understand how the preferences of the participants in the auction reflect on the value of the work. Efficient operation of the auction system and pricing is key to understanding the costs of producing and distributing artworks.’’
In the field of art economy, studies to understand the auction system stand out in the last two decades. Artworks are unique, so how their prices have evolved over time can be determined by careful analysis and a large data set. By obtaining art indexes from such analyzes, the return of art can be compared with the return of other investment instruments over time, and the risk-distributing effect of having artworks in the ideal investment portfolio can be shown.
Furthermore, studies on the evolution of the prices of artworks over time can also detect price anomalies and bubbles in the art market. One of these anomalies is the effect defined as the master piece effect. The return on masters’ works over time is often well below the average market return. Auction prices vary depending on auction houses, time, season or geographic area.
‘’Not every work that goes up for auction may not be sold. The owners of the work have a reserve price for each work and if the demand in the hall does not see this price, the sale will not take place. Auction catalogs provide detailed information about the work, but do not give any clue about the reserve price. However, sometimes it is seen that the low and high estimated prices of the works are explained in the catalogs. In times of good economy, both the quality of the auctioned works and the average prices increase’’, says Yusuf Şimşekçaktı.
The history of the auction house in Turkey is very short. Since the beginning of the 20th century, four generations contributing to Turkey’s artistic and cultural life of Eker Gallery Auction House, started for the first time in the Ortaköy for antiques and auctions, and held several auctions along with countless online auctions.
Eker Gallery, Online Müzayede
