BY LAURIE JO MILLER FARR
HauteSHOPPING
THE PASSIONATE WORLD OF COLLECTING LALIQUE CRYSTAL, BASEBALL CARDS, CLASSIC CARS, COGNAC. AN ARCTOPHILIST stockpiles teddy bears and a plangonologist covets dolls. What do collectors collect and why? Some people do it for profit, some for pleasure, others for prestige or passion. The psychology of the emotional attachment some people feel toward wildly differing pursuits of subject matter is a fascinating study. ENTER CORONAVIRUS Evidently, it doesn’t slow when a pandemic interferes.
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As consumer spending on vacations, dining out, concerts, and cultural events has been necessarily curtailed, and even as retail is re-opening, some people prefer not to venture out for shopping. Shopping research surveys indicate that while we’re generally amenable to spending, there’s discernable hesitation about doing it in a store. The resistance to brick-and-mortar locations has created a perfect storm for a migration to online auctions. When the coronavirus pandemic shuttered in-person auctions, the houses deftly turned to their already robust infrastructure to conduct more major auctions online.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SOTHEBY’S
Auction houses are breaking records despite the lockdown
