Auctions are exciting. The prospect of winning a much sought after item and possibly
at a bargain price, the thrill of bidding, the tension of would be buyers and
the finality of the sale as the auctioneers hammer falls. Auctions are also an
indicator of the true market value of an item, at a given time. Something is,
after all, only really worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it. Auctions
are an old form of public sale in which anyone can participate and quite simply
the goods are sold to the highest bidder. The word itself is derived from the
Latin “augere” which means to increase or to augment.
|
|
Auctions
have a colourful history in the Western world. The earliest
historical record of buying and selling commodities through
auction is provided by the Greek historian Herodotus in 500
B.C. when, in Babylon, women were regularly auctioned for marriage.
In fact this was the only legal way in which women were to
be betrothed. The auctioneer started bidding with the woman
he considered most beautiful and
progressed to the least – can you imagine! During the Roman Empire (27
BC–AD 476/1453) auctions were used extensively to distribute the spoils
of war, even the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180) was said to have auctioned
off family heirlooms and prized furniture in an auction that lasted over two
months. |
In
fifteenth century England King Henry VII instituted some of the earliest
auction laws, fast forward two-hundred years and auctions were popular
occasions in coffee houses and taverns, selling art, collectables
and sometimes land. The eighteenth century saw the establishment
of the well known English auction houses Sotheby’s (1744) and
Christie’s (1766). Across the pond in colonised America auctions
became the primary method in which settlers bought and sold land,
crops, furs, tobacco from the late sixteenth century onwards. Infamously
the slave trade was
orchestrated through auction.
|
|
Nowadays
a new generation of auctioneers has been born with the
help of the internet creating a global market place.
Virtual auction houses such as Ebay have made auctioning
an easier, more accessible and potentially highly profitable
means through which people can buy and sell absolutely
anything. Another notable trend is that of property auctions.
A result of the current economic climate and housing
market situation, property auctions have successfully
sprung up across Europe, particularly in the UK and through
the Spanish Costas and, always on-trend, Ibiza is no
exception. The first ever international property auction
will take place in Ibiza on the 9th of April 2010 in
Santa Eulalia’s five star luxury hotel Aguas de
Ibiza. |
The
property auction in Ibiza will bring together both prospective
buyers and sellers under one roof with the aim of creating
a win-win situation for all involved.
Initiated, organised and promoted by entrepreneurs in the real estate business,
the team behind Property Ibiza Auctions collectively has over eighteen years
experience of real estate and quality service provision on the island. The auction
will be conducted in Spanish and English with multilingual advisors also on hand.
Proffering a good selection of properties to suit all budgets, the auction offers
a sales process which promises to be;
On the day professionals from Santa Gertrudis auction house ‘Casi Todo’ will
be auctioneering the properties, they have been running auctions on the island
for over thirty-five years
Certainly sounds a must for anyone looking to buy or sell a property in Ibiza
this spring and with further auctions planned could this be the start of a new
way of property sales on the island?
Text:
Ruth Osborn
