Product Descriptions – Auction Items (SPEC)
The Client
A Norfolk-based auction house of long standing, catering to a wide range of customers with a wide range of needs. Auctions are held on every working day of the week, catering for both casual buyers and antique dealers, with a keen eye for the quality and provenance of the items on offer.
The Goal
To entice potential customers to place winning bids on the auction items.
The Target Audience
Both professional antique dealers and individual buyers, looking for a new piece of furniture for their own personal use. While the former often have a range of items that they’re looking out for, the latter usually have a specific space to fill in their house, but could well be swayed into seeing the potential in something they hadn’t considered before.
The Tone
Evocative, Practical, Professional
The Solution
The descriptions of auction items are often presented in catalogues describing the lots in a particular auction. Given the client’s preference for brevity and the frequency of their auctions, the descriptions were kept to a minimum to avoid bogging their more frequent visitors down in unnecessary details. It was essential that the key features of the items should be mentioned in the descriptions (such as their dimensions and design style) to answer any practical questions that their bidders might have. However, the text also needed to show the range of ways in which the items could enhance the space in which they were placed (while avoiding the impression that they were so unimpactful that they could fit in anywhere). By focusing on each object’s characteristics and flavour, I painted a descriptive picture that showed the bidders the potential of the items’ function and placement.
Rustic and understated. The dark oak of this 18th-Century-style pegged oak table adds atmosphere without drawing focus. Flanked by baluster legs, the lower tier is equally at home displaying an immaculately crafted floral arrangement or your collection of coffee-table books.
- 44cm tall x 92cm long x 51cm wide
- 18th-Century style
- Two tiers
- Cleated ends over baluster turned square legs
- Legs united by undershelf
This working oil lamp sets the mood of whatever room it is placed in. Both ornamental and practical, the white tinting in the glass globe mutes the flame to a pleasant brightness, creating a gentle glow rather than a harsh glare.
- 15cm diameter base; 23cm diameter glass globe; 35cm tall
- Brass base with working oil burner and glass lamp chimney
- White-tinted glass globe for gentle, ambient lighting
A candelabra mirror that adds depth, light, and style, whether as the centrepiece of a room or as a background fixture in a hallway. The light from the five Gothic-style blackened steel candleabra is amplified by the mirror, ringed with a black engraved frame.
- 5 curled Gothic-style candelabra
- Inlaid pale grained wood, contrasting with the black inner and outer frames
- Mirror to add both depth and amplified light to the space
- Mountable by chain affixed to the top or back of the frame