"It was all doom and gloom to start - only five people in the room and a slightly trepidatious auctioneer - but it went fine in the end. Overall the auction lots averaged out at around cost price. You have to look at the bigger picture," said Laurence Green of Insitu Architectural in Manchester who was having a clear-out prior to renovating his city centre showrooms.
 
Insitu sent an auction announcement in its newsletter to 3,600 subscribers, opened by a creditable 1,200, and although many came to visit most bidding was online with a maximum of twelve in the room and hardly any trade.
 
The outcome was around two-thirds sold by lot, and 50% by volume. "It left the shop looking pretty barren," Green said, "which is a good thing, and has given us enough to finish the building work."
 
Among the lots were some bespoke industrial-style tables and benches from the Manchester Metropolitan University student's union made three years ago from steel and reclaimed panga-panga woodblock originally supplied by Insitu and bought back by the firm, one set of which (see the photo) sold for £1,600 against a £1,000 estimate which was joint top lot with 1,000 vinyl records which also sold for £1,600.
 
Laurence still has bits of everything left over and still available for sale including a few hundred doors and some deco and industrial lighting.
 
He has not yet had a chance to anlayse the results but he currently reckons that most of the sales came via The Saleroom which broadcast the event live. Insitu's marketing campaign on SalvoWEB with home page banners and inside page buttons achieved 1,511 clickthrus plus an unknown amount of traffic from eSalvo which was sent to 6,400 subscribers.
 
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Insitu is a Salvo Code dealer