Mobilia.com and LiveBid Team Up to Handle Internet Bidding For Major Noel Barrett Toy Auction
4 May 1999
Mobilia.com and LiveBid Team Up to Handle Internet Bidding For Major Noel Barrett Toy Auction
Auction includes items from collections of Rick Ralston and Al Marwick; One
hundred of the top automotive, transportation and collectible antique toys
featured on Mobilia.com
SEATTLE and MIDDLEBURY, Vt., May 4 -- LiveBid.com, the sole
provider of live, event-based auctions on the Internet, and Mobilia.com, the
online home for America's car culture, today announced that they will team up
to host pre-bidding and live bidding for a highly-valued collection of toys,
including numerous automotive and transportation toys.
The world-class collection being auctioned by Noel Barrett is highlighted
by items from noted collectors Rick Ralston and Al Marwick. The auction
includes nearly 1,100 lots with estimated values ranging from under $50 to
several thousand dollars. A full preview is available now on LiveBid.com
(http://www.livebid.com). Preview and pre-bidding on 100 select automotive
lots opened on Mobilia.com and LiveBid.com on Friday, April 30. Pre-bidding
will run on the Mobilia.com and the LiveBid.com sites from April 30 through
May 14. The auction will take place on May 15 and 16 in Lambertville, N.J.
with live Internet bidding taking place via LiveBid.com.
Among the items included in the auction are: pedal cars; Japanese
automotive; penny toys; candy containers; cast-iron automotive and horse-drawn
toys; tin toys; doll houses; games and puzzles; toy trains including Lionel,
European and American cast-iron trains; cast iron and tin toys; gas powered
race cars; and puppets.
"The Internet is clearly the coming thing in the auction world," said Noel
Barrett, auction organizer. "This phenomena has created an entire generation
of people who are discovering the excitement of auctions and are comfortable
with using the Internet for bidding. And these collectors represent a giant
new market of dedicated collectors who are looking to traditional auctioneers
to provide an Internet experience along with a live auction. With Mobilia.com
Premiere Auctions and LiveBid, I can combine my highly successful live
auctions with a state-of-the-art Internet presence. The convenience of the
Internet provides the best of all worlds for auction buyers, and the increased
online visibility brings in substantially higher revenue potential for my
sellers."
"We relish opportunities like this one to bring remarkable, one-of-a-kind
auctions to a large, worldwide audience over the Internet," said Matt
Williams, president of LiveBid.com. "The collection being auctioned by Noel
Barrett combined with the team at Mobilia.com and LiveBid.com will be an
irresistible attraction for collectors all over the world."
"Noel Barrett is one of the leaders in the antiques and collectibles
field," said Eric H. Killorin, founder and CEO of Mobilia.com. "To have him
select the team of Mobilia.com and LiveBid to host the Internet previewing,
pre-bidding and live bidding on this world-class collection is a testament to
the value proposition that the Internet provides. The Noel Barrett auction is
among nine premier auctions we will host in May alone and more are being
scheduled in the following weeks. Mobilia.com not only pioneered the Premier
Auction concept, LiveBid and Mobilia are clearly leaders in this emerging
field that combines the convenience of an Internet auction with the depth of
expertise of a traditional auction company."
About Noel Barrett
If you're like millions of other television viewers who've become addicted
to the PBS series "Antiques Roadshow" you might recognize the mustachioed,
pony-tailed, over-grown kid who offers his unusual brand of excitement,
knowledge and expertise to the world of vintage toys. Noel Barrett has more
than 20 years' experience as a retail dealer and auctioneer specializing in
unusual and extraordinary collections. He holds two to three major auctions
each year that are regarded as among the most visible and significant in the
antique toy collectibles field. Recent Barrett auctions have included: the
Toy Museum of Atlanta; the automotive toy collection of Bill and Lillian
Gottschalk; the antique advertising collection of Peter Sidlow; the antique
games collection of Herb Siegel; and the American tin toy collection assembled
by the late Bill Holland.
Mr. Barrett currently is a director of the Historic Carversville Society
and the County Theater of Doylestown, Pa. -- a nonprofit film house in his
county seat. He also currently serves on the Board of Advisors of the Antique
& Collectibles Book Club. He has written numerous articles for various
collector publications. In addition, he is an active collector of optical and
pre-cinema toys as well as lithographed paper and comic character toys.
About LiveBid.com
LiveBid.com (http://www.livebid.com) is the sole provider of live, event-
based auctions on the Internet and will soon be a part of Amazon.com, the
Internet's No. 1 music, No.1 video and No.1 book retailer. Amazon.com also
operates Amazon.com Auctions, where sellers can offer items for sale to 8
million Amazon.com customers. Amazon.com announced on April 12, 1999, that it
will purchase LiveBid.com.
LiveBid.com's patent-pending, real-time technology enables auction houses
to broadcast their events over the Internet and online bidders to participate
in live auctions as if they were physically present at the venue.
LiveBid.com has partnered successfully with licensed auctioneers to bring
auctions to bidders worldwide via the Internet including the auction of the
only complete Titanic boarding pass, the Entertainment Memorabilia/OJ Simpson
estate auction with Butterfield and Butterfield and Yahoo!Auctions, the
auction of the restored historic mill town of Johnsonville, Conn, and the
Kruse International renowned Scottsdale auction, the second largest collector
car auction in the world.
About Mobilia.com's Premier Auctions
Mobilia.com's Premier Auction Program launched earlier this month to
feature rare, vintage and valuable automobilia lots that require a level of
service, support and expertise previously available only from traditional
auction houses like Sotheby's or Christie's.
About Mobilia.com
Mobilia.com is the online home for America's car culture. Featuring an
online auction and fixed-price store, Mobilia.com opened for business in
February 1999 and already has experienced a run-rate of 26,000 visits per day.
Mobilia.com has over 25,000 items consigned for automotive enthusiasts to
peruse. Based in Middlebury, Vt., the privately held company was established
on the premise that a centralized community where automobilia enthusiasts can
collaborate in discussion and commerce would greatly enhance the experience of
owning and collecting cars, motorcycles and related memorabilia. Mobilia.com
was founded by Eric H. Killorin, publisher of Mobilia Magazine -- the first
major publication devoted exclusively to collectibles for car enthusiasts.
(Note: Mobilia.com press materials are available at:
http://www.mobilia.com/press)