Gammell - Proud Arsenal Fan!

Tell us a bit about Bache Treharne?
Bache Treharne is one of the UK's leading firms of auctioneers, surveyors and valuers, we offer expert advice on all issues relating to property, machinery and business assets. For over 12 years we have been providing service-driven valuation and disposal solutions for private companies, public limited companies, banks, asset-based lenders, accountants, finance companies, lawyers and insolvency practitioners. The company has five offices in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Dublin.

The Internet now provides a complete open market with many buyers and sellers. Our proprietary Webcast and Online auction systems allow buyers worldwide to participate in our sales, in real time, via the Internet from the comfort of their own home or office.

Our auctioneers have sold everything from a pheasant-plucking machine and 6½ pairs of Wellington boots to one of Winston Churchill's cigar butts and a lock of Napoleon's hair!

Auctions are often either perceived as quite stuffy and old-fashioned or a hot bed of dodgy car-salesmen. Is this the case or has the explosion of interest in sites such as ebay changed your industry?
In days gone by, two types of auctions were to the fore, one was the auction that the rich and famous attend at the West End of London Auction Rooms as a place to be seen or to sell off the heir-looms, or secondly the bric-a-brac, household furniture type sales that dealers and market traders typically attend.

Auctions have now become an extremely fashionable way of selling all types of assets.
Since the dot-com boom and the giant leap in technology capabilities, auctions have now become big business with just about everything that's saleable now been offered for sale by all types of auctions including Webcast, Online, Onsite and Reverse Auctions with everybody from the public to large corporations joining in. The industry has changed forever for the better and it's now so much easier to sell an asset to someone on the other side of the world.

Have you been involved in similar auctions to the Highbury one?
Yes, two similar auctions that certainly brought out the collector and memorabilia seeker would be the Concorde Memorabilia Webcast Auction I was involved back in 2004 and the Minardi Formula One Auction this year. Both sales had huge audience appeals and when your auctioning a Lot and you're talking with a bidder in Sydney, Australia at 11pm his time versus a bidder in the USA at 6am his time, you know that something special is taking place.

Don't miss a minute of stadium auctioning with our Webcast

What is the most interesting item you have ever sold?
The most interesting would have to be the nose cone from the Concorde Airplane I auctioned last year. The nosecone is synonymous when people remember Concorde.

…the most expensive? Again the nose cone at £85,000.

…the strangest? 40,000 Litres of neat whiskey in one tank, that was sold at an 'Australian Customs Auction'.

Do people get carried away and go home with things they hadn't set out to?
Sometimes. Most likely to happen at sales such as the 'Highbury Auction' where it's such a unique sale and if they don't get the item they come for, they will often bid on other items just to get a piece of history. At Enron in 2002 we sold 5 rubber ducks over the Webcast to a man in Alaska.

What can Arsenal fans expect from Highbury Auction over the next year?
I think the Webcasted Stadium Auction is really going to be such a wonderful event for the fans next summer. Our Webcast Capability will enable Arsenal fans across the globe to bid on items in real time from the convenience of their own homes or businesses versus bidders on-site at the Stadium. We will also catalogue the sale in such a way that all fans will have a chance to buy a piece of history. Throughout the season we will be placing certain assets for auction as and when they become available for sale.

Highbury Stadium is not only a second home to Arsenal fans but a socially historical London landmark. Do you think there will be wide interest from general memorabilia collectors beyond Arsenal fans?
Unquestionably, since Herbert Chapman set the glory days rolling in the 1930's, Arsenal Football Club has always been one of the prestigious clubs in Britain and of course it's not every Football Club that gets a movie made at their ground as was the case in 1939 with the 'The Arsenal Stadium Mystery' movie. I'm confident that there will be enormous interest with general sporting collectors outside of Arsenal fans.

How easy is it to bid for an item?
There are two types of sales we will be conducting over the next nine months, online and on-site/webcast. For the online sales all bidding will take place at www.highburyauction.com. Bidding is straight forward and all bidders will need to do is go to the web page and register their details with the usual contacts details. Bidders will then be issued a user name and password that they can use at all the online sales. For the Webcast Auction next year, Bache Treharne will physically conduct an auction at the Arsenal Football Stadium. Bidders will either be able to register at the stadium during the viewing days leading up to the auction, on auction days or if they wish to bid over the Internet live against the bidder onsite they will be able to register at www.bachellp.com closer to the sale.

Highbury features grade-listed buildings were some items off limits?
Yes, there were certain assets that needed to remain with the buildings which will remain there with the re-development of Highbury. I think it's great that Highbury will never be forgotten and these items will remain a physical lasting memory to such a wonderful stadium.

Can you tell us a bit more about how the 3 Live days are going to go?
When the Webcast Auction takes place at Highbury, every lot that we auction will also have a full description and a photo that will be displayed on numerous screens at the auction location within the stadium. We will also have a number of 'spotter's, these are numerous Bache Treharne staff members who will be circulating the auction arena assisting buyers with their bids and relaying to the auctioneers to ensure that all bids are logged and everybody has the opportunity to participate. The sale will probably have somewhere in the region of 1000 Lots per day with the Auctioneers selling approx 100-125 lots per hour.

What item do you have your eye on?
Well, I am a life long Arsenal fan and was born in 1970 when Arsenal won their first European Trophy and the start of their first double, plus I remember being in short trousers and thinking I was Liam Brady in the playground when Arsenal famously won the FA Cup in 1979, so if I could secure something from either of those years that would be great.