“Even though this is a traditional business, you’ve got to go with the times and take advantage of available technologies if you want to be efficient and profitable,”says Sean Susanin, entrepreneur and president of the city’s newest auction house, Susanin’s Auctioneers & Appraisers.
Susanin’s fall auction last weekend put into action the new technologies he has developed. The most notable of these is a digital cataloging system: Every new item that comes onto the auction house docks is videotaped and filed into a computerized inventory.
Because there was no software for such a program, Susanin and his partner, Christian Skeen, had to develop one. One of its benefits is that an illustrated catalog can be produced quickly and inexpensively and distributed for free.
Auction customers were able to preview items not only during exhibition dates, but throughout the actual sale in the 15,000- square-foot gallery at the Chicago Riverfront Antiques Mart, 2929 N. Western Ave. During the auction itself, pictures of the items on the block were shown on large television screens, not actually brought onto the podium.
Susanin says that the technology will reduce administrative costs and mean savings for the buyer.
The company’s next auction will be at noon Dec. 3 and 4.