A FEELING FOR TECHNOLOGY IN THE ANTIQUES WORLD
by Tony Keniston |
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At
one time, no one was more sceptical of computers and the internet's
application to the world of antiques than I was. However each
has overcome my initial suspicions. It did not take so long.
Initially, computerisation of stock lists and accounting took
the pain out of pen-pushing for many dealers. Some admitted to
a positive delight at watching an entire quarter's VAT returns
completed with 100 per cent accuracy at the touch of a button!
Collectors found the keyboard's filing and indexing facility,
not least automatically putting entries into alphabetical order,
an altogether fascinating experience. It was no longer utter disaster
when little boxes of filing cards fell on the floor. Admittedly
crashing computers proved to be another matter.
Then along the super highway in cyberspace came the internet.
The dot-com boom brought optimism coupled with arrogance playing
on ignorance. Many dealers were misled and grossly overcharged
for websites. Collectors were sceptical.
The prevelant suggestion that the antiques world as we knew it
was suddenly going to give way to all the serious business being
done by email and images over the internet did not really stand
up to scrutiny. But many people wanted to believe it and jumped
aboard a bandwagon that soon ran into the buffers.
The internet as I see it is a great contact medium. It enables
initial introductions to be made at modest cost. But buying goods
without seeing them, or at least without having dealt with the
dealer before, does not seem very sensible to me.
Having started contributing to media on the internet over ten
years ago and not got carried away during the dot-com boom days,
I can now see things settling down nicely side-by-side with the
established pattern that has prevailed for generations in the
antiques world.
Modern technology being used by collectors and dealers is working
well. It is enhancing, rather than taking over, their way of doing
things. One thing it will never do is replace contact amongst
buyers and sellers, nor more importantly the necessity of physically
feeling antiques from which one gains true knowledge and experience
in the antiques world. |
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