';}else{echo'
An inventive 11-year-old auctioneer has called time on a problem that has dogged the antiques industry since the turn of the millennium.
Ridley Partridge, eldest son of TV antiques expert Adam Partridge, has developed an auctioneer’s block that finally synchronises the online and auction room bidding process.
Ridley Partridge with dad, Adam
The concept has been developed by ATG Media, and will now be used in hundreds of auction houses around the world.
Ridley explained: “I was running an auction for my dad and brought the gavel down on the block to sell the object in the room only to find that it had been sold to an online bidder instead.
I thought I had done something wrong but dad explained it happened quite a lot as it is hard to synchronise the timing out of the online auction with the gavel coming down in the room.
I thought that this wasn’t such a problem. You just need an electronic device to synchronise the online and auction room process. I don’t like to say it, but it really was child’s play.”
Adam, who has been in the business for 25 years and is a regular face on a host of TV programmes, said: “The first thing I thought was brilliant, that’ll take off, great idea, son. The second thing I thought was, why on earth didn’t I think of that. I mean it’s so simple and come to think of it, obvious.”
Partridge Auction Rooms recently unearthed an antique Jewish book from a house clearance that realised a stunning £210,000 for the lucky owner. Adam said: “You never know just what is under your own nose.”
