Cyn and Conrad Ritblat

News

23 January 1988

The ploy seems to have worked, as the sale, held at the May Fair Inter-Continental Hotel, raised £8m overall with 65% of the lots on offer selling. Some 13 lots of the 40 on offer were sold out of the room, accounting for some £4m of the sales.

“We were one of the auctions that came up after that stock market trouble and we were genuinely unsure as to what was going to happen,” explains Mr Riggall.

“We were consciously selling prior — if a good price was offered we said to the vendor that we did not know what was going to happen and to take the offer. The object of an auction is to sell the property and we could have misled the client if we had said, wait until the auction.”

Conrad Ritblat went on to titillate the prospective purchasers by putting up for auction one of London’s naughtier addresses.

To Conrad Ritblat’s credit they conducted themselves perfectly properly. The catalogue entry for 30 Ambleside Avenue, Streatham, SW16, shown left, made no mention of what must be, according to one’s taste, either the least or the most desirable neighbour in London: Cynthia Payne of flagellent fame.

Despite tales of the previous owners putting up fences and the like to shield themselves from the cavortings of their over-lively neighbours, the lot proved popular and the freehold six-bedroom detached house sold for £220,000.

On a more serious note, industrial property sold well, with the freehold on the 1.86-acre Langhedge Lane industrial estate, built in 1982 in Tottenham, London N18, selling for £765,000, the top price achieved on the day.

Simon Riggall will not, however, be offering champagne regularly. “Handing out bucks fizz is not something we intend to do on a rgular basis,” he admits. “When we go back to afternoon sessions it will be tea and buns again.”

However, the catalogue for the next auction has yet to be finalised….

Not content with conducting an auction by candlelight, auctioneer Simon Riggall tempted bidders from their beds to Conrad Ritblat’s December auction with the promise of a champagne breakfast and a lot with a notorious address. The ploy seems to have worked, as the sale, held at the May Fair Inter-Continental Hotel, raised £8m overall with 65% of the lots on offer selling. Some 13 lots of the 40 on offer were sold out of the room, accounting for some £4m of the sales. “We were one of the auctions that came up after that stock market trouble and we were genuinely unsure as to what was going to happen,” explains Mr Riggall. “We were consciously selling prior — if a good price was offered we said to the vendor that we did not know what was going to happen and to take the offer. The object of an auction is to sell the property and we could have misled the client if we had said, wait until the auction.” Conrad Ritblat went on to titillate the prospective purchasers by putting up for auction one of London’s naughtier addresses. To Conrad Ritblat’s credit they conducted themselves perfectly properly. The catalogue entry for 30 Ambleside Avenue, Streatham, SW16, shown left, made no mention of what must be, according to one’s taste, either the least or the most desirable neighbour in London: Cynthia Payne of flagellent fame. Despite tales of the previous owners putting up fences and the like to shield themselves from the cavortings of their over-lively neighbours, the lot proved popular and the freehold six-bedroom detached house sold for £220,000. On a more serious note, industrial property sold well, with the freehold on the 1.86-acre Langhedge Lane industrial estate, built in 1982 in Tottenham, London N18, selling for £765,000, the top price achieved on the day. Simon Riggall will not, however, be offering champagne regularly. “Handing out bucks fizz is not something we intend to do on a rgular basis,” he admits. “When we go back to afternoon sessions it will be tea and buns again.” However, the catalogue for the next auction has yet to be finalised….