There was a flurry of interest in auctioneer’s iPhone apps earlier this year and then it seemed to peter out. Meanwhile, users have been adopting the new technology as a way to keep up on the enormous volume of material available for sale in the collectibles and art market. Auctioneers now regularly scan the saleroom and a computer screen to monitor the bids flowing from both directions. Forbes took a little time to do some research and find out the effects of apps on the auction market:

In August a collector at Gooding & Company’s annual Concours d’Elegance auction in Pebble Beach used his to help snag a 1962 Dual-Ghia L6.4. The buyer had created a short list of favorite lots on his iPhone. When the Dual-Ghia came up, he waved the phone, paddlelike, with the image of Lot 48 to bid. The iPhone presence surprised Gooding auction clerks. Said one: “We had requests for chargers.” […]

Photo quality can make the difference between bidding or not bidding,” says Christopher Knight, gallery director of Maison Gerard, an Art Deco dealer in New York. Ready access to databases is another attraction. If you’re poised to bid on a case of 1990 Château Margaux, you can use an app (WinePrices.com, for one) to type in an object’s name and get a list of previous prices realized. Such ease will be significant when ArtFact, the world’s largest art-and-antiques database (53 million records), introduces its app this fall. “Sharing” functions may be the apps’ biggest draw. “You can share images via e-mail or on your phone without [using] your laptop,” says Michael Bruno, founder and president of 1stdibs.com, an online marketplace trafficking more than half a billion dollars in inventory including antique furniture, estate and new jewelry, and vintage couture and designer fashion annually. Its app is due next year. […]

And the impact of apps and other technology hasn’t been lost on longtime auction clerks. If you’re working with customers on the phone, “you know if there’s another bid in them,” says Louis Webre of Doyle New York. “With the Internet, there’s no way to know.” Indeed, during Doyle’s end-of-summer sale, Webre says, “I missed two Internet bids, because they popped up as the auctioneer said, ‘Sold!’ “

At Auction (Forbes)