At the Auction House Dubai: Going, going, gone!

Participants at The Auction House Dubai on Saturday. — KT photo by Dhes Handumon

A piano made in Berlin in brown wood by R. Le Walter is priced at Dh4,500-5,000; a solid wooden dining table with six cream chairs made in Pakistan is Dh1,200-1,400; a chandelier with black and white crystals is Dh400-500. There are Burmese teak tables, small cherry wood coffee tables, two-seater sofas, three-seater sofas, outdoor rattan seaters, entertainment units, paintings and tapestery rugs from Iran.

Furniture lovers, with time to spare on weekends, would do well to visit The Auction House Dubai (TAHD) in Al Quoz Industrial area 4. TAHD has been open since August. But this is the weather to visit. Friday afternoons from 2-4pm are their busiest times. But some auctions, like the one on November 21, can continue till 6pm. Depends on the crowd, the buyers, and how much stuff there is to sell. Saturdays can be a bit slow.

A somewhat challenging place to locate, Khaleej Times visited TAHD at warehouse No. 4-5, 4th street, on Saturday. We were told by Anastasia Tymofieierathe, assistant manager, that “yesterday was crazy”. She said people argue and bargain over Dh150-200.

The auctioneer and founder is Francis Morgan, who was busy inviting bids for a King-size Ethan Allen dark wood bed with two matching side tables and dressers with six drawers (Dh5,000-6,000).

Guide price

Every piece of furniture in the warehouse is marked with a yellow paper tag with its description and, importantly, its ‘guide price’. So if the tag on a blanket chest made in north India out of teak wood reads ‘Dh4,000- 5,000’, at the auction, the bidding could start from, say, Dh3,400; always a little lower but within the range.

Visitors are welcome to the auction house on all other days of the week, but there’s no auction on then. And the price to be paid will be the higher end of the guide price. So the north Indian teak blanket chest on a Tuesday would cost you Dh5,000. On weekends, you stand to get a much better deal.

“We can run your auction at your home,” an ad on the projector reads during the break. If you want them to come over to your house and have a look at your furniture and buy it from you, that can be arranged by having a chat with Morgan. If you want to put up your own small knick-knack wares to sell — ceramics, vases, the odd copper jug — if you’re leaving town, that can be arranged too. A table can be booked for Dh250 per day on which your household goods can be displayed.

To participate in the auction, you have to pay a deposit of Dh1,500 at the beginning of the day — a refundable amount. Buyers have three days to pay and collect the items bought at the auction.

But even if you’re not there to buy the odd gorgeous piece of wood, it’s a great place to browse and drink coffee; More Café has a kiosk as you contemplate Dh500-600 for a wooden bookshelf.

nivriti@khaleejtimes.com