Over the years, art marketplaces and auction houses have evolved dramatically. From the days of 17th Century Britain with artwork being sold under the Covent Garden Piazza for gold coins, through to the invite-only auctions primarily for the wealthy and well established, to the clandestine markets of fraudulent or stolen works, and with the advent of the internet: online auctions with credit card payments and next-day delivery— it’s safe to say, things have changed. A lot.
Interestingly, it wasn’t such a natural progression that led physical art auctions to the digital realms. The dot-com era brought rise to a large…
