Bonhams buys into future with CD-ROM

London auction house Bonhams is pioneering the use of CD-ROMs to complement and potentially replace expensively produced, low print-run full-colour catalogues.

London’s CCC Multimedia has designed Bonhams’ – and possibly Europe’s – first interactive CD-ROM auction catalogue.

The CD-ROM contains details of the more than 400 lots in The Adams Collection, a series of five sales starting on 8 May. All five separate catalogues are combined on the one disc.

Aimed predominantly at institutional and corporate buyers, the CD-ROM allows user to navigate around the lots, viewing individual items from several angles.

The disc, created by CCC Multimedia designer Tony Rebair and creative director Mark Pyrah, also forges a template for future sales.

A spokesman for the consultancy says that while the first CD-ROM does not carry sound, future releases could well incorporate both commentaries and video sequences. “For instance, a sale of film memorabilia could include footage of, say, Marilyn Monroe wearing an item in the sale,” he says. Putting the catalogue on an Internet Website is also a logical step.