Amsterdam Auction Research Articles

Underwater archaeobotany: plant and wood analyses from the Vrouw Maria, a 1771 shipwreck in the Finnish Baltic Sea

Archaeobotanical analyses together with historical records can provide unique information about the cargoes and histories of sunken ships, which are found as wrecks at the bottom of the seas all over the world. An interdisciplinary research project was undertaken on the Vrouw Maria (Lady Mary), a Dutch wooden two-masted merchant ship that sank on October 9th in 1771 in the Finnish Baltic Sea. She rested at a depth of 41 m and was in good condition when discovered. Based on written sources and archaeological research, the ship was carrying a valuable cargo including, for example, sugar, dyes, cloth, porcelain, wood and goods that the Russian nobility had ordered. Among them were paintings that the Russian Empress Catherine the Great (1729–1796) had bought at an auction in Amsterdam. Samples from four wooden barrels and from one wooden packing crate among the ship’s cargo were investigated. Botanical analysis revealed products such as stimulants, dyes and fruits originating from the Mediterranean, India, Africa and South America. One of the most intriguing finds from the cargo was Indigofera tinctoria L. (true indigo), a valuable dye plant. Our paper presents the botanical data analysed from the barrels and summarizes the plants mentioned in the historical records on the cargo of the Vrouw Maria.

Premium auctions in the field

In a field experiment, we study the revenue-generating properties of premium auctions. In a premium auction, the runner-up obtains a premium for driving up the price paid by the winner. Previous research, both theoretical and in the lab, has shown that the relative performance of premium auctions compared to standard auction formats is context-specific. In the experiment, we compare two types of premium auctions with the standard Vickrey auction selling high-quality, limited-edition posters in an online auction. We observe that neither premium auction raises higher revenue than the Vickrey auction. Revenue dispersion in the Amsterdam auction, one of the premium auctions, is lower than that in the other two auctions.

Train path congestion management: Using hybrid auctions for decentralized railway capacity allocation

Despite the entry of new competitors into the railway market in European countries, the capacity allocation mechanism still relies on the same service priority criteria as before the adoption of 91/440/EEC Directive. Without the implementation of a market-based mechanism or criteria, the current administrative approach of network capacity allocation inhibits further development of competition and especially freight railway transport. In this paper, the application of auctions is limited to a part of railway infrastructure. In view of the specificities of the railway sector and the nature of infrastructure capacity, the following question can be raised: Are there auction mechanisms that reduce the likelihood of collusion and at the same time achieve a high degree of efficiency of capacity allocation? In such a context, this article considers the implementation of hybrid auctions for the purpose of train path allocation. In order to facilitate the implementation of various types of auctions in allocation procedure on railways, this paper develops and models an algorithm for iterative train paths allocation. With the proposed algorithm, the auction outcomes have been determined in a simulation with the objective of comparing the performances of hybrid (two-phase) auctions: Anglo-Dutch and second-price Amsterdam auction with some well-known standard-type auctions: English and sealed-bid first-price auction. The results indicate that hybrid auctions are a better choice in European conditions when railway undertakers are asymmetric, especially if there is a threat of collusion. These results could help an IMs to decide which type of auction mechanism to choose for the railway capacity allocation.

Premium Auctions in the Field

In a field experiment, we study the revenue-generating properties of premium auctions. In a premium auction, the runner-up obtains a premium for driving up the price paid by the winner. Previous research, both theoretical and in the lab, has shown that the relative performance of premium auctions compared to standard auction formats is context-specific. In the experiment, we compare two types of premium auctions with the standard Vickrey auction selling high-quality, limited-edition posters in an online auction. We observe that neither premium auction raises higher revenue than the Vickrey auction. The variance of the revenue in the Amsterdam auction, one of the premium auctions, is lower than that in the Vickrey auction.

Revenue-superior variants of the second-price auction

With two bidders, one strong and one weak, the introduction of at least some degree of anonymous “pay-your-bid” in the payment rule of the second-price auction behoves any risk-neutral seller who, while possibly efficiency minded, cares about revenues. This can be achieved by adding to the winner’s payment a uniform proportion of his own bid, as in Guth and van Damme’s auction, or by having bidders receive a uniform proportion of the losing bid, as in Goeree and Offerman’s Amsterdam auction, or even by selling uniform toeholds to the bidders prior to the auction. We demonstrate one-to-one relations between the equilibria of these auctions and of first-price auctions. By assuming a power relation between the bidders’ value cumulative or decumulative functions, we obtain explicit expressions for the first-order effects of the pay-your-bid rule.

Een schrijfstertje van Vermeer. Jacob Oortman en de Dissiusveiling van 1696

The writer traces the history of Vermeer's Mistress and servant, which was one of the 21 paintings by the artist that were sold at the famous Dissius auction in Amsterdam on May 16, 1696. The painting was sold at an anonymous auction in 1738 to Jacob Oortman, who kept it in his house on Singel, Amsterdam. An inventory of Oortman's belongings made up after his death indicates that the painting was hung in a side room on the main floor that was probably meant for receptions of a more or less intimate character.

Fighting collusion in auctions: An experimental investigation

The danger of collusion presents a serious challenge for auctioneers. In this paper, we compare the collusive properties of two standard auctions, the English auction and the first-price sealed-bid auction, and a lesser-known format, the Amsterdam (second-price) auction. In the Amsterdam auction, the highest losing bidder earns a premium for stirring up the price. We study two settings: in one, all bidders can collude, and in another, only a subset is eligible. The experiments show that the Amsterdam auction triggers less collusion than the standard auctions. We compare experimental results to theoretical predictions, and provide an explanation where they differ.

De Calvarieberg van Philips Wouwerman herontdekt

AbstractSince the 1993 publication, in this journal, of an article about Philips Wouwerman (1619-1668), little new information about the artist has emerged. There have been some shorter publications and recently a monograph with a catalogue raisonné of Wouwerman. The 1993 article discussed roughly two dozen dated works. In addition there are a few references to dated paintings in old sale catalogues. Among these was a Calvary, known to be dated 1651. This painting has recently been rediscovered (fig. i). It is in excellent condition and forms an important addition to the artist's known work, not only because it is dated, but also because its biblical subject is unusual for the artist. The crucifixion itself is given a relatively modest place in the composition. It is possible that an engraving by Lucas van Leyden inspired Wouwerman when he painted the scene. Stylistically the painting fits with Wouwerman's other works from around 1652. Certain aspects of the composition are reminiscent of his earlier work, but the rendering of landscape and figures, and the use of colour arc characteristic of his canvases from the period 1652-1654, for example Peasants making merry in front of an inn of 1653, now in Minneapolis (fig. 2) and the Peasant wedding in the Samuel Collection at the Mansion House, London. The painting was probably sold at auction in Amsterdam in 1709, together with two other New Testament scenes by Wouwerman, and a Crucifixion of 1661 by Karel du Jardin. Hofstede de Groot noted that the latter work and Wouwerman's Calvary were paintcd in response to a competition announced by the Count of Wassenaar, but this seems untenable. If both pieces were indeed painted for one collector, it seems more likely that this was Jacob Cromhout from Amsterdam. The rediscovery of the Calvary adds important information to our picture of Wouwerman and reminds us that he was not just a successful painter of horse scenes. It also provided a helpful reference point for the chronology of his mostly undated work.

Notes and Comments the Amsterdam Auction

The Amsterdam auction has been used to sell real estate in the Dutch capital for centuries. By awarding a premium to the highest losing bidder, the Amsterdam auction favors weak bidders without having the implementation difficulties of Myerson's (1981) optimal auction. In a series of experiments, we compare the standard first-price and English auctions, the optimal auction, and two variants of the Amsterdam auction. With strongly asymmetric bidders, the second-price Amsterdam auction raises substantially more revenues than standard formats and only slightly less than the optimal auction.

Een gehistorieerde familiegroep van Ferdinand Bol: twee fragmenten in Dordrecht en Lyon

AbstractFor some time it has been thought that Ferdinand Bol's Portrait of a couple in a landscape in the Dordrecht Museum (fig. i) is part of a larger picture (note 3). The cropping of the composition on all four sides and the somewhat nondescript posture of the figures have given rise to this suspicion, which is confirmed by the absence of cusping, revealed by X-rays, along the edges of the canvas. The description of a painting sold at an Amsterdam auction in 1804 makes it clear that the original composition was somewhat taller and considerably wider than the canvas now in Dordrecht, and that it also showed a shepherd resting on the left with some sheep and a ram (notes 3 and 4). A large part of the missing portion can be recognized in a picture in the museum at Lyon (fig. 2), which during restoration in 1989 / 90 was discovered to be a fragment (note 5). It bears a close stylistic resemblance to the Dordrecht painting and contains the shepherd described in 1804 with a number of sheep, some of them fragmented when the composition was cut up. This must have taken place some time between 1804 and 1841, when the Lyon fragment was bequeathed to the museum there as a work by Bol. This attribution is certainly correct, in spite of a short-lived attribution to Lambert Doomer (note 5). Together, the canvases in Lyon and Dordrecht measure only a little less than the work described in 1804. This leaves little room between the two fragments (fig. 3), and one may assume that most of the sheep whose muzzle is only just visible on the right in the Lyon picture was painted on the canvas at Dordrecht and over-painted there with a boulder when there was no more room for the truncated animal. It is quite likely that the original composition was no longer intact even in 1804, as may be inferred from the aforementioned absence of cusping in the Dordrecht fragment. Blankert has suggested that the Dordrecht picture might be identified with a portrait by Bol, described in 1681, of the woman who was later to become his second wife and her first husband in the roles of Isaac and Rebecca. The introduction of a third figure, however, rules out this idea. The figures may well play a biblical role, but it is not clear what characters they are impersonating, and one might also wonder whether they are perhaps portrayed in a 'pastoral' guise.

De portretten van Jan van Huysum door Arnold Boonen en anderen

AbstractThe Ashmolcan Museum in Oxford owns a portrait of Jan van Huysum, thc famous painter of still lifes and landscapes, which has always been considered a self-portrait (fig. 1). Stylistic comparison, however, justifies the attribution of this portrait to Arnold Boonen. As early as the mid-eighteenth century the artist and writer Jan van Gool mentioned and illustrated a portrait of Van Huysum by Boonen (fig. 3). That picture can very probably be identified with a painting which was on the London art market in 1981, allegedly as a self-portrait of Jan's father, Justus van Huysum (fig.4). In an Amsterdam auction of 1773 a third, smaller, portrait of Van Huysum by Boonen came up for sale, and in recent decadcs a (studio) version of the Oxford painting has been on the market (fig. 5). From old catalogues it would appear that still more portraits of the painter by Boonen have existed. Printed portraits of Jan van Huysum, among them illustrations in biographical works, were apparently all derived, one way or another, from portraits by Boonen (figs, 3 , 6 and 8-10); even Kremer's romantic representation of the artist known only from a print- appears to be distantly related (fig. 12). The source for a nineteenth-century lithograph remains somewhat uncertain, although it, too, was probably inspired by Boonen (fig. 11). Clearly not a portrait of Jan van Huysum is Heroman van der Mijn's painting at Amsterdam (fig. 13), but a work at Quimper, now considered by the museum to be an anonymous French portrait of an unknown man, might be a fairly early effigy of Jan van Huysum after all (fig. 14).

Andries Bongcn (ca. 1732-1792) en de Franse invloed op de Amsterdamse kastenmakerij in de tweede helft van de achttiende eeuw

Andries Bongcn (ca. 1732-1792) en de Franse invloed op de Amsterdamse kastenmakerij in de tweede helft van de achttiende eeuw

Cornelis Claesz's 1605 stock catalogue of Chinese books1

AbstractOne of the stock catalogues published by the important Amsterdam bookseller and publisher Cornelis Claesz is known only from a description in the catalogue of the Frankfurt autumn book fair of 1605. In this article the author presents arguments to show that in the autumn of that year Cornelis Claesz could indeed have offered a collection of Chinese books for sale. These might have come from the captured Portuguese carrack Catharina, whose cargo was sold at public auction in Amsterdam. Descriptions in sale catalogues and inventories of 1609, 1610 and 1615 indicate that quity early on there were scholars at Leiden who numbered more than one Chinese book in their collections. This exceptional stock catalogue by an Amsterdam bookseller is the earliest known printed list of Chinese books and thus represents a source of great importance to cultural historical research. It is to be hoped that the present article will lead to the discovery of a copy.