Preparing for a Sotheby's Celebrity Auction

Celebrity items are a big deal, just look at the fiasco Kwame signing footballs caused. People will pay for something signed by someone they think is famous, and even more for something signed by, worn by or owned by someone they know is famous.

Sotheby's dates the beginning of the celebrity auction craze to 1981, when it says it held the first such event of its kind. Now celebrity items are auctioned daily without fanfare on eBay.

Challenge 6 for The Apprentice teams to compete to raise money for charity in a celebrity auction at Sotheby's. They are asking celebrities to donate items to be sold at Sotheby's for their charities.

Since much of the interest in Sotheby's items is generated by their auction catalogues and press attention to the items on the list - are these just filler items to pad an existing auction? Or will they also have the opportunity to promote the items available.

An article from CNN.com published in 2000 quotes Stephen Maycock, rock specialist at Sotheby's at the time, as saying the market has been growing steadily for the last 20 years, with buyer gradually becoming more selective in their buying.

In the same article he also is quoted as saying "Most people are people who buy because they enjoy having the stuff." He said "I don't think people buy for investment. I never met anyone who said they were buying as an investment. They may make a profit, but they buy because they like the item more than anything else."

So the questions are:

How do you ask for items that people will want to have, from people that are celebrities?

Do they get to pick their own charities - this gives them that much more enthusiasm in pitching the charity to the celebs, and of course opens the door wider for intraTeam conflict?

Since they can't use their existing contacts, how are they going to chase those celebs? Cold calling, agencies, Donald's connections (I don't think so). That'll be an interesting piece to watch.

Will Kwame & Troy sell some more autographed footballs?