Sold! Antique pros open high-end auction biz

SARASOTA — An area couple in the antiques and fine art business opened a high-end auction house.

Andrew Ford and Elizabeth Lathrop Ford, owners of Ford Art and Antiques, have opened Sarasota Estate Auction, according to a release. The auction house is a combination of live and online, where people bidding inside the store compete against people online who can bid before the auction or in real time. The 7,000-square-foot auction house facility, at the corner of University Parkway and Lockwood Ridge Road, has seating for up to 100 people, according to the release.

“We have been selling items at auction through arrangements with other auctioneers,” Andrew Ford says in the statement. “After 20 years in the business, we felt it was time to start our own.”

The first auction will be held Saturday, July 26 at 3 p.m. Cash, checks, wire transfers and credit cards are accepted. A preview party, open to the public, will be held from noon to 3 p.m. before to the auction.