Move over fashion editors and agony aunts, it takes an auction house to know What Women Want. That, at least, is the boast of Bonhams, which is organising a sale under that title in its Bond Street rooms on Thursday.

Of course, the idea is not entirely gimmick-free. January is a quiet month in the auction rooms and, with a jazzy marketing campaign, Bonhams can offer in one eye-catching package many of the items - jewellery, watches, handbags, luggage, haute couture - that turn up in its sales throughout the year.

But there is more to it than that. Auctions have traditionally lacked sex appeal. Jon Baddeley, who heads Bonhams collectibles department, reckons that only 12 per cent of the saleroom's buyers are women yet "Bond Street is Europe's busiest shopping street and in January it is packed with women buying at the sales. They would never dream of coming through our doors but, if they do, they can be converted."

He is hoping for a mass conversion next week when compulsive shoppers find at auction the very objects that they have been fighting over in the luxury retailers down the road but at much lower prices and with the attractive patina of age and reputation.

Another auction myth is that everything that comes under the hammer costs around £1m. Most of the 300 lots in Bonhams sale are estimated at under £1,000, many at much less.

To ensure maximum expertise, Baddeley has let women specialists in Bonhams put together the sale, getting them to set aside goods sent for sale over recent months that have feminineappeal. There will also be friendly staff on hand this weekend for the pre-sale viewing, chosen to guide nervous newcomers through the mysteries of an auction.

So what do women want? An Edwardian crocodile travelling case with silver fittings looks irresistible, and cheap, with its £600-£900 estimate. There should be fierce bidding for a very unusual art deco triangular evening bag in silver metal overlaid in black enamel, a snip at around £300. That most sought-after of modern accessories, a Hermès "Kelly" bag, from around 1975, comes with a temptingly low £500 estimate.

Among the jewellery, there are some completely over-the-top Indian necklaces, heavy with excellent stones, which might effectively be broken up to form bracelets and brooches, as well as more conventional pieces by Cartier and Bulgari. The watches tend to be small and pretty and offer the most desirable of brand names at bargain prices while the few items of haute couture on offer include a Vivienne Westwood tartan jacket from the mid-1990s for around £500 and a Balmain coral evening dress of 1969 estimated at £350.

Anyone seeking bargains might look among the silver and knick-knacks, where a late Victorian silver double-end scent bottle decorated in the aesthetic style looks good value at around £200 and five art deco brooches of ladies walking dogs, which were apparently given free to Vogue magazine subscribers in around 1930, seem modestly estimated at £350-£450 the lot. Another conversation stopper would be four celluloid deco brooches designed by Lea Stein, which are expected to sell for up to £450.

In the furniture arena, Bonhams offers some decorative 19th-century mirrors. It feels that women prefer pale woods and modern design so there's no Georgian and Victorian brown mahogany but there are John Makepeace bookcases made of ash and chrome and cane chairs by Marcel Breuer.

The highest valued lot in the auction is for someone on an ego trip - a customised car number plate, Miss X, which is estimated at up to £55,000. The rather mystifying 1 Bra number plate is expected to go for slightly less. There are also a few feminine slanted cars available to attach the plates to, including a 1990 Mini Cooper, with one careful women owner (estimate up to £4,000), and the brazen 2002 Smart Crossblade Roadster, possibly only of girlish interest because it once belonged to pop star Robbie Williams (estimate around £10,000).

Move over fashion editors and agony aunts, it takes an auction house to know What Women Want. That, at least, is the boast of Bonhams, which is organising a sale under that title in its Bond Street rooms on Thursday.

Of course, the idea is not entirely gimmick-free. January is a quiet month in the auction rooms and, with a jazzy marketing campaign, Bonhams can offer in one eye-catching package many of the items - jewellery, watches, handbags, luggage, haute couture - that turn up in its sales throughout the year.

But there is more to it than that. Auctions have traditionally lacked sex appeal. Jon Baddeley, who heads Bonhams collectibles department, reckons that only 12 per cent of the saleroom's buyers are women yet "Bond Street is Europe's busiest shopping street and in January it is packed with women buying at the sales. They would never dream of coming through our doors but, if they do, they can be converted."

He is hoping for a mass conversion next week when compulsive shoppers find at auction the very objects that they have been fighting over in the luxury retailers down the road but at much lower prices and with the attractive patina of age and reputation.

Another auction myth is that everything that comes under the hammer costs around £1m. Most of the 300 lots in Bonhams sale are estimated at under £1,000, many at much less.

To ensure maximum expertise, Baddeley has let women specialists in Bonhams put together the sale, getting them to set aside goods sent for sale over recent months that have feminineappeal. There will also be friendly staff on hand this weekend for the pre-sale viewing, chosen to guide nervous newcomers through the mysteries of an auction.

So what do women want? An Edwardian crocodile travelling case with silver fittings looks irresistible, and cheap, with its £600-£900 estimate. There should be fierce bidding for a very unusual art deco triangular evening bag in silver metal overlaid in black enamel, a snip at around £300. That most sought-after of modern accessories, a Hermès "Kelly" bag, from around 1975, comes with a temptingly low £500 estimate.

Among the jewellery, there are some completely over-the-top Indian necklaces, heavy with excellent stones, which might effectively be broken up to form bracelets and brooches, as well as more conventional pieces by Cartier and Bulgari. The watches tend to be small and pretty and offer the most desirable of brand names at bargain prices while the few items of haute couture on offer include a Vivienne Westwood tartan jacket from the mid-1990s for around £500 and a Balmain coral evening dress of 1969 estimated at £350.

Anyone seeking bargains might look among the silver and knick-knacks, where a late Victorian silver double-end scent bottle decorated in the aesthetic style looks good value at around £200 and five art deco brooches of ladies walking dogs, which were apparently given free to Vogue magazine subscribers in around 1930, seem modestly estimated at £350-£450 the lot. Another conversation stopper would be four celluloid deco brooches designed by Lea Stein, which are expected to sell for up to £450.

In the furniture arena, Bonhams offers some decorative 19th-century mirrors. It feels that women prefer pale woods and modern design so there's no Georgian and Victorian brown mahogany but there are John Makepeace bookcases made of ash and chrome and cane chairs by Marcel Breuer.

Sotheby's, with its policy of going for fewer but more expensive lots, is slower to show its feminine side, although its annual jewellery sale in St Moritz offers the perfect convergence of big money and big stones. Since 1970, Sotheby's has laid on the perfect après ski event for the super rich and on February 20 glitter will again know no bounds - although, in this traditional haunt, the jewels will, in the main, be chosen by women but paid for by men.

时尚编辑和读者来信专栏的回信人都应该让位了，现在拍卖行比她们更了解女性想要什么。至少，这是宝龙拍卖行（Bonhams）所夸耀的。该拍卖行最近在伦敦庞德街（Bond Street）拍卖场组织了一场"女性要什么"的主题拍卖。

吸引眼球的拍卖

这个提法当然并非完全没有噱头。1月份是拍卖行生意比较冷清的月份。通过这样一场引人瞩目的营销活动，宝龙拍卖行得以进行吸引眼球的打包销售--包括珠宝、手表、手袋、行李箱、以及高级女式时装等，要知道这些物品在全年的拍卖活动中都会出现。

但还远不仅此。传统的拍卖对女性缺乏吸引力。乔恩·贝德利（Jon Baddeley）是宝龙收藏品部门的负责人。他估计截至目前，拍卖场的顾客中仅有12％为女性。他说："庞德街是欧洲最繁忙的购物街。1月份的时候，整条街挤满了趁打折时间购物的女性。她们可能从来没有想过进入我们的大门，但是如果她们进来，她们的观点就会被改变。"

他希望届时情形能有大的改变。到时候，那些冲动的购物者们将会发现，在拍卖场内，有与她们在这条街上奢侈品零售店里所抢购的同样的物品，但价格更为低廉，且不乏历史和美誉。

另一个关于拍卖的误解，就是拍卖行出售的物品的价格均在100万英镑左右。但在宝龙拍卖行的这300件物品中大部分的估价均在1,000英镑以下，多数价格甚至更低。

女性想要什么？

为确保最大程度上获得专家意见，贝德利请宝龙拍卖行的女性专家们就所售物品进行整理，并请她们从所有最近几个月预备出售的物品中挑选出对女性具有吸引力的物品。这周末，热情大方的员工也将会到岗，为卖前检查进行准备，她们将负责指导那些紧张的新参与者穿越关于拍卖的种种迷雾。

那么，到底女性想要什么呢？这里有一个爱德华七世时代的鳄鱼皮旅游箱，镶有银色配件，看上去让人无法抗拒，但其价格较低，估价为600至900英镑。一个装饰主义风格的三角形晚装手袋应该会引起激烈的竞价，这个手袋非比寻常，表面镀银，外面再覆以黑釉。其估价约为300英镑，可说是物美价廉。最让人渴求的时髦配饰应该是一款爱马仕（Hermès）的凯莉包（"Kelly" bag，又译"凯莉包"），该包产于1975年左右，其估价较低，为500英镑，非常具有诱惑力。

在拍卖的珠宝中，有一些是非常顶级的印第安项链。这些项链较重，配有上佳的宝石。这些宝石简直可以拿来更有效地利用，打碎了用来制作手镯和胸针，或者制作卡地亚（Cartier）和宝格丽（Bulgari）的那些传统产品。手表则体积相对较小，外观漂亮，拍卖价格较低，且都是一些流行的大品牌。至于拍卖的高级女式时装，有来自于20世纪90年代的Vivienne Westwood格子呢夹克，估价约为500英镑，以及一条1969年的珊瑚色Balmain晚装，估价为350英镑。

所有寻找便宜货的人都应该去看看那些银饰和小饰品。其中有一个维多利亚女王时代晚期的银色双头香水瓶，带有非常艺术的装饰，看上去很有价值，估价仅为200英镑。还有5个适合于女性溜狗时所佩戴的装饰主义风格胸针，这些胸针在1930年左右时曾作为免费品赠送给《Vogue》杂志的订阅者，估计总共售价将在350到450英镑之间。另一个会吸引人们停止聊天的物品，是李·斯坦（Lea Stein）设计的4个赛璐珞装饰的胸针，售价可能将高达450英镑。

在家具展区，宝龙拍卖行提供了一些19世纪的装饰性镜子。鉴于宝龙认为女性偏好浅色木头和现代化的设计，这次没有放置任何格鲁吉亚和维多利亚风格的褐色桃花心木家具，但是有由约翰·迈克佩斯(John Makepeace)设计的白蜡木和铬合金制作的书架，以及马歇·布劳耶（Marcel Breuer）设计的藤椅。

这次拍卖中价值最高的一类物品，是为追求自我表现的人所准备的：一块定制车号牌，编号是Miss X，估价高达5.5万英镑。另一块奇怪的车号牌是1 Bra，估价相比稍微低一点。同时，拍卖行也提供了一些女性化特色较强的汽车，以用于悬挂这些车牌。这些车包括一辆1990年产的Mini Cooper车，其当前的主人是一位小心谨慎的女性，该车估价约4,000英镑。还有一辆产于2002年的黄铜色Smart Crossblade Roadster跑车，这辆车可能更符合少女们的兴趣，因为这辆车曾经属于流行歌手罗比·威廉姆斯(Robbie Williams)，其估价约为1万英镑。

宝龙拍卖行相信，或许事实上也的确如此，女性是不耐烦等到修理或者翻新之后再使用的，她们希望马上拿到所购的物品。所以拍卖场中所有的物品都保持在最佳的状态，能被直接穿戴或者携带回家，或者说立即使用。为促进销售，并且为慈善机构"乳腺癌患者的天堂"筹款，小提琴手陈美(Vanessa-Mae)捐出了她的一台白色爵士电子小提琴，这台小提琴曾帮助她的演奏打破古典音乐和流行音乐之间的界线，其估价高达1.5万英镑。

巴德利同时也正在计划更多针对女性的综合性拍卖，而同时，其他拍卖行仍偏好于在某一特定的市场领域内进行专业化发展，虽然他们也同样倾向于招揽那些更年轻的、具有潮流意识的客户。去年，嘉士得拍卖行（Christie）在南肯辛顿分行举办的20世纪流行物品拍卖会由一场增加到两场。高级女式时装的供需情况强烈说明，2007年至少可以组织3场该类拍卖会。第一场已定于6月7日。在该场拍卖会中，将有大约6个凯莉包，以及来自众多设计师的服装，例如巴黎世家（Balenciaga）和奥西尔·克拉克（Ossie Clark）。根据以往的经验，买主中80％将为女性。

苏富比拍卖行(Sotheby's)奉行的政策是拍卖那些量少而价高的物品，它在向女性提供服务方面发展较缓慢，虽然拍卖行在圣莫里茨（St.Moritz）所组织的年度珠宝拍卖会中集中了大量的大宝石和昂贵物品。自1970年来，苏富比拍卖行为超级富翁们组织了完美的滑雪活动，且在2月20日，闪烁光芒的珠宝又将进行无限价拍卖。虽然在这个传统的场所，挑选珠宝的主要是女性，但付款的主要都是男性。
关键字:双语阅读
生词表: