We are pleased to introduce The Sunday Edit, The Magnusson Group's timely thoughts about art, design and collectible market industry insights, connoisseurship & shopping secrets. We'll share some tidbits of our observations in the world of unique asset management, appraisals, estate sale, auction, private treaty and gallery transactions. We promise to keep it short and worth your while.

The pandemic swept working remotely and Zoom meetings into the mainstream. We conducted business calls & Sunday visits with grandma via Zoom and made online shopping our ‘new normal.’ (Thank you, eBay, Amazon, Instacart, Door Dash and Uber Eats.) How many new shopping accounts did you create? I now have a PW sheet of over 200!

The need for home offices, home schooling, home comfort zones, home everything(!) became ubiquitous and catipulted the need for interior designers and organizers. This shift caused a sharp increase in the acquisition of home goods, produced a supply chain issue and culminated in new online buying habits. Social media and internet marketing became shopping game changers.

As the primary market (aka retail) became inaccessible, the secondary marketplace (aka used and/or preowned) proliferated. The Magnusson Group, too, continued to pivot and adapt in the secondary marketplace, deepening and expanding our already broad wheelhouse.

In the post-pandemic landscape, venue options for selling have proliferated and most people have difficulty negotiating the truth and transparency minefields of those secondary market platforms. There is simply too much information, and much of it is inaccurate, fraudulent, and inappropriate for a project, a location, a client, or an item itself.

Vetting is not just important. It’s essential. Who among us hasn’t run out of time and energy for nonsense? Those of us who need products or enjoy shopping have become connoisseurs of taste and value our time more than ever as volcanic vortices lurk around every transaction.

We'll include tips on vetting and authenticity issues and protocol, from examination clues to expert opinions and re-commerce trends. Let's continue the journey - the new ‘new SOP' with grace and humility - together. Comments? Questions? LMK!

-Co-authored by Lynn Magnusson, President, Heather Zises, Director of Communications