East Dennis, Mass. – John Schofield, president of the auctioneer firm The Robert C. Eldred Company, has just returned from Beijing, China, where he was a presenter at the 2014 International Auctioneer Forum, attended by almost 200 members of the press, governmental dignitaries, and representatives from Chinese, U.S. and European auction houses.

The forum’s main focus was encouraging the growth of Chinese auctions and the cooperation between eastern and western businesses, exemplified by the announcement of a strategic partnership between live auction websites Invaluable, which powers Eldred’s online bidding, and EpaiLive of China, Asia's leading online auction platform.

“I look forward to working with EpaiLive to promote our auctions and Chinese culture,” Schofield said. The partnership between Invaluable and EpaiLive, formally announced today, provides Eldred's with an exciting opportunity to promote the company’s auctions through EpaiLive, which has more than 100,000 China-based users.

Eldred’s, family-owned and operated from the same location on Cape Cod’s historic Route 6A in East Dennis, Mass., for more than 60 years, has been conducting annual auctions of Asian art since 1968. The firm has been conducting auctions simultaneously online since 2004 and has, through the years, seen a huge expansion of online audience participation from China.

The alliance between Invaluable and EpaiLive will help streamline logistics and guarantee payment from Chinese buyers through EpaiLive’s unique escrow payment system. Founded by Dr. QiQi Jiang in 2010, EpaiLive advocates for regulation, greater transparency and credibility throughout the Asian auction marketplace. Invaluable, formerly known as Artfact, was founded in 1989 and is based in Boston.

The majority of attendees at the International Auctioneers Forum were from China, including representatives from China Guardian, Poli, Xi Ling YinShe, Sotheby’s Beijing, ShengQuan, Beijing HuaChen and many others.  American auction houses were represented by Eldred’s, Garth’s of Delaware, Ohio, and Charlton Hall of Columbus, S.C.  Western participants enjoyed several fine Chinese-style dinners, visits to Chinese auction houses, a tour of Three Shadows Photography Art Center and visits to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

For more information about Eldred’s or John Schofield’s recent trip to China, please contact Cheryl Stewart at 508-385-3116 or cheryl@eldreds.com.