Sri Lanka’s first online live auction portal launched
It has certainly been an exciting 125 year journey for Sri Lanka’s pioneering Chartered Auctioneers Schokman & Samerawickreme, a saga that began when a planter in Hatton met Shirley Samerawickreme, the Sales Manager at Tuckers/Millers at the horse races in Nuwara Eliya, fuelling a common fascination for auctioneering. Celebrating the milestone, the third generation of the Samerawickremes, grandsons of Edwin De Alwis Samerawickreme and Shirley Samerawickreme’s sons, Navinda and Anuja have taken the business into 21st century realms by unveiling the country’s first live auction site via its unique auction portal, www.shopandselllanka.lk. Billed to go live by August, the portal will truly revolutionise the auction industry in Sri Lanka where clients can view a wide gamut of products from motor vehicles, to furniture, antiques, jewellery, art and even real estate, bidding live real time.
At a media briefing recently, the brothers spoke of the captivating history that has today transformed into a robust and dynamic business that gives Schokman & Samerawickreme premier stature not only as auctioneers, but as realtors and valuers. “The business was built on a mutual fascination for auctioneering between my grandfather and Mr. Schokman, whose partnership formed the foundation for the bedrock of auctioneering in Sri Lanka,” stated Managing Partner Navinda Samerawickreme. “This wasn’t simply auctioneering, but a business that spoke of trust, high quality and strong relationship building.” Edwin’s sons, Lloyd, Derrick and Carl possessed the vision to expand the business from Kandy, where the Head Office was, into Colombo.
As Navinda recalls, it was Shirley Samerawickreme who was the visionary. “Our father was a master auctioneer, born to his craft. Since his entry into the business in 1955, his half century in the trade ensured that the business will become accessible more geographically.”
The Auction House now has the addition of a flagship auction sales facility in Colombo 5, where clients can either walk in and purchase items or engage in an auction according to preference.
There is a palpable consciousness of this legacy which is built on quality, professionalism, ethics, transparency, confidentiality and personalised service, which saw the Company become the first in South Asia and the Pacific to be conferred with an ISO Certification for Auctioneering, Valuation and Real Estate Brokering. It has also formed partnerships with globally recognised real estate entities including Savills Australia and Cushman & Wakefield.
Adds Partner/Chief Executive Officer Anuja Samerawickreme, “Our specialty now covers a wide gamut of fields including parate auctioneering and valuations. Being the most experienced and qualified in the market, we have now firmly etched ourselves as the preferred auctioneer among the diplomatic corps, NGOs, individuals and the private sector. This includes the valuation of both movable and immovable property. Our strength in vehicle auctions is well evidenced in the fact that we conduct at least 100 auctions annually for about 300 to 400 vehicles monthly.”
