Doug Kimball runs a traditional auction house with a boost from the Internet

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Kimball gathers similar items to auction as a group called "lots" at his auction house in Amherst.

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Kimball takes a bid from the floor as Tiffany Matrone monitors eBay Live.

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Patrick Conte and Becca Smith, two of Kimball's employees, take phone bids during the auction of the Buccellati bangle. Smith raises her hand to alert Kimball to the bid that turned out to be the winning offer.

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An 18-karat gold and diamond bangle by Buccellati sold for $37,000.

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Kimball and Conte sort through items to be auctioned. Being a successful auctioneer often means working long hours.

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Jean Fisher, a runner at Kimball's, holds up an African tribal mask up for auction.

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A painting by Russian artist David Davidovich Burljuk (1882-1967) sold for $50,000 during a February auction at Kimball's.

It's 6 p.m. Wednesday at Kimball's Auction and Estate Services in Amherst. Sick with a cold, auctioneer Doug Kimball walks to the podium, checks his supply of bottled water and throat lozenges and puts on a headset microphone. He has spent the last three weeks preparing for tonight's five-hour antiques auction. When it's over, he'll have put in a 16-hour day, a small part of his 50- to 60-hour work week.

"It's insane and it's crazy and no one on the other side really understands," Kimball says.

He's been on the phone all day answering questions and posting bids, doing paperwork and occasionally pausing to direct a few members of his 14-person staff and take bites of pizza.

Vintage jewelry comprises about one-third of tonight's offerings and Kimball guesses an 18-karat gold and diamond bangle by Buccellati could bring $20,000. It goes for $37,000, about one-third of the evening's gross sales.

But it's taken many years for Kimball to attract quality consignments and prestigious antiques dealers. He began buying and selling items to make money during his student days at Hampshire College. He frequented tag sales, flea markets and auctions to acquire stock, often with his brother, Justin Kimball, now a photography professor at Amherst College. After graduation in 1990, he held auctions with Justin for a couple of years before going to work for Douglas Auctioneers in South Deerfield. A decade ago, he opened his own auction house in Easthampton. He relocated to Amherst two years ago.

Struggling to turn a profit, Kimball says, he and his fiance, Tiffany Matrone, did all of the work themselves in the early days.

"I've had jewelry collections with thousands of pieces where I'm cataloging each piece. We'd sit there and watch TV with a loupe and look at jewelry for five, six, seven nights on end," says Kimball.

Eventually, through advertising and word of mouth, Kimball began acquiring quality merchandise more consistently. In 2001, he was chosen to auction a large estate from Windsor that contained Tiffany glass and early American furniture. That same year, he sold a Confederate flag for $45,000 and, in 2005, a painting went for $38,000. Still, he says, his business wasn't getting the attention he desired.

"I'm a neophyte in terms of auction houses," he says. Antiques dealers "initially pigeonholed me. For years, even when we had good stuff, we were the junk auction. It didn't matter what I had. ... I could not get these people to come to my place."

That changed in June when Kimball added eBay Live to his services. Now, buyers anywhere in the world can take part in his antiques auctions simply by logging on and registering. As Kimball takes bids in the auction house, Matrone enters them into a laptop for eBay Live users and alerts Kimball when online offers are made.

His first eBay Live auction resulted in record sales, exceeding $100,000, he says. The second one surpassed that and the third one doubled the previous one. For his work, Kimball collects 20 percent of the sale price from the seller, and the buyer pays him 15 percent. eBay Live buyers pay an additional five percent.

"There is just no arguing the results," Kimball says.

In addition to his antiques auctions, he has continued offering general auctions. He is also working on a book about the business with his brother, and advises institutions such as libraries, colleges and museums on their collections of fine art, furniture and books, a service he would like to expand.

"I think that would be a fun way to make a living and a lot less stressful, because I'm really tired, physically," Kimball says.

--Text and Photos by Jerrey Roberts