Mon - Fri: 11:00 am - 6:00 pm
Sat: every 1st Saturday of the month: 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
Christmas Shopping Saturdays: 10.00ā17.00
December 24 & 31: 10.00ā13.00
AUKTIONEUM
Spiegelgasse 19/9
1010 Vienna-district 1
.How to get there
The way the polished silver and gold in the window display at Auktioneum at 19 Spiegelgasse shine sends me back to my childhood, standing in front of the decorated Christmas tree. Eyes a glow, I enter the small but wonderfully bright sales room. In response to the bell, Iām warmly greeted by siblings Marc Zalloni and Biggi Binder-Krieglstein. Their wonderland of valuables has me rummaging away and more often than not I leave with something I may not particularly need, but have always wanted.
I quickly find myself in a professional conversation about jewelry, watches, photographs, silver, and art in general. Along with passion and excitement, the siblings contribute an impressive host of technical knowledge. A new level is unlocked for me in their lower floor: an elegant showroom, designed with class and style, has been open since their expansion this summer, a cozy couch inviting guests for a coffee and visual taster.
The antique store and pawn shop were founded by Mag. Reinhold Puntschart-Kolarik, an investment banker who let his love for anomalies grow into passion in the form of Auktioneum. Our conversation forms a charismatic profile of the antique merchant, whose excitement over the pawn shop ignited during a professional hiatus as he read a biography of entrepreneur Helmut Horten. By chance of fate, he found the perfect venue for his store in the middle of the antique quarter in central Vienna. With Marc Zalloni and his sister, the congenial team was complete and in November 2013 Auktioneum was ready to open its gates.
"Many people know the price, but not the value, of the items they want to liquidize," says art-lover Puntschart-Kolarik. His job is to show these people the value of these items, not as commodity but as artisanry. The travelled Corinthian feels bound to tradition and beauty and the inner value of objects that donāt belong to a brand name. "We help to find value, to retain traded value, and to discover the anomalies in inherited goods," he says. Thatās how more and more young people are getting into "old things" and discovering their timelessness.
A Japanese professor and passionate pocket watch collector declared Auktioneum his secret go-to for special peculiarities. "Thank God I found you!" he once said and added that thereās no repertory like it in all of Europe. Now he makes a detour to Vienna every time heās in Europe for business. Luckily, I donāt have as far to go!