There can be a significant difference between purchasing retail and buying at auction. It’s as much about the process, the subtleties of bidding and developing the expertise required for winkling out the hidden gems as the objects themselves. In short, the whole auction experience has a connoisseurial element you don’t get from general shopping. I suppose that at its best a parallel would be the difference between popping down to the supermarket for bottle of plonk and embarking on a wine-tasting evening with a view to acquiring a case or two of top quality burgundy.

Of course, it’s not all about mastering a process – getting a bargain and finding something unique or unusual are as attractive aspects of buying at auction as anything – but it’s amazing how the thrill of your first successful bid never leaves you and buying at auction, both online but especially in person in the room, can become almost a compulsion.

Why is this? Firstly, it’s a competitive sport and there is both art and science to the bidding process as you try to outwit the competition. Secondly, often bidders are competing for something unique; if they don’t win out against everyone else, they may not get another chance to acquire the piece in question. Thirdly, sometimes you can get a real bargain.

Even before the bidding starts, there is the thrill of the hunt, as you root through items at the view, looking for that elusive treasure. What’s not to like!

What makes something art and gives it value? I don’t like to spend too much time getting philosophical, but a couple of events recently have jogged my curiosity on this one.

The first was the contemporary art “happening”, where a man ate a banana stuck to a wall with duct tape that had been presented as a work of art at an art fair by Maurizio Cattelan and priced it at $120,000. The man turned out to be a performance artist, so one form of art became another, a bit like when Banksy shredded his own work when it sold at auction last year. Cattelan can always stick another banana to the wall, so not much damage done there, I’d say.

However, there is a more general point about how items that are created for a specific purpose (banana = food), can turn into art when that purpose either becomes redundant or non-essential. Folk art pieces, such as duck decoys, which can make hundreds of thousands of dollars as works of art in the US, are good examples.

Just this week I saw that two vintage tractors sold for almost £30,000 at auction. Surpassed by modern machinery for farmyard use, they are loved by collectors for their cultural and artistic quality, from the engineering through to the overall aesthetic of their look.

It’s wonderful to think that something can have a new lease of life as a work of art after its practical purpose has diminished.

As we prepare for out next fine art auction in Fernhurst, I continue to be astonished by the number of people who think that you have to have some sort of specialist knowledge to bid at a sale of paintings and drawings. The most important question you can possibly ask yourself about a picture or piece of sculpture coming up for auction is: Do I like it? If it’s something you think you can live with for a long time and get plenty of enjoyment out of, you have passed the vital hurdle. Next: What am I prepared to pay for it? That’s what the estimate is there for. Sometimes lots can soar over estimate, at other times they can go at a bargain price or not sell at all. In the end, only you can decide what your upper limit is – and don’t forget to account for any auction charges like the buyer’s premium.

It’s also a good idea to check out the work’s condition; these days, if you can’t attend the view, you should find most of the details about this online in the catalogue description.

Apart from that, your main consideration will be getting it home if you are successful. Can you collect it personally? Is it something you can put in the back of your car? Will you have to pay for delivery, which will mean packing and shipping costs? If so, what are they?

Follow these simple steps and you will find you are, indeed, qualified to bid. As the saying goes: come on down!

It’s hard to think of a more sought-after book at auction than a First Folio Shakespeare. Published in 1623 – seven years after the great man’s death – it constitutes the finest collection of poetry and drama in any language.

The announcement that a copy will come up for auction April with an estimate of around $4 million to $6 million is a timely reminder of a few things we know about Shakespeare and few things we don’t.

The first thing is that none of the playwright’s original scripts for his 37 plays has survived and it is only through the printed editions that we know his works at all. Without the First Folio, 18 of the plays would probably have not survived, including Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, The Tempest and Measure For Measure. How many of the more famous and widely used sayings would also have been lost to the English language as a result? Shakespeare is known to have contributed at least 1700 words to English for a start.

If Shakespeare himself is the god of the written word, then John Heminge and Henry Condell are its guardian angels. Fellow actors and friends of The Bard, it was they who edited the First Folio and had it printed, dividing the plays into comedies, histories and tragedies.