I have a rare original watercolour painting by a well known Artist and
I am thinking of selling it at an on line Auction
Sothebys will probably be holding the painting and after the sale-
they would foward it to the purchaser.
what is the best way ensure that people know this painting is coming
up for Auction without taking out Newspaper Advertisments Etc

Hello poetic,

Interesting question!

If you decide to sell through Sothebys, they will normally promote the
item quite a bit themselves, as evident at their main website. You can
view their calendar of events online at the following link :

Sotheby's Schedule of Events
http://search.sothebys.com/jsps/live/event/EventLanding.jsp


Q. What is the best way to ensure people know this painting is coming
up?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While no way is *the* best way, there a few different angles of
approach you could take. In the past I have made extensive use of free
press releases. These services do work when used properly, and one of
the better ones is here :

PRWeb Free Press Release
http://www.prweb.com/

Here is an example of how some people have utilized this service in
the same manner you probably would :

ARTCAPADES SPRING ART AUCTION & SALE
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2000/4/prweb13894.php

Auction of Cover Art from Rand's Seminal Novels ...
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2002/5/prweb38500.php

Rare Piece of History Available for Auction to Highest Bidder
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2000/10/prweb19123.php


Here is another service that allows you to place a free press release,
and even has an art category. They offer a 3 month listing for free in
one category, but if you are willing to pay, you could put it in more.

Press Blaster
http://www.pressblaster.net/presspost/newrelease.html


You could also utilize a free website service to build a temporary
website. If you have a friend with some web space, you could ask
him/her as well. Here is an example of a business using a website to
announce an auction, much like you would on a free website :

Lowry's Bronte work goes up for auction (First link on page)
http://www.thisisbradford.co.uk/bradford__district/keighley/news/

What happens to these press releases and free websites? They get
indexed, or picked up by search engines, and offer a vehicle to free
advertising ;-)

Here are some free website companies to help get you started:

AngelFire (click on link that says signup)
http://www.angelfire.lycos.com/doc/zones/build.html

GeoCities
http://geocities.yahoo.com/


I am unsure of the cost of this service, but it fits the field of
play. It offers an 'Art Auction Announcement' section.

Art Sale By Owner
http://www.artsalebyowner.com/

Lastly, I found a personal site that allows you to post your auction
announcement for free. I am unsure of the popularity of the site, but
every link helps :-)

Autumns Auction Announcements
http://www.kbnet.com/book/html/auctions.html


I hope this will give you enough to get started. Should you need
further clarification, please ask before rating this answer , as I
would love to be of further assistance.

To help with this answer I searched Google for:

art auction announcements
://www.google.com/search?q=art+auction+announcements

free press release
://www.google.com/search?q=free+press+release


Thanks for the great question!
SgtCory