What’s happened to Wally’s Auctions?

US auction house Wally’s has gone suspiciously quiet recently and it is currently unclear what its exact future will be.

At the beginning of this month the drinks business heard that a large number of staff at the auctioneer were laid off in February, leaving only managing director Julia Gilbert and a few other key staff in place.

A source who formerly worked at Wally’s confirmed to db it was their “understanding” that the auction business had been closed down.

After a much trumpeted, Champagne-focused auction last November and an online sale held this January, there was meant to be a spring sale but all mention of it and future auctions have been removed from the company’s website.

An initial request for confirmation sent to Wally’s earlier this month was returned with the reply that the news was full of “inaccuracies” and that a “big announcement” regarding the future of the auction house was in the offing.

Close to a month later this “big announcement” has failed to materialise although the owners have made a trip to New York to make arrangements for the future of the company according to their PR firm.

The business may of course be scaled down or folded into another wing rather than closed outright.

Has Wally’s fallen by the wayside for good or, in the latest Hollywood tradition, is it set for a ‘reboot’?