Sotheby's auction

Website: http://www.sothebys.com

Today I had a high-class adventure by sitting in on a Sotheby's auction. The auction was "Arts of The Islamic World" and started at 10am.

I arrived on my bike to the New Bond Street auction house after getting hopelessly lost in the one-way systems in Mayfair. Luckily I'd left plenty of time... I arrived in the plush entrance lobby and asked an usher where the auction was. He said "Up the stairs at the back and to the top".

When I followed his directions I'd arrived in a kind of art gallery full of modern Turkish art. I initially thought I'd gone to the wrong place but then spotted that there was a hidden entranceway which led into a large auction hall:
There were quite a few people and lots of rows of seats. I took a seat near the front and waited for the auction to start. While I waited I looked around and tried to size-up which of the rich-and-powerful-looking people had the most money. There were men in exquisite suits and coiffed hair, there were women bedazzled with jewellery and fancy clothes. Since the auction was selling Islamic art there a lot of middle-eastern people in the audience. I tried to size up which of them were rich oil tycoons.

At last, slightly after 10am, the auctioneer stood up on his well-worm podium and welcomed everyone. He said hello in a variety of languages and generally beamed a smile around the room.

Without further ado Lot 1 was presented and the bidding was under way. The types of things up for auction included paintings, old writings, beautiful wooden boxes, silk curtains, intricately decorated Korans etc etc. The auctioneer was very good and did his job in a playful manner.
Sometimes the auctioneer would have an absentee bid where he would bid up to a pre-defined limit on someone's behalf. Here's an example, all called out in a posh English accent:

"Lot 13 now open. Absentee bid at 3000. 3-2? 3-2? 3200, 3-5 me, 3-8? 3-8. 4000 me, 4-2? 4.2. 4-5 me, 4.8? 4-8? It's with me not you. 4-8? 4-8 at the back, 5000 me. 5-2? Anybody for 5-2? 5-2 the gentleman on my left. That's me out. 5-5? 5-5? any advance on 5-2? 5-5! with Roxanne on the phone. 5-8? 5-8. 6? 6. 6-5? 6-5? Roxanne has it... 6-5? Any more? Roxanne for 6500. That's fair warning, I'm selling to Roxanne for 6500. Selling... Sold! SLAM!"

When a sale was made he'd bang down his gavel and immediately move on to the next lot. Sometimes he's say "bad luck" if somebody was outbid or while everyone was bidding he might ask someone politely to "Say 7-2" if he was trying to push them to bid higher (this often worked!).

The current highest bid (in a variety of currencies) would appear along with a picture of the item on two enormous TV screens:
When making their first bid the bidder would do a big gesture like raising their hand or their bidding paddle to catch the auctioneers attention. After that the auctioneer would look at them directly so they only had to nod or raise their eyebrows to make the next bid. At one point a man was waving to his friend at the back of the room and almost bid £10,000 for a painting! (The auctioneer warned him to be careful!). This made me very wary about gesturing when the bidding was taking place - one wrong move and I'd have committed to buying small wooden box for £45,000! I would sit there dying to scratch my nose but knowing that it just wasn't worth it!

Along the right-hand side of the room was a long row of people on telephones relaying the bids from people elsewhere:
The auctioneer would refer to them by name (e.g. Roxanne in the example above) and they would be continually quietly muttering into their phones (echoing the auctioneer) to keep the bidders up-to-date. After only a few lots there was a bidding war between two telephone bidders and the price rocketed from about £20,000 to £200,000!

Each time a new lot was started a wooden turn-table would spin around to reveal the item:
The far side of the turn-table was then loaded up with the next lot so that the process could be smoothly repeated next time. Sometimes the items were very small so a man would stand there and hold it aloft with white-gloved hands: Other items were too big and were "Sold as seen". This meant you saw a picture of the item but you were expected to have looked at it beforehand if you intended to bid.

As time went on bidding process became a bit repetitive. I starting wanting to bid early on (and then be out-bid) just so I could tell people that I'd bid at Sotheby's. The low bids were usually around £3,000 but I realised that if I chose the wrong one to bid on I might not be saved by a higher bid - ugh! I'd be stuck with an over-priced piece of Islamic art. Indeed, some of the bids never got sold - the starting price was too high so no-one wanted it.

I left after about an hour and passed by the posh art-sellers chit-chatting at the back of the room.

Summary: Surprisingly exhilarating.