The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 3, January 16, 2005, Article 23

A SCHOOL FOR COIN AUCTIONEERS?

I've never heard a coin auctioneer imitate a French maid,
but as prices of high-end numismatic items rise, maybe all
of them will do a stint at auctioneer school, as Tuesday's
article in the Wall Street Journal described. Here are some
excerpts:

"You have your numbers down, but you need to play a little
more, use your body, your eyebrows, smile. You are the
host of a party," he says, suddenly taking another tack. "You
want to make everyone comfortable. Build a relationship with
me. Don't make me feel like a number." The student straightens
his spine and tries again, and this time Jamie smiles: "I really
felt it that time," he says. "You finally connected."

Welcome to Christie's auctioneering school -- an in-house
program of classes and practice sessions designed to take
ordinary Old Master and jewelry specialists and turn them
into gavel-wielding stars. It's harder than it looks, for
auctioning art is an art in itself. Auctioneers must be able
to compute a constant stream of numbers in their heads,
while never taking their focus off the room. They must be
witty and charming enough to make spending money in
six-figure increments jolly good fun, and skilled enough to
make it inevitable."

"To do it well, you must want to be at the center of the
action. Auctioneering is a performance."

"To help Christie's auctioneers cultivate their inner performer,
Mr. Krass calls in former actress Jan Nulty, who addresses
issues of breathing, alignment and vocal production, then
goes on to loosen up her striped-suited charges with
improvisational techniques right out of the Actor's Studio.
Trainees have been asked to sell a lot without saying a
word, in slow motion, as a ringmaster and in the flirtatious
accents of a French maid.

"It tricks them into playing outside of their own comfort
zone," Ms. Nulty explains. "They posture less, and
connect more spontaneously with bidders." This
connection is what separates a good auctioneer from a
great one: "It's not just about eye contact," Mr. Krass
says. "To make the bidder go one more, you have to
convey that you know his bid matters to him, and that
it matters to you too."

"The next step is much trickier: Before selling each lot,
the auctioneer must consult the sale "book" (inscribed
in Christie's secret code, a dead ringer for Enigma before
Bletchley Park), which lists the reserve for each lot (the
price below which it cannot be sold) and any "absentee
bids" (placed by those who can't make it to the sale).
Then, he must strategically open the bidding so that he
will "land" where he needs to be (selling on the reserve
if there is no further interest, or to an absentee bidder
at the lowest possible price). This is known in the trade
as "being on the right foot," and it can flummox even
seasoned veterans. If you make a mistake, you must
deftly modify the next increment, without floundering
and destroying the momentum of the sale. At a recent
practice session, a wrong-footed student recovered so
smoothly that even the picky Mr. Krass recognized a
home run. "Stud!" he grunted, all but high-five-ing him."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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