I heard a regular bidder say recently that there are no friends at auction. In other words, it was every man or woman for himself or herself. If you saw something you wanted and another auctiongoer wanted it, too, well too bad.
There’s nothing wrong with that. We know that each person in the auction house is a competitor. A person you may be chatting with and chummy with one minute may be your nemesis the next minute. But they’re your nemesis in a non-threatening way. Bidders respect each other, and generally don’t get fired up when they miss out on an item. Sometimes our interests intersect; there are only so many items on the auction tables and we’re bound to want the same ones.
I’m sure there are some friends inside the auction houses, and work the same way as my buddy Janet and me. If we see something we like, we mention it to the other. That’s not collusion, which is illegal at auction houses and can get you thrown out. In fact, at one auction house where we are regulars, auctioneers have warned us when the other was bidding. Once, we were both vying for a small black fabric doll in a checkered dress. Standing in the back of the room, I bidded on the doll – which was actually a pin – and then Janet bidded from where she was sitting near the front. Janet backed off when the auctioneer mentioned that we were bidding against each other.
I tend to walk around a lot at the auction houses, re-examining items or chatting with people. Two people I talk to regularly are vintage camera buffs like myself. And we are competitive. One person in particular searches me out – likely to gauge my interest in cameras he’s spotted on the auction tables. We normally compare flaws in the cameras (usually a shutter that does not work). Sometimes he wins the camera; sometimes I do. We don’t get upset because there’s always a next time and many other cameras.
We’re not exactly friends but we respect each other’s penchant for vintage cameras, so we share. There are others, though, who do not and I call them the lone rangers. They do very little socializing and don’t talk much to anyone, likely to keep their objectivity when the bidding starts. Having no friends or acquaintances means that they don’t have to feel any sympathy for you during the bidding.
An out-of-state dealer who comes to one of my favorite auction houses is one of them. The man is quietly focused, unwilling to engage in conversation (I’ve tried) and bids on everything. For some regulars, you know their interests – the two dealers who buy art glass or the one who buys vintage clothing or the woman who buys dolls. It’s hard to tell what this out-of-state dealer specializes in. Usually if he wants something, he’ll keep bidding until he gets it.
The other is also a non-socializing relentless bidder, but she does seem to specialize. Once, she bid a box of vintage Christmas cards up to $100 (the rest of us looked at each other incredulously because they weren’t worth it). She has also outbidded me on some vintage sewing items (I used to sew a lot and am always looking for unusual sewing notions or tools). This piece was a handmade notebook with stories about lace pieces someone had made and attached to the pages. Afterward, I asked to look at the book, and it was amazing. The buyer said that she loved handmade items of this sort. I couldn’t fault her for that; so do I. She had also outbidded Janet a couple times, once on a sepia photograph of young black musicians.
Another lone ranger – he does have at least one female friend he talks to – buys everything but doesn’t know what he’s going to do with the stuff. We’ve heard that he does not sell anything now but plans to start selling “someday.” He has outbid Janet and me on black memorabilia (the positive kind), and it just riles us. We want to keep these remnants of black history for ourselves and he has them sitting in his overloaded rental apartment collecting dust.
I do have one competitor who has the same tastes as me, so we go head to head sometimes. At auction recently, some black postcards and greeting cards came up for sale. From where I sat, I could see that most were the red-lip caricatures that I abhor. I could also see a greeting card with a woman on the front that appeared to be a little more complimentary. That one I found interesting. So, I started bidding and then someone standing behind me kept bidding against me. Since I really didn’t want the other cards, I stopped. When I turned I realized that it was my usual competitor. I asked to see the card: It was a Christmas card with a black woman – with red lips but not so awful – on the front.
Later, he gave the card to me to keep (a very nice gesture). But that’s not uncommon: The winning bidder will sometimes give you or sell for a small price the one item you wanted in a lot that he or she won.
Sometimes, if not friends, there are decent people at auctions.
