The bidding

The auction was being run from a conference room at the Hôtel de Ville, which was just a short walk from the house viewing. It was also running live via an online feed and via telephone bids, so there was quite a lot of activity.

For lunch we took ourselves off to a café, where we had time to review our approach to the bidding. We considered everything, and came to our decisions. We had a plan, and we knew what we were really interested in, and what we were prepared to go to on price. Our list of lots, of which there was 172, had been clearly marked so that we would not get confused. We had about 6 or 7 lots that we were truly interested in, and they were spread across the whole sale…so it was going to be a long afternoon that would need concentration.

We’d agreed that Brian would do the bidding.

We settled ourselves in for the ride, extremely aware that the whole sale would be in french! What could possibly go wrong?

Our first lot came up, a pair of rather beautiful table candles dripping with glass crystals – the kind of thing I love. The guide price was €100–150, and we had decided we’d go to €200 at most. Brian sat up ready to get going. The online bids raced in, and our hopes of an early win vanished, as the price quickly rocketed to over €550! We settled back down, as our next lot was a little while away. We eagerly watched the bidding of the other lots, diligently writing down the sale prices as we tried our best to keep track of the bidding in french. The guide prices were being smashed one after the other. A collection of naively carved wooden fish went for €3,500, about €4,300 with commission. It was madness.

Then a lot came up that we’d left off the list, in favour of our preferred lots. It was an old fire screen with beautiful material, quite worn, but very lovely. The bidding started at €70, and then went nowhere. Brian whispered to me “Are you interested?”, but I couldn’t answer quick enough. As Brian went to make a bid anyway, the auctioneer reduced the price to get it moving. “Quarante”, he boomed – €40. “Oui”, shouted Brian, his pen in the air. The bidding stalled for a moment, then the hammer went down…we won! I was so happy, I’d wanted the fire screen, but I had abandoned hope to focus on the others. Bargain!

Bolstered by our win we bid on a cast iron umbrella stand, but that too went far higher than we had hoped. Lot after lot escaped us, and late into the afternoon our final lot came up, a walnut book shelf with glass doors. The guide price was €60–80, but it was pretty clear it was going to go over. As we had only won one of our lots, I had the feeling Brian was going to go for this one. The bidding started. An online bid came in first for €90, which was quickly raised to €100 by someone to our left in the room. The online bid came back, €110. Brian hadn’t moved. I thought he had probably dropped out, as €100 had been our agreed limit. “€120”, broadcast the auctioneer, pointing to the person to our left. Then the screen showed €130. We looked to our left, and the person made a hand motion declaring they were out. Brian turned to the front, and nodded. “140”, barked the auctioneer, pointing to Brian. I got excited, the game was on. The screen changed again. “150”, he said and looked at Brian, who nodded. “160 dans la salle”, which meant the bid was in the room. But the online bid kept coming, €170, another raise from Brian, €180. Again the screen updated, €190. The auctioneer looked at Brian, and there was a heart stopping pause…then a little nod. “€200”. For a brief few seconds that seemed ages the screen froze. Then the sound of the hammer. “Yes”, I said. We’d won the book shelf.

I have to say that it was great fun, and educational in so many ways, not least as a test for our french, especially our numbers. What a great day out.

Collection day is on Friday, so we will be picking them up then.