My two auction experiences

Somehow I got myself involved in two different situations that despite the anxiety they gave me at the time became part of my collection of fun memories.

From London, where I lived at the time, I went to Vancouver to meet carvers and local artists and buy for my gallery, P&A Collection. I traveled from North to South on Vancouver Island, visited all the museums I could possibly find, met wonderful people and then by chance I found a gallery dedicated to Inuit art. It is the most exquisite form of "art" one can imagine, carvings, masks and prints alike. I think I spent hours there, bought a few things and learned a lot.












Suddenly I found a group of amazing prints. But unfortunately they were going to be auctioned the day I was flying to come to Santa Fe. No worries, I was told, because I could bid by phone. Ehm...yes... but I couldn't make it anyway as I was going to be up in the sky and at that point I wanted to be among the first bidders! No worries, again. "You can call us from the phone attached to the seat in front of you, madam"!!! To make a long and exciting story short, I made the call from 10,000ft or more, shaking like never in my life. And I made it, I got the print I wanted.
I just made a search and ta-da there it was!

Seagulls chasing fish by Luke Anguhadluq

When I was living in London the important auction houses had regular shows of Native American Antique Art. I would always get the catalogues to feel I too was part of that world but I didn't have the courage to attend any of them. Until I saw a magnificent Zuni pot. I knew that a friend and art dealer in Santa Fe would love to have it, so why wait? I called him and he asked me to bid for him. Who...me????
I was sitting among famous and established international dealers wondering how to behave. I was so scared to move my hand in a way that could be interpreted as a bid or not raise it in time. When should I begin bidding? Should I show I was serious from the start or wait until the price was closer to what I was given as a limit?
I then noticed sitting two chairs away from me a very famous dealer and I thought I would never be able to beat him. Why not? I don't know, but that's the way I was feeling. Things were moving fast, my hand started going up, and up, and up...I got it at the right price!

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of THAT pot, but here are some others that give you an idea of what it was, although it may have been very different!

This ended my bidding experiences!