I went to a local auction last night. It was the contents of Robert (Penthouse Magazine) Guccione's Hudson River mansion. The crowd was not the usual auction folks. The bidding was very strange - this bunch wanted to start every bid very low, and then go very high in very small increments - which meant that every item took longer. George-the-auctioneer at first let these 'new' bidders dictate where the bid started and allowed them to cut his increments. Long after the "usual folks" were muttering, George finally decided to retake control. But it still went way past midnight, a seven hour marathon.
There was one particular group of bidders who apparently came together, and who would insist on $25 increments on $7,000 items, when the bid was only at like $2,000, when George was asking for $200 increments. We all wanted to strangle them! I made a comment on a cigarette break that bidder number 'xyz' was driving me crazy, slowing everything down, and the guy standing next to me said "Hey! That's us!" I explained what my problem was, and he said that it was a business, and "why should I pay $200 more than the next lowest bidder if I can get it for only $25 more?" Because when the increments are small, everybody keeps going, and it's STILL going to sell at the same price, or even higher because it's easier to justify a nibble than a bite - that's why! George can judge very well how the bidding is going to go, he knows when to cut the increments and how to keep things moving, so let him do his job.
Guccione's personal assistant was there, and "The Girlfriend", and they both smoked, so I got to talk with them during periodic addiction breaks. I was very amused when bidder 'xyz' said that he'd paid $13,000 for the Italian walnut canopy bed because it had been used in some Penthouse photos, and the assistant said no, that bed had never been used in photos, in fact it had never even been slept in, it was another that was used, with a tapestry headboard. I'm afraid I giggled.
Most of the furniture and smalls didn't interest me at all. Imagine what dark heavy gothic mixed with baroque and a lot of gilded wood would look like, and that's pretty much it. Mostly 18th century. A lot of Flemish and Italian. But there were a few mid-eastern copper and bronze ewers that I liked (I did get some). Besides, I was curious. And auctions can be very social. You have safe ready-made topics for conversation with strangers.
I also ran into an ex-coworker, now the biggest realtor in the area, whom I hadn't seen in a decade at least. He said he was friends with Guccione, had been in that mansion, (I gather he sold it to him in the first place), but he had "never seen any of this stuff!" Back when we worked together, I practically had to beat this guy off with a stick. But last night I gave him my number and we are going to get together for lunch some time soon. He's now married, seemed to be happy at her side, I got no bad vibes from him, so I think lunch will be safe.
I wore a long peach sleeveless cotton knit dress to the auction. I'm a little self-conscious about my upper arms, so as I was going out the door, I grabbed a peach and gray tie-dye triangular silk scarf for over my shoulders. All three edges had crocheted trim with gold beads and dangly gold coins and the three corners had longer bead and coin tassels. The points hung to the top of my hips, and it all jingled so prettily when I moved. I got a LOT of compliments on "my outfit", especially from the gay decorator crew. "The Girlfriend" was the only one I told - that it's really a belly dance hip scarf. So if we pretty soon see everyone wearing BD hip scarves as shawls - I STARTED THE FASHION!!!
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