Posted By:
CoreyRS.hanusTim,
The auctioneer has to know the reserve. After all, he is the one who is to annnounce at the completion of the bidding if the lot sold and he cannot do that if he doesn't know the reserve, nor for that matter can he attempt to raise the bidding to the reserve level through the submission of house bids unless he knows how high he needs to go. In any live auction the action goes so fast (typically 60-100 lots per hour) that it simply is not feasible for the auctioneer to consult with the auction house representative prior to the offering of each lot. I suspect in the instance at hand, either due to a printing error or new information the auction house received after the catalog went to press, the catalog listed the wrong estimated value. Inasmuch as the reserve cannot be higher than the low-end estimated value, when Hunt prior to the start of the auction changed the estimated value to a higher range, this then allowed them to raise the reserve. Very possibly the 1,200 bid was a house bid one level lower the new reserve -- 1,250. When no one placed a bid at that reserve level, the lot passed. To one attending the auction, likely unaware of the new estimated value (and thus new reserve), upon hearing the 1,200 (house) bid and seeing that number at well above the published low-end estimate, he assumed the lot sold. My guess is that the auctioneer, no doubt aware of the new reserve/estimated value, never uttered the word "sold" and might in fact have uttered the word "pass". I know many times when I attend live auctions unless I am carefully paying attention I often do not hear the words "sold" or "pass", even though they were in fact uttered. It is also possible that prior to the start of the auction or the offering of the lot the auctioneer announced to those paying attention that the lot had a new estimated value, though it is also possible that due to oversight he did not announce this. If he did not, as has been noted by others, Hunt made an innocent oversight. Knowing how they operate, I'm sure they will learn from this incident and take measures to avoid repeat occurrences.