Avoid a hammer blow

HIS jokey warning sticks in my memory to this day. “Don’t forget, sit on your hands,” said my Uncle John as he guided me to our seats at Christie’s in St James’s, London, all those years ago.

He was there to buy a picture by his beloved Sir Alfred Munnings, the hugely successful equestrian painter whose work was then regarded as faintly unfashionable after he had made some ill-advised derogatory comments about modern art years earlier. I was there as a 10-year-old making my first appearance at an auction – terrified that I would scratch my nose and end up the unwitting new owner of a masterpiece.

Fears were groundless, of course... swatting a passing fly or removing one’s glasses at an inopportune moment has never landed anybody with a huge bill. But the point remains valid – some people are wary of bidding at auction.

So here are few basic rules to guide you through the potential minefield. First of all, buy a catalogue, study the particular lot you are interested in and note the estimate. A pre-sale viewing is recommended and, if it is a high-end auction, you may need to register by providing proof of identity and a financial reference as well as credit card details. In exchange, bidders are given a “paddle”, a card printed with your personal number for the sale. Set yourself a maximum amount that you are prepared to spend, don’t exceed it – and don’t be in a rush to bid. The auctioneer will take bids from only two potential buyers at a time – so wait until one drops out. Once you have caught the auctioneer’s eye, lower the paddle, only raising it once more if you want to top an increased offer. That will help avoid the chaotic scenes at the first international auction in Dubai in 2006 when a dozen or so over-enthusiastic buyers were continuously waving their paddles in the air at the same time.

It is also possible to make an absentee bid by giving written instructions to a saleroom asking the auctioneer to bid up to a maximum amount, to bid for high-value lots by telephone or, at many sales nowadays, on the internet.

It is easy to get carried away at an auction – to regard it as a matter of personal pride to outbid any rival. But the satisfaction will rapidly disappear once you realise you have spent far more than intended and that for most sales at major auction houses the buyer will have to pay a premium of up to 25 per cent on top of the hammer price, with VAT payable on the premium.

Back to Uncle John and that Munnings. He did manage to buy the painting and it remained in his collection until his death in the 1980s, after which it was sold at Christie’s once more... for £50, 000 more than he paid for it.