Charity Auction Clinic in a Mayfair Saleroom

The group gathers in a Mayfair saleroom set with a rostrum, a bid book and a short catalogue of mock lots. The session begins with how a benefit auction is designed before the night itself: lot order, reserves, the paddle-raise, and the difference between a room that is warm and one that has been pushed too hard. Guests then watch two lots taken from the rostrum at full pace, with commentary afterwards on what was being read in the room. Each guest takes the rostrum in turn for a lot of their own, working from the bid book while the rest of the group bids against them, and receives notes on pace, eye line and closing. The afternoon ends over drinks with questions on the art market.