Picture: THINKSTOCK
Picture: THINKSTOCK

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CHARLIE Ross is something of a celebrity auctioneer — he’s appeared in BBC TV auction programmes and has set world records for sales of everything from vintage cars to a catalogue of Jimi Hendrix songs.

He is invited to auctions all over the world, and last year presided over bidding that brought in more than $200m in 70 auctions from California to Melbourne.

Can the auctioneer affect prices achieved?

“I think that’s why I’m here and why I go to America to do top-end cars, to Europe, wherever. If there’s someone sitting in front of you who wants to bid R10,000, with the right connection with that person I can ease them up another few thousand.

“If a buyer is at an auction it means he’d like to go home with something, within reason,” Ross said.

Within hours of stepping off his flight from the UK for his first auction in South Africa, Ross could effortlessly — from memory — rattle off the major items on the bill for the Stephan Welz & Co auction taking place in Cape Town on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“It’s quite an eclectic mix: a wonderful Rolls-Royce to start off with — a 1971 Silver Shadow — some good Persian rugs, a limited section of furniture, a jewellery section including a particularly lovely brooch by Cartier designer Charles Jacqueau, a smallish but very good silver section and an extensive painting section ranging from an Irma Stern valued at R1.5m to R2m to more modern and affordable South African artists.”

Ross said auctioneers need not have expert knowledge to be successful.

“I just make notes of these things. I don’t think you need a huge amount of knowledge: we’re well led by experts, whether it’s a classic car or a painting.

“Buyers put a value on the item and they’ll pay what they want to pay. You don’t have time to get into too much depth if you have 500 lots to get through.

“I’m happy to auction just about anything, and indeed I think I have,” he said.

Ross got into auctioneering by chance, joining a firm in England when he left school.

“It was one of the good old-fashioned auctioneers who could sell everything: your house, your sheep, your furniture, your land. The game has become a lot more specialised now. The first auction I ever conducted was of chickens.”

Ross said flying by the seat of your pants is one of two paths to becoming an auctioneer.

“That way, you clamber onto the rostrum and just get experience. At the bigger, more formal auction houses — like Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhams — you are accepted into the organisations usually as an expert in a particular field, and when you reach a certain level of seniority are invited onto the rostrum and taught how to do it.

“The best way to pick up skills is to watch a good auctioneer in action, but you should have your own style; don’t copy anyone else.”

The rapport with a packed room is what Ross enjoys most about the job.

“I like the personal touch, but it’s changing all the time, with the internet bidding getting stronger everywhere. At certain sales half of the lots can be bought by online bidders. I’m slightly disappointed with that, but it’s very good for business.

“Auctions can now involve millions of people. That’s the key, provided an auction house has the service set up correctly and can do efficient condition reports — if someone is offshore they need to be satisfied before they bid that the item is what it says it is in the catalogue.

“Two people in separate parts of the world can start bidding against each other in a way that doesn’t reflect the mood in the actual room at all,” Ross said.

He said European auctions led the way in online bidding, which was still relatively uncommon in South Africa -but that might change with the auction of African traditional art this week.

“There’s lots of interest in this auction from Europe and the US,” Ross said.

• This article was first published in Sunday Times: Business Times