My Addiction

My name is Nancy. I am addicted to auctions.

I got myself into the terrible place, as many do, through hanging out with the wrong crowd. These friends frequently showed me the most amazing things that they’d purchased at auction for ridiculously low prices. Yes, I like beautiful, eclectic things. Yes, I love a bargain.

I downloaded this app and things started to get out of hand.

The app is from Hôtel Drouot, the oldest auction house in the world. It has taken up the same city block in Paris for 180 years. Drouot consolidates auctions from various smaller houses and offers them under one roof—and worse, in their app, where there are no walls or floor space to limit things, just auctions from all over the world. Furniture, paintings, clothing, jewelry, sculptures, antiquities, old books, and objects you can’t even imagine. One of my favorite things is to wander through their showrooms and see what different dealers are previewing in advance of the week’s auctions. Recently, one room was filled with sets of bound proceedings from various Egyptology organizations worldwide from the 1950s. Another room had this fragment from a Coptic tunic from the 7th century. It’s like the attics of Europe are on display.

But like any savvy dealer who thrusts sample packets of drugs through the open windows of cars stopped at lights, or so I’ve heard, the Drouot app has an alluring home screen featuring a cross-section of items at auction from around the world.

I’ve learned how to be cunning. Items in countries where they are not popular will probably go for less. If the description is lacking in detail, like size, or otherwise unclear, bingo. Stay away from the Persian carpets unless you can bury your nose in them and see if they stink, says my friend. The same friend counsels never buying furniture unless you see it. I just ignored this advice and got a 1960s dining room table from Spain that I love, but was surprised a couple of years ago when a wooden armoire showed up and was about two feet high. We had the winning bid due to point #2, but probably shouldn’t have bid because of point #4.

Registering for an individual auction is easy. Once you have a Drouot online account being cleared to bid in an auction is just a click away. I often put in a bid on the very low side, or below, the estimate range and let the auctioneers handle it from there. If no one else is bidding, it’s mine. There is a dark side. You have to figure out how to get the thing. Not too difficult if it is small, but more complicated when it’s a table that seats twelve, it is in Madrid, and I am in Paris. And on top of what you bid there are auction house fees ranging from 25 to 33 percent.

Here are a few of the things John and I have snagged:

I wish I could say this is everything, but that would be lying. Now that I’ve furnished one house and one apartment I think I am done. Oh, except for that bookcase I just bought in Germany and haven’t received yet. Maybe tomorrow I will have the strength to change.