So it doesn't sound all that interesting, but it was a lot of fun. The night started out rather slow and we were a little worried about it staying that way. All of the rugs that would be auctioned later were on display around a big room in the club. People were mulling around, having drinks, socializing, etc. I think there were a total of 65 people in attendance. I would say that 99% of them were foreigners, and a large portion of them were American. We had a buffet dinner that was great. They had some good American'ish type food that hit the spot.
After dinner is when the fun started. The group performing the auction came from Singapore. They own a carpet store there and it sounds like they travel all over Asia doing these types of auctions. It sounds like a great little business model and an opportunity for them to unload a bunch of carpets in their "free time" on the weekends. I think they showed around a hundred or so items this night - and the auctioneer said they might do a 1,000 rugs in a year. The entertaining part was watching the whole auction process. These guys were GOOD. I am convinced they could sell ice cubes to Eskimos, and at a huge markup. They need a TV show now! Best sales guys I have ever seen. They actually had us thinking about buying something - even though we don't want or need any rugs.
The main auctioneer was a combination comedian, game show host, salesman, and story teller. He was amazing to watch. I can tell he has been at this for years and knows how to work a crowd.
The rugs sold from as low as $100 to some that went for around $5,000. Tracy and I were quite surprised that anyone would pay that kind of money for something you throw on a floor, but many people did. During the checkout process I saw the guy in front of me write a check for $10,000! There were many other like them. You must really like rugs to fork over that kind of cash. The process was fun to watch. They had a system where they would generate a lot of interest in each rug, they he would pull the bids out of the seemingly reluctant crowd. Every rug had a story, and I am quite certain 90% of it was BS, but you didn't really care. Some rugs were woven over a period of three years by nomads is Southern Iran using makeshift looms with patterns entirely from memory. Translation - these were the rugs that were crooked, the patterns had mistakes, ...... You would think twice about buying one at Wal-Mart but because of the uniqueness and the story this guy had people forking over thousands for them. You neighbors will never have one like it!
They would bring each rug on stage and two guys would twirl it around and run their hands over it so you could see the "fine craftsmanship" and they way it reflect the light.
They could sense when the pace was slowing and the would periodically do things to pick it up - sell some cheaper rugs, make some jokes, change the bidding format. When the big tickets items would come out, it would be a long time before anyone would make the first bid. They would wait us out, and once that first bid came the rest would follow quickly.It was a lot of fun. What did we buy? A smoking pipe of course! Don't worry, it is for decoration only. I like it a lot - its made from Brass and very solid.
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