I needn’t have worried about missing the auction. Christie’s auction house had made a big marketing push regarding my rubies and turned them into the main event of the auction. With all the interest they’d generated for the rubies, they decided to pack in a truly long list of opening acts. Then again, maybe it was normal. I didn’t have much experience with auctions.
It was a hybrid of a live and online auction. It was live in that there was actually an auctioneer working a real crowd of bidders at Christie’s auction house in New York City. Meanwhile, there were also hundreds of bidders who were participating online. These online bidders had either placed their maximum bids beforehand or had fast and secure internet connection to be able to place their bids with the auction house during the live bidding.
As the seller of a major piece up for auction, dad and I were given the equivalent of VIP backstage passes to the whole auction. We had live views of the bidding room, special screens that were updated in real time for each new bid, information screens for each item up for bid, continuous tracking of expected selling prices versus actual selling prices along with corresponding projections showing what that spread would mean for our item. As it got closer to our item’s turn to be bid on, we’d also get access to an expert who would give us the insider’s view of what was happening, which bidders to watch for, and how things were progressing.
Dad cooked us some pasta while we waited, and I prepared some celebration cookies for afterwards. Uncle Magnum called to ask how the auction was going and dad explained about the long list of opening acts. We invited him to join us and he said he’d be right over with Margaret. Dad put up some more pasta and I added more cookies. Occasionally, we checked in on the auction to see how far along it was. Missing out on the action because you’re busy straining noodles just wouldn’t do.
The table was set and the food was ready when the M&M’s showed up. I tried giving Uncle Magnum and Margaret a celebrity couple name, like Brangelina, but neither Marnum nor Magret had a nice ring to it. I’d opted for M&M or The Ems, depending on my mood. I told them it was fitting since they were so sweet together. Uncle Magnum made a gagging gesture, but Margaret smiled and gave it her approval.
The food was gone, along with the cookies, before the rubies came up for bid. Dad had rigged up the computer to display on our TV in The Parlor and we were all sitting comfortably on the couches and completely focused on the action. As the rubies were being brought out, our assigned action expert came on-line in a corner of the screen and introduced himself.
“Good evening, everyone. My name is John Sinclair. For the next quarter hour, I’ll be your own personal valet or caddy for the auction, helping you follow the action and understand what’s going on behind the scenes.”
We all shouted out our hellos to John while the auctioneer started talking about the exquisite features of the rubies and comparing them to other famous ruby finds over the last hundred years.
“Terrance, our auctioneer, may sound disinterested in your rubies, but I can assure you that’s not the case. He comes from a long line of jewelers and truly appreciates items such as these. The rubies really are incredible and the Master Faceter who worked on them did an incredible job bringing out the star shaped reflection in the gems.” John continued to interject little nuggets of information until the bidding began.
The bidding opened at three million dollars. My heart started beating faster and I leaned forwards on the couch. Even if the bidding stopped here, the foundation would have a solid start. Paddles in the crowd were raised and lowered and within moments the bidding had reached four million dollars.
“Don’t worry about the low price we started at. Remember, you’ve set the reserve price at ten million dollars and we don’t have to sell it at less than that. Starting low allows more bidders to participate and that helps to establish the rubies as a coveted item. We’re also trying to build price momentum to carry the final price well past the reserve price. Rubies of this quality don’t come along every day and the bidding floor has over a dozen internationally known collectors, or their representatives, who will only start bidding once the initial bidding frenzy dies down. That’s doesn’t even take into account the online bidders, some of whom are also major collectors. If we’re very fortunate, we’ll get a bidding war that will drive the price far above the appraised value, as egos and bragging rights overshadow value.” John briefly explained all this while the bidding moved up to five and a half million.
“Did he really say that three million dollars is a low price?”, I heard Margaret quietly ask Uncle Magnum.
“He did. It seems that we’ve been hanging around in the wrong circles”, Uncle Magnum whispered back.
Ignoring their further banter, I watched in fascination as the bidding topped ten million dollars and John said, “Ok. Now we should see some bidders drop out. Ten million is the first psychological barrier. We’ll see another at fifteen and again at twenty.”
“Do you think that it will really go that high?” dad asked with only a trace of awe in his voice.
John smiled and said, “My money is on the bidding reaching just under thirty. I think the collectors are going to drive up the price. There’s been nothing on the market quite like this for awhile and I haven’t heard of anything coming up, except for an exceptional emerald next week. Even though the emerald is larger than the rubies, it isn’t as special and is valued at around ten percent of the rubies. With nothing else on the market, the collectors have given the rubies their full attention. I’ve spoken in confidence to a few representatives who told me that their maximum bids are in the mid twenties.”
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We all grew quiet after that and continued to follow the bidding. It didn’t take long to see John’s predictions come true as more bidders dropped out at each psychological barrier. Once the bidding reached twenty million dollars, there were only six bidders left and the action slowed down to a level that I could follow each of the bids. John gave us some background on some of the bidders and which ones he thought would stick to the end.
Three bidders were left at the twenty-five million bid and I couldn’t stay seated anymore. I walked over to the dining room table, next to the tv, and watched in nervous anticipation. We were already past the expected upper end of the auction price and bids were increasing by a quarter of a million dollars at a time. I expected each bid to be the last, but they kept coming as the auctioneer turned to face one bidder after another. Two of the bidders were there in person and a third was online and had his or her bids relayed by an employee of the auction house. My heart was racing and it was all I could do not to cheer as each bid came in.
“We have a very interesting bidding war going on here. The online bidder is a Chinese billionaire who made his money by having very strong connections to the Chinese government. There’s a good chance that he’s looking to buy this item on behalf of his government. Of the two live bidders, the one sitting in the front row is a representative of a wealthy European collector and the one towards the back is the son of a Sultan of a middle eastern nation. When national pride is on the line, my experience has shown that values get distorted. I’m about to lose the office pool and Terrance is going to win it. He chose thirty-three million”, John expounded, “and unless I’m wrong, and I’m never wrong, it might even go higher.”
Uncle Magnum immediately added, “They are heading into the fire swamp!”, while I said, “Iocaine power! I’d bet my life on it.” We both burst out laughing and I could hear John’s chuckling from the computer.
Dad looked very confused and I quickly explained about John’s reference to The Princess Bride. Dad shook his head in bewilderment and Margaret facepalmed. Regardless, the joke had eased the tension that I’d been feeling, and I was more relaxed as the bidding escalated.
The wealthy collector dropped out at twenty-nine million and the other two billionaires battled on. When the gavel finally sounded the Chinese billionaire was the new owner of the Hannah’s Tears rubies and the Hannah Foundation was thirty-three and a half million dollars richer, less auction house fees of ten percent and whatever the taxes the foundation would owe.
I think that we were all in a state of shock for the next half hour, trying to come to grips with the foundation’s massive windfall. I remember John congratulating us and explaining how the money would be wire transferred to the foundation’s account, less the auction house fees, as soon as the buyer settled his account. Having already spoken to my bank manager earlier this week and explained about the auction, warning him to expect a large injection of funds into the account, I knew that the wire transfer would take two to three business days to clear. By next Wednesday, the money would be sitting in the account, available for foundation needs.
Having eaten our celebration cookies already, dad suggested that we all go out for celebration ice-cream. I was all for it, until everyone started in on how the newest multi-millionaire in the group should pick up the tab. I groaned. This could get old really quick.
Over an ice-cream cone, (that dad paid for!), Margaret grilled me about my plans for the foundation. I told her about needing office space and my plans to go see some this week and about the need to hire staff. Uncle Magnum suggested a few vacant offices in his area.
“You’re thinking too small, M”, I replied. “I’m not in the market for a place only big enough for three or four people. I’m going to get a place that has enough room for at least a dozen full time staff and several part-timers.”
“What do you need so many people for?”, he asked.
“Three or four months ago, the police in Wilmington responded to an anonymous tip and raided a logistics company. They rescued forty women and children that had been kidnapped and were being sold into slavery. The police got their statements and made sure that the victims had basic medical care. After that, the victims were more or less on their own. Social services helped get the children back to their families and helped some of women contact their families, but that’s basically all the help they received. No one was there to offer counselling services, no one offered legal aid to the five women who were kidnapped from other countries and brought here against their will. No one offered to help these people restart their lives. If mom is ever rescued, I want there to be someone out there that can help her. We can be there for her, but she’ll need a lot more help than you, dad and I can give. That’s what the foundation is for and that needs people, a lot of people, supported by a well-funded organization.”
“I’m sorry, Abby. I guess I didn’t think this through, and I underestimated your ambitions. How are you going to have time to take care of the foundation? It sounds like a full-time job and you’re still in high school.”, Uncle Magnum asked.
“I’m going to hire the best people I can find and give them their tasks. Then I’m going to hire a manager to stay on top of them. Even in school, there are always breaks that I can use to answer any questions they have. I can also answer their questions by email in the evenings and weekends. Although, I may have to miss a few of your classes from time to time.”
“No way! You’re not getting out of horse-stance so easily. You’ll just have to skip school. Priorities, Abby! You’ve got to get your priorities in order!”, Uncle Magnum said in pompous mock severity.
“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just say that, Paul, and so is Abby”, dad replied giving first Uncle Magnum and then me a stern look.
“And did you forget that I’m a teacher as well and I definitely don’t approve of your advice?”, Margaret scolded him playfully.
Uncle Magnum raised his hands in surrender. “Ok. Ok. No need for violence. You know how much I hate fighting.” I let out a sharp laugh at that. Fighting is what he lived for. He turned to me and in a fake whisper said, “Abby, don’t get caught skipping school!”
Spending this time with family was the perfect end to a very long and very emotional day. I couldn’t believe that it was only this morning that I’d practiced removing cancer at the dog park. It felt like weeks had passed since then. Visiting Evan with Eva, spending hours removing the cancer from Evan, the thrill of the auction. So much had happened today, yet if I’d known what was coming, I’d have wished for the day to be longer.