What happened at Sothebys? Type 64

[robertmark]

Does anybody know what actually happened? I'm not understanding. The auctioneer kept saying between bids, 500 then he would up the highest bid by 10 million. Where was he getting the bids from? I didn't see anyone in audience bidding, and he never said we have this bid on the phone. Why did he keep jumping up by 10 million increments? WTH???

[JMS935]

Strange. You aren’t the first one to say there weren't any bidders.

[amg463]

It was a sham, he went fishing and not even a minnow bit.

[specialtyoneinc]

Best of luck to the seller if he tries to sell that car in the future. The Internet never forgets.

[nathanbs]

He was not saying ten million increments, the person that puts it on the screen blew it. I have it all on video

[JMS935]

Originally Posted by nathanbs

He was not saying ten million increments, the person that puts it on the screen blew it. I have it all on video

So you’re saying you are the only one that heard him correctly? It seems that everyone else was hearing what the video tech was hearing and inputting on the monitor.

This auctioneer apparently has vision problems to go along with his speech impediment if there really weren’t any bidders pushing the price higher. WTF was he looking at when increasing the bids? There were at least 7 bids he took, which means there were at least 2 bidders for that, whether they were phantom or not.

[amg463]

There was no bids, not one, he was looking at his fellow employees holding phones and making the bids up as they signaled. It was all a sham. Never trust an auction with a phone bidder.

[mobius911]

Originally Posted by JMS935

So you’re saying you are the only one that heard him correctly? It seems that everyone else was hearing what the video tech was hearing and inputting on the monitor.

This auctioneer apparently has vision problems to go along with his speech impediment if there really weren’t any bidders pushing the price higher. WTF was he looking at when increasing the bids? There were at least 7 bids he took, which means there were at least 2 bidders for that, whether they were phantom or not.

The auctioneer is Dutch and has a slight accent. Clearly the person entering the numbers on the screen did not hear him correctly (and the auctioneer can't see the screen). I agree he was saying "...teen" and not "...ty". The bidding (real or not) made no sense otherwise (30, 30.5, 40, 40.5, 50, 50.5, 60 etc. makes no sense, but 13, 13.5, 14, 14.5, 15, etc. does).

I put this error on the person entering the numbers on the display. It's a huge screwup because it sucked all the interest/momentum out of the bidding (if in fact there were any real bidders).

[pmax]

Originally Posted by amg463

It was all a sham.

Well, they did sell a dead fish for millions.

[JMS935]

Originally Posted by mobius911

The auctioneer is Dutch and has a slight accent. Clearly the person entering the numbers on the screen did not hear him correctly (and the auctioneer can't see the screen). I agree he was saying "...teen" and not "...ty". The bidding (real or not) made no sense otherwise (30, 30.5, 40, 40.5, 50, 50.5, 60 etc. makes no sense, but 13, 13.5, 14, 14.5, 15, etc. does).

I put this error on the person entering the numbers on the display. It's a huge screwup because it sucked all the interest/momentum out of the bidding (if in fact there were any real bidders).

So you heard 13, 14, 15? Not 30, 40, 50? I’ve watched it a few times now, and I hear 30, 40, 50 every time. The error goes to the auctioneer, not the video tech controlling the bidder’s screen. Their job is simply to input what they hear, and it sure seems like most people were hearing the same as the tech inputting the numbers.

[nathanbs]

Originally Posted by JMS935

So you’re saying you are the only one that heard him correctly? It seems that everyone else was hearing what the video tech was hearing and inputting on the monitor.

This auctioneer apparently has vision problems to go along with his speech impediment if there really weren’t any bidders pushing the price higher. WTF was he looking at when increasing the bids? There were at least 7 bids he took, which means there were at least 2 bidders for that, whether they were phantom or not.

Originally Posted by JMS935

So you heard 13, 14, 15? Not 30, 40, 50? I’ve watched it a few times now, and I hear 30, 40, 50 every time. The error goes to the auctioneer, not the video tech controlling the bidder’s screen. Their job is simply to input what they hear, and it sure seems like most people were hearing the same as the tech inputting the numbers.

Correct I’m saying now that I know I can definitely hear him saying thirteen, fourteen, sixteen, seventeen. I can send you my videos privately

[Fubawu]

I heard both 13 then 14 then 40...it was a mess.

[Matt Monson]

I watched it a couple times. I think he was saying teens.

[kevinbodman930]

Is this car actually the real deal as people are saying?

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[robertmark]

It sounds like teens until he reaches 40, after 40 I hear 50,60,70. It would also appear from audience reactions that it was jumping by 10 million at a time. My question is who/we’re the bidders. Someone at Sotheby’s may need to find new employment, Welcome to Walmart.

[JMS935]

Originally Posted by robertmark

It sounds like teens until he reaches 40, after 40 I hear 50,60,70. It would also appear from audience reactions that it was jumping by 10 million at a time. My question is who/we’re the bidders. Someone at Sotheby’s may need to find new employment, Welcome to Walmart.

Just don’t let him be in charge of the PA system at Walmart, he might confuse shoppers just as much as he confused the bidders.

[nathanbs]

Originally Posted by kevinbodman930

Is this car actually the real deal as people are saying?

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It’s a real deal type 64 Volkswagen that was owned and driven by Dr Porsche at one point in its life whereupon the letters Porsche were added purportedly by him after the fact

[techweenie]

There are some pictures that appear to be from the 30s where you can see 'Porsche' lettering clumsily stuck to the nose, but they look like an afterthought.

A significant car, no doubt but Sotheby's obvious effort at pimping the car using Harris, Long and Zwart was pretty over the top. It's as if they didn't have all that much confidence in what they were auctioning.

I've re-watched the video, and the first number called out is clearly 13 million. The display operator got it wrong and continued to hear it wrong. It's interesting to watch the video and then listen to just the audio. The numbers on the screen influence how you don't clearly hear the 'teens' being called out.

At the end, it appeared to me as if the $17 million bid wasn't real. Lost a lot of respect for Sothebys.

[Matt Monson]

Originally Posted by kevinbodman930

Is this car actually the real deal as people are saying?

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There are purported to be three 64s that were made. Not one of them is in original unrestored condition. This is one of them.

[stephenacworth]

Applied by Ferdinand himself, allegedly...

Originally Posted by techweenie

There are some pictures that appear to be from the 30s where you can see 'Porsche' lettering clumsily stuck to the nose, but they look like an afterthought..