This photo was taken near the entrance to the gigantic, cavernous bourse floor of the ANA World's Fair of Money. The booth immediately in front belongs to Heritage Galleries. Heritage was conducting auctions downstairs from the main bourse floor, and they even had a projector following the progress of the auction lots, which was showing the image on a portion of the large pillars in the center of the room! Although people couldn't bid from the bourse floor, they could see what lot number the auction was on, so they could run downstairs in time to make their live bids.
If you've never seen a live Heritage Galleries auction, you really should stick your head in for a few minutes, even if you can't afford any of the coins. Heritage auctions are the auction house equivalents of fine symphonies, where each member of the orchestra does his precise part to produce an elegant dance of numismatic music. There are typically several incoming bidding ports, including the live bidders at the auction itself, the online bidders on Heritage's Web site, the online bidders on eBay who are linked in through eBay Live, and several telephone bidders who are participating from all points of the planet. All of this bidding activity is deftly managed by the auctioneer and his clerks, who keep a real-time video display of the auction displayed on a large screen for everyone's benefit. Each lot is shown in full color, with its number clearly visible, as well as a recent history going back several items for those who are keeping records of the selling prices. The first time I attended a Heritage auction, I remember standing there in awe at this expertly run process. My previous experience with live auctions had been more of the raucous, shouting, unclaimed storage space type.
If you've never seen a live Heritage Galleries auction, you really should stick your head in for a few minutes, even if you can't afford any of the coins. Heritage auctions are the auction house equivalents of fine symphonies, where each member of the orchestra does his precise part to produce an elegant dance of numismatic music. There are typically several incoming bidding ports, including the live bidders at the auction itself, the online bidders on Heritage's Web site, the online bidders on eBay who are linked in through eBay Live, and several telephone bidders who are participating from all points of the planet. All of this bidding activity is deftly managed by the auctioneer and his clerks, who keep a real-time video display of the auction displayed on a large screen for everyone's benefit. Each lot is shown in full color, with its number clearly visible, as well as a recent history going back several items for those who are keeping records of the selling prices. The first time I attended a Heritage auction, I remember standing there in awe at this expertly run process. My previous experience with live auctions had been more of the raucous, shouting, unclaimed storage space type.