Megabucks Auction Bloopers: At Those Levels, Who's Counting?

"Where am I now?" the usually quick-minded, fleet-of-tongue Christopher Burge poignantly queried, momentarily sidetracked in the onslaught of bids early during Christie's record-breaking contemporary sale last night. Baffling the crowd, he had unaccountably dropped $1 million off the bidding for Lot 9, the Philip Guston, which he confidently placed at $4.4 million, despite the fact that he had already just taken a bid at $5.4 million.

"A senior moment here!" he murmured, more to himself than the crowd. Then he promptly got back on track and headed towards the $5.8-million finish ($6.54 million, with buyer's premium).

Another glitch in the bidding occurred for Warhol's "Lemon Marilyn," which ultimately fetched $28.04 million (with premium), the second highest price of the night. This time the perpetrator was seasoned dealer Larry Gagosian, whose extensive auction experience didn't stop him from making a bid and then taking it back, at the $25.5-million level. Gagosian laughed at his own giant breach of auction protocol, while Burge searched in vain for another $25.5-million taker.

"You can still do it again, if you like," Burge wheedled.

Nothing doing. It got knocked down at $25 million.

UPDATE: A reader has shared with me his personal experiences with the spring auctions, and I invite other readers also to e-mail your experiences or comments related to these sales. You can read them by clicking the link below.