Watching a lot, and why some auctions are invited only

Watch a lot and you are told when it is closing and if it is relisted, without bidding on it. It is the honest way to learn the yard: watch four lots you understand, see what they actually close at, and your first real bid is an informed one.

An auction is open or invited. Open means any qualified bidder on the register can bid. Invited means the institution has named who may take part, usually because the batch is large, specialised, or being cleared to a trade they already work with. An invited auction still leaves its record; it is not a private deal, it is a narrower room.

If a lot you wanted was invited, the institution decides the guest list, not us. Tell the desk what you buy and in what volume; that is the information that gets an institution to widen a list.