A day at Christie´s

I have never actually been at a large Auction House before, so I was kind of nervous going there.
I was wondering if it would be obvious that I am new? Can they smell it? See it in my eyes? Snort at me? Will they know I am only there to check it out and not to buy? I had all this thoughts in my head while I was getting off the Subway at Rockefeller Center and walking into Christie´s.
But, I did not need to worry, it was an extremely relaxed atmosphere. Here they are dealing with millions of dollars on a daily basis, but the staff just walked around calm and friendly and I, I was just one of all the others there.
Luckily I came right when they were holding an Auction session and I got to sit through a "Prints and Multiples" sale. I will here dwell on the Andy Warhol sale. The highest sale was the "Mickey Mouse"(from myths) for $110,500 (182/200). The second most popular was a green version of the Marilyn for $80,500. It had an estimate between $40,000-$60,000.  And then there is the soup can, it never stops surprising.

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"Tomato" from Campbell´s soup I, numbered 78/250 sold for $74,500. Way over Christie´s estimate of $20,000-$30,000. 

I just wish I could have heard the comment from the Auctioneer. He was saying something like "Oh,wow" and grinned. The Auctioneer actually reminded me of the actor William H. Macy. It was also interesting to look at the big bidders in the room (a lot of the sales happened over the phone or on the internet) they all sat like wallflowers as close to the back wall as possible, like they would be less visible there?

Flowers (Sold for $15,000, one edition out of 300 and within its estimate)

I guess this just proves that Warhol´s popularity just keeps going on....Even for the Prints and the Multiples. I would love to go and check out the original sale next time, then we can talk about "Real" money!