What is a left bid?

Mary asks:

I was at my first auction recently, and I notice that a few times the auctioneer said, “sold, to the left bid” but the item did not appear to be sold to anyone. What does this mean?

AW says:

A “left bid” is an absentee bid. A bid that was placed by someone who is not in attendance. This can be facilitated in several different ways, with the auctioneer or bookkeeper excecuting the bid on behalf of the absentee bidder.

An auctioneer that runs a straight show will usually allow the underbidder to view the contact information of the left bidder to show that things are on the up and up.

If you have a question about antiques or auctions, send it to  ask@auctionwally.com I don’t not answer questions about values of items in this column.