The thing to remember here is that auction houses try to maximize prices for their consignors, so they can get more consignments down the road. That’s the driving factor behind the closing process.
For the closing time, they are looking for a time convenient to both coasts. Close too early and the West Coast is still at dinner. Close too late and the East Coast is already asleep.
Generally closing the entire auction at one time has yielded higher prices since people can switch their funds to other lots of their top targets get outbid. However a large segment of bidders got fed up with this late night process that they basically started boycotting auctions with these types of closes. Therefore most auctions have moved to lot by lot closing for the convenience of the bidders.
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