Auctioneer’s Pronunciation Played a Dirty Trick and Turned Auction Into a Laughing Stock
The high-profile auction for the oldest Porsche became a real joke just because of a bad pronunciation of the host. A stupid foul-up prevented the oldest Porsche from auctioning for $ 70 million.
The car was considered to be the very first and the oldest surviving Porsche, but RM Sotheby’s failed because the Holland host was babbling. Instead of 17, he said 70. Trading authorities had to admit foul-up, and the sale was closed.
As it later was explained, the screen operators misunderstood the words of the Holland host, because he was unclear in his pronunciation. As a result, there was a mess on the displays with incorrect fees on the list, and all the car collectors were confused.
Experts expected Porsche to be sold for about $20 million. True rate of $70 million would make the car the most expensive ever auctioned. This error is acknowledged as the ‘biggest mistake in recent auction history’.
