An absentee bid — also termed a commission bid or written bid — is a written instruction submitted to an auction house before a sale takes place, authorising the house to bid on a specific lot on the client's behalf up to a declared maximum amount. The mechanism is a cornerstone of the international gem and jewellery auction market, enabling private collectors, dealers, and institutional buyers to compete for important stones and pieces at the world's principal salerooms — Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, Phillips, and their regional counterparts — without being physically present in the room.

How the Mechanism Works

Once an absentee bid is lodged, the auctioneer or a designated member of the house staff acts as the client's proxy during the live sale. Crucially, the bid is not placed in full at the opening of bidding; rather, it is executed incrementally, advancing only as competing bids from the floor or from telephone bidders require. If a lot opens at a level already below the absentee bidder's maximum and no other interest materialises, the house will attempt to secure the lot at or near the reserve price — the confidential minimum below which the consignor has agreed not to sell — rather than immediately jumping to the client's ceiling. This incremental discipline is both a courtesy to the client and a standard of practice across reputable houses.

The practical result is that a collector who submits a maximum absentee bid of, say, £40,000 on a Kashmir sapphire ring may ultimately acquire it for £28,000 if floor competition ceases at that level, paying only what the competitive dynamic demands rather than the full authorised ceiling.

Submission Methods

Historically, absentee bids were submitted by post or hand-delivery on printed forms supplied with the auction catalogue. Facsimile transmission became standard through the 1980s and 1990s. Today, all major auction houses offer secure online absentee-bid portals, and many integrate absentee bidding directly into their mobile applications. Regardless of channel, the house requires the client to register, provide proof of identity in accordance with anti-money-laundering regulations, and in some cases supply a credit reference or deposit for high-value lots. Deadlines for submission are typically set several hours before the relevant session begins, and late bids are generally not accepted.

Confidentiality and Tied Bids

Absentee bids are treated as strictly confidential. The declared maximum is known only to designated staff — in practice, the specialist overseeing the session and the auctioneer — and is never disclosed to other bidders or to the consignor. This confidentiality is fundamental to the integrity of the process; any breach would expose the house to serious reputational and legal consequences.

A practical question arises when two absentee bids are submitted at identical maximums for the same lot. Standard practice across the principal houses holds that the earlier-received bid takes precedence. Clients submitting absentee bids are advised to do so as early as possible, particularly for high-profile lots in important jewellery sales where competitive interest is anticipated.

Absentee Bids Versus Telephone Bids

The absentee bid is closely related to, but distinct from, the telephone bid. In a telephone bid, a specialist at the auction house maintains a live telephone or video connection with the client during the sale itself, relaying bid increments in real time and receiving immediate instructions on whether to advance. Telephone bidding offers greater flexibility — the client can respond to the live atmosphere of the room and make decisions as the lot unfolds — but it requires the client to be available and reachable at the precise moment the lot comes up, which may be inconvenient across time zones. The absentee bid, by contrast, requires no real-time availability; once submitted, it operates automatically. For collectors in distant time zones or those bidding on numerous lots across a long session, the absentee bid is often the more practical instrument.

For lots of exceptional value or rarity — a notable Burmese ruby of significant provenance, a signed Art Deco Cartier bracelet, or a large D-colour diamond — serious buyers frequently prefer the telephone option precisely because they wish to retain moment-to-moment discretion. Absentee bids tend to be favoured for lots of moderate value or where the collector has a firm and confident maximum and no wish to be drawn into competitive escalation.

Buyer's Premium and Cost Considerations

Clients submitting absentee bids should be fully conversant with the applicable buyer's premium — the percentage surcharge levied by the house on the hammer price — since the premium is added to whatever hammer price is achieved, not to the absentee bid maximum. A maximum absentee bid represents the ceiling on the hammer price the client is willing to reach; the total cost of acquisition will be the hammer price plus the buyer's premium (and any applicable taxes). Major houses publish their premium structures in the front matter of each catalogue and on their websites, and these should be consulted before any bid is submitted.

Role in the Gem and Jewellery Market

In the context of coloured gemstones and fine jewellery, absentee bidding has materially broadened the effective market for important pieces. A collector in Singapore, a dealer in Antwerp, or a private buyer in São Paulo can compete on equal procedural footing with a London or New York floor bidder for a Padparadscha sapphire or a signed Bulgari suite. This geographic democratisation has contributed to the increasingly international price discovery that characterises the top tier of the jewellery auction market. It has also reinforced the importance of pre-sale condition reports, gemological certificates from recognised laboratories such as the GIA, Gübelin, or SSEF, and detailed catalogue descriptions, since the absentee bidder must make a fully informed decision in advance, without the opportunity to inspect the lot at the moment of sale.

For this reason, reputable houses strongly encourage absentee bidders to attend pre-sale viewings in person or to request condition reports and, where applicable, laboratory certificates before submitting a bid. The absence of a last-minute physical inspection places a premium on the quality and accuracy of the information available before the sale.

Further Reading

• GIA Gems & Gemology — auction market coverage and gemological standards