Auction's odd items can whip up frenzy

XFL Las Vegas Outlaws football gear. Whips and chains. A life-size leather horse. A Victorian desk.

Items JD Watson has sold at his North Las Vegas auction house have stretched from the bizarre -- he once auctioned off the estate of a dominatrix -- to typical household items. Walking through the warehouse at 2711 E. Craig Road, one could find most anything, from filing cabinets and office chairs to an orange Crock-Pot and mushroom cannister set seen in 1970s kitchens.

Every Saturday night Watson and his staff put on a show. Actually, it's an auction, but onlookers have described it as entertainment. The items on sale make the auction and steer the emotion of the crowd. During the dominatrix sale, the air was filled with nervous chatter and all-out laughter, Watson said.

"For some of these people, it was their first experience with a world they didn't think existed," said Curt Hubbard, auctioneer. "There was enough leather in here to start your own Wilson's. It was a lively auction . . . the sounds of whips in the air, the chains dragging across the floor."

Not every auction is as wacky, but they each have their own flair. At a typical Saturday night auction, something is sold, on average, every 35 seconds, said John Morrill, Watson's finance consultant.

"It's a fun business," Watson said. "The fun part about it is being up on the auction block and doing the auction."

Watson has been in the auction business for 34 years, ever since he bid against his mother at age 12. Soon after, he took a job in an auction house in his native Indiana as a teenager. He then traveled, working for auction houses nationwide before he settled in the Las Vegas Valley, where he took over an auction house on Highland Drive in 1989.

The JD Watson Auction house has been in North Las Vegas since 1990. Since opening the North Las Vegas business, he's seen many items come through the warehouse. When items come in sharing a similar theme, he hosts specific auctions, such as the music and art auction set for May 31. Then, he'll finally get rid of a 10-year-old collection of guitars -- including one signed by country artists Brooks and Dunn -- a baby grand piano, a Victorian piano and other musical instruments. He also has framed artwork, including serigraphs by artist Erte, that will hit the auction block running.

Not everything is an antique or a piece of history, however.

"Everything but the kitchen sink" applies to the auction house, but Watson has probably had a few sinks to sell in his day, too.

"You take the junk with the good," Morrill said. "There's all sorts of treasures to be found here."

"If you do an estate, you do it all," added Hubbard. "There's a wide range of material and a wide range of prices."

Morrill once purchased an oil painting he liked at an auction for $385. He found out the painting is from the Hudson River School in New York -- the first American school of landscape painting active from 1825-1870. And he's been offered $50,000 to $100,000 for it. But that's not something that happens every day, Watson said.

"Nobody can know everything about anything," Watson said. "Someone out of the 400 people who come to the auction will pay what it's worth."

"Not only will two or three people show you the value of it, the auctioneer will rev up the adrenaline," Hubbard said.

Deals can be found. You just have to watch and act fast, Watson said.

"There are no friends at an auction," Watson said. "It's not where you start, it's where you end."

Viewing for a typical Saturday night auction begins at 10 a.m.. The music and art auction May 31 is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Those interested can call 434-8930.


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