Ukiah Daily Journal
June 2000
Auctioneer Loves to raise funds
By Laura Clark

Auctioneer Dave Reynolds describes hiniself as a "ham." John Enquist, executive director at the Mendocino Wine Growers Alliance describes Reynolds as "pretty much the hottest auctioneer on the circuit today."

Reynolds, who auctioned-off Jocai wines and wine-maker dinners Satorday at the Mendocino Wine Affair in Hopland, is known for his ability to entertain people while raising "lots" of money for charity at the same time.

He once sold two pieces of pizza for $8,000. "I have also sold the right to name an aardvark for $17,000. It's someone making a donation," Reynolds said. "You know what is amazing is that I had someone else at $16,000. Fund-raising auctions are about fund-raising, not auctioneering," he said.

Some say his success iies in his British f accent. Others say it's his humorous wit and 20 years of experience working in the wine business. He thinks it's because he looks at these events "as an entenainment" not an auction.

And he would know. Not only has he been on the charity auction circuit for 12 years, when he is not on stage, Reynolds is member-of an improvisation comedy group in San Francisco-and he takes voice and acting lessons.

So that he sounds good doing "the best job in the world," he said he sees a voice coach every week.

"What you need to do is not have each word separate, and connect the middle of words. That gives it that wonderful, rich, deep, radio quality. So even if you don t know what you are saying you sound wonderful saying it," Reynolds said. "Think about what I do. I am on stage occasionally for hours." Reynolds, who referred to Richard Bunon and Lawrence Olivier as "the two greatest vocalists of this, or any age," said "there are only three things you can do to change your voice: Adjust the volume; the speed at which you speak; and the pitch," he noted.

Because he believes that the secret of a good auctioneer "is not talking fast, but talking constantly," he said it is imponant to vary your voice as much as you can and use gestures while you are speaking.

But just as Rome wasn't built in a day, neither is an auction. "I am a ham. I raise millions of dollars every year for charity and I am proud of those millions. I love the performance," he said.