Hollywood Zenith



The second phase of the auction started after few minutes. The first item they bring out was the Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder from the year 1958.

The auctioneer when over the detail like there were only one hundred and six units produced from 1957 to 1962 and it had original transmission and engine that could pump out 280 horsepower on four speed manual transmission.

It was the first item that riled the audience. It was the same car Samuel had taken a fancy to but changed his mind to the more sought after version of it.

" The starting price of this car is two million US dollars!" The auctioneer stated after his long explanation and the bid war officially started.

It was not comparable to the Ferrari 250GT but still people started bidding like crazy!

" 3 million!"

" 5 million!"

" 5.5 million!"

The price started climbing rapidly but these big shots were adamant to continue till it was out of their price range.

"8 million !" Fridmansky said domineeringly increasing the price by two million dollars! Everyone was shocked by his number and few opted out when they knew he was in the race. Mikhail was sure no one would challenge him but it hit like a ton a bricks when someone outbid him only few seconds later.

"8.5 million."

"9 million."

The price quoted by Fridmansky was surpassed without staying still for a second.

As it approached ten million mark everyone clocked out, it was a waste of money. Nine million was approaching the expected price of the item, they would be fool to continue this errand!

Many experts predicted this Ferrari 250GT estimated price was around 12 million.

"Hey, brothers, you guys don't want it, right?" Antonio saw a chance, he asked the others before he jumped in the race after all Samuel wanted this car before.

" Go ahead." Samuel gave his consent.

" I'm going to get this bad boy." Antonio saw that the price was almost stagnant, thus he made a move.

Meanwhile Fridmansky who heard these younglings talking sneered in his mind. What kind of play they were into? Did they forget they need money to participate in auction? Even by his conservative estimates, Mikhail refused to believe they could jump in when the price was breaking through ten million dollars!

"15 million." Antonio was the first from their small group to bid on anything in this auction. People who knew about Samuel's identity were puzzled why there was no movement from their court but they realize these guys didn't play in small leagues!

When they made a move it was reaching for a sky high price of fifteen million dollars!

Mikhail was perplexed, increasing the price by five million dollars? were all young people so arrogant these days? Was the dollars lost it's value since he visited the States after a long time?I think you should take a look at

Antonio's hotshot offer made most people lose interest in bidding further. It was already three million over the estimated price, most of them were retailer looking to make a quick buck. Even the collectors knew the price would not increase three million after shelving the item for ten years!

After Anthonio shouted the price, he casted a glance at Fridmansky. The meaning was very clear as a day, you are not worthy! 

Fridmansky who was stimulated increased the price again.

" 16 million!"

But as soon as he finished shouting he regretted his decision, it was a lot of money and him being impulsive would only hurt him in the long run.

His participation in this auction was like publicity as his business had taken a downturn after the financial collapse. He had to sell few of his personal property to survive and splurging like this on overpriced items would be bad for his credit!

" 16.1 million dollars!" Fortunately for him a Belgian car collector reported a new price, it was a sigh of relief for him but not for the other party.

"17 million" Antonio was as stable as rock on the surface at the moment, but he was also very anxious looking at the price. He had allotted different value to the items he could acquire according to his budget.

His trick of increasing the price by five million didn't scare everyone off which made him pissed off for a moment. 

"17.5 million." The other party was still bidding and added another 500,000 USD.

"18 million." This was Antonio's last offer. No matter what price the other party offers, Antonio was not going to increase the price, otherwise, he would have to let go of the other car that he wanted.

The worse case scenario would be him eating rice for a year to recoup his losses as his father would definitely not support his extravagant lifestyle.

  However, he did not expect that the Belgian collector was also on his last leg. After hearing eighteen million, he shook his head and stopped bidding.

"18 million, going once."

"18 million, going twice, are there are no more bids?" The auctioneer glanced at everyone's faces for suspense.

"18 million, going thrice! Sold!" He smashed the hammer reluctantly. He was hoping for a little more action along with another crazy bidding war but it was too delusional of a dream.

"Congratulations to bidder No. 7 for getting this 1958 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder for 18 million US dollars."

Amid the congratulations from Samuel and Istanbul, Antonio stood up gracefully to salute, and once again gave Fridmansky a provocative look.

Fridmansky was fuming with anger! The feeling of being smashed in the face by money was never a occurance in his country. Usually he was the one doing it but here a youngster was mocking him plainly!

He made sure to make them pay in the next bid, he didn't care if he had to let go of 'little' bit of his money to teach these kids a lesson! But unlucky for him, Samuel was plotting his own plan and he didn't even know who Samuel was!