I remember speaking with a prominent Canadian dealer who told me about about a client of his who had missed out on their dream Lawren Harris painting, some years earlier. The client now wanted to get their hands on a Tom Thomson they had been eyeing for a long time. The Thomson was spotted in an auction catalogue for a sale that was scheduled to take place a few weeks later, in a different Canadian city than the where the client and dealer were located. The dealer was scheduled to be on a cruise ship with his wife at the same time as the auction. Not wanting to disappoint the client, the dealer insisted that he could act over the phone as an absentee bidder, and all but promised the Thomson artwork to his client. Despite the very-modern ship, connected completely by wi-fi, the telephone situation was poor. Of the few phones that were available to the guests, most had long lines behind them. The dealer and the client missed out on the Tom Thomson painting that went for a steal at the live auction!
