World champ to auction at Park City fest

For the third year in a row, fast-talking, deal-wheelin' World Champion Auctioneer Bruce Brock will donate his mile-a-minute-mouth to the Kimball Arts Festival Auction & Gala.

The auction kicks off the 38th annual Park City Kimball Arts Festival tonight, and Brock — a crowd favorite — is destined to entertain.

"Every auction is different, and the Kimball's format is really interesting in the fact that it brings in tremendously talented, high-quality artists," he said. "And the entire Park City aura that surrounds it is unique, from its resort perspective and the eclectic collections that the people in that area have."

Since most of Brock's auction experience involves selling off farm and ranch land, a yearly trek to the Wasatch Mountains is a favorite for the Iowa-based auctioneer. An art collector himself, he even bought a piece at last year's auction.

"It's kind of a passion for us," he said of himself and wife Teri, who is his clerk.

Brock is chief executive officer of Auction Realty of America and president of Brock Auction Co. He won the International Auctioneer Championships in 1993 and then the World Auctioneer Championships in 1994.

"That kind of catapulted my career, when I was the first person ever to hold those two titles at the same time," said Brock, whose businesses are based in Le Mars, Iowa.

He began auctioneering as a way to boost his portfolio. Working at the third-generation family real-estate business that his grandfather started in 1919, Brock decided to go to auction school. It was the late 1970s, and land prices started escalating.

"A lot of land was sold at auctions, and in order to be competitive, we needed to offer that in our portfolio to our clients," he said.

He started school in 1981, when his son Bob was just a baby and daughter Libby was on the way.

Today, Brock travels the nation auctioning off everything from autographed guitars to farming equipment. His wife comes along, recording who bought what and for what price. His son works as the legal team, while his daughter does office work with his wife.

Pam Crowe-Weisberg, director of the Kimball Art Center, saw Brock in action a few years ago at one of the largest art auctions in the West, the C.M. Russell auction. She knew then that the Kimball had to use him.