About the Auction

The silent and live auctions are a “can’t miss” element of every Gala. We also provide guests the opportunity to pre-bid on selected silent auction items. Click here to visit the Online Auction.

If you would like to donate an item for auction or if you have any questions please feel free to contact Auction Chair James Seo.

Live Auctioneer
C. Hugh Hildesley
Executive Vice President, Client Development, New York; Director, Sotheby’s Canada Inc.; Chairman, Sotheby’s Canada Advisory Board

We are thrilled to have the distinguished Sotheby auctioneer Hugh Hildesley returning to our Gala this year.

Mr. Hildesley joined Sotheby’s in 1961 and played an integral role in Sotheby’s formative years in New York. From 1964 – 70 he was the first Head of the Old Master Paintings Department in New York, going on to form Sotheby’s Appraisal Company in 1970. Educated at Sherborne School, Dorset, and Brasenose College, Oxford. Mr. Hildesley studied Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings at the Rijksbureau Voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie in the Hague. From 1973 – 1976, Mr. Hildesley was responsible for the Jack R. Dick Sale of Sporting Paintings in London, a record-breaking sale that sparked a renewal of interest in this area of collecting. As Senior Auctioneer, he has conducted some of Sotheby’s most prestigious sales, including the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Sale, the sale of the Property of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and The Barry Halper Sale of Baseball Memorabilia. Mr. Hildesley holds the record for any Canadian painting, having sold Paul Kane’s Captain Lefroy in 2002 for $5.2 million. Recently, he was the auctioneer responsible for the sale of the Guennol Lioness, of 3000 B.C., which sold for $57 million, a record for any sculpture sold at auction at the time. Mr. Hildesley trains Sotheby’s new auctioneers, and conducted 60 benefit auctions in 2009, raising over $15 million for charitable purposes. He has lectured widely on the art market and is author of The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling at Auction. Mr. Hildesley is Chairman of the American Associates of the Royal Academy Trust and a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (F.R.S.A.).