She's got It!

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With two major antique auctions a week in Houston she still finds time to be a roving expert auctioneer. For the last 8 years it's been 25-35 weekends a year traveling from Manhattan to Puerto Rico as one of the most noted experts in auctioning fine hand-made (Oriental) rugs.

You've got to know what you sell if you want to entice the people to buy. And Vikki Vines certainly does. Stepping out of a non-auction family - a rarity in the business - Vines just "didn't know I couldn't do it." The oldest of 3 girls, the family moved to Abilene when she was 3, "Daddy was in construction," she says. "He was a wheeler-dealer trader, (who liked) scouting in the city dump. Once he found a knife, trading it up to a washer/dryer, then finally a boat, motor & trailer. It's in the genes: In the 1st grade I would buy the entree only, save the extra money buy penny candy and sell it Daddy that night for two pennies." Moving to Houston when in 6th grade, "Daddy took me as a little girl to the Rankin Road (off 1-45) cattle auctions."

But the auction business was not in her immediate dreams. First it was Patrick Henry Middle School and drama classes at the Alley Theater's old location. Winning a competition while in school she became a hairdresser in Houston for Selma Levy at Foley's. Discovered there, she worked up to National Director of the school division of the Jhirmack Enterprises in Northern California and the National Sales Director in charge of training and trade shows. At 19 or 20 she wrote copy for Clairol and Sebastian International.

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