She's got It!

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Her career in the hair care industry had her creating hair shows in Chicago and New York complete with glamorous models and limos. "It was an exciting time." Then she was in Las Vegas player's rep at the Desert Inn. Somewhere in there she rode in rodeos and owned a palomino quarter horse from the King Ranch. And was "married twice and divorced before I was 21."

Vikki Vines grins, "I was born a promoter.., perhaps I had a transfusion from the Ringling Brothers!"

She also knew difficult times before she finally found her true calling. In 1984 she left her son, Jonathon, at age 1 with her mother to try her hand at auction school in Iowa. (In Texas there is no curriculum needed to obtain a license, unlike for real estate. Oh, she has a real estate license, too.) Vines earned the $300 for tuition - that she didn't have - by selling at North Houston flea markets.

Determination is another Vikki Vines hallmark. She attended the Mason City, Iowa, Reisch Worldwide College of Auctioneering. "The school had its own motel; the guys in the nice rooms, the 12 girls in one room with bunk beds." It was two weeks of grueling, intensive training with 40 instructors - a car auctioneer from Chicago, a cattleman from Wyoming, numerous various antique auctioneers' chant. Plus daily live student led auctions.

Back in Houston, for her 1st auction Vines rented a building on I-45, the closed down notorious Valentine Strip joint. "With friends, I cleaned it out including the syringes and mattresses." The sale was around Thanksgiving and included items like 55 gallons of rusty nails and prosthetic limb. This began a weekly Friday event. She got help early on from a local antique dealer who had noticed her buying and selling at local flea markets. And a husband and wife team who had a moving and storage company that stored property from evictions brought in by constables. When the items were forfeited according to due process, they had Vines auction off everything from Tupperware to tools and furniture.

Within three years she was recognized as an auctioneer, she had the privilege of being the auctioneer when Fulbright and Jaworski moved their law offices.

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