A day in the life of a Christie's auctioneer in New York City, who wakes up at 5:45 a.m., lives in Manhattan's richest neighborhood, and says her job is like 'conducting an orchestra'

Perrin, who spent seven years at Christie's in London before rejoining the New York office in 2007, also serves as Senior Vice President and Senior Director of Trusts, Estates & Wealth Management Services at Christie's International, which means she represents Christie's at conferences across the country and assists clients through major sales around the world.

"I have a trainer that comes to me a couple of times a week, so I'll either meet with him in my building — he comes at 6:15 and I'll work out with him for an hour — or on days particularly when the weather's nice, I might go — either with my dog or on my own — go for a run up the Hudson River Park," Perrin said.

Perrin lives in Tribeca, the richest neighborhood in New York City, but she also has a home in Toronto, where she and husband live together and where she spends most weekends.

She runs about three days per week.

"I feel like it's a nice way to get myself focused on getting in the right mindset for what I'm doing in the day," she said.

"She's a rescue," Perrin said. "I got her in 2009, so she's almost 10, and she won't leave the house without carrying something in her mouth."

She also speaks with colleagues in London about a client's selection for the Christie's sale later that day.

Perrin always eats breakfast at home.

"Sometimes it's an egg, sometimes it's toast and peanut butter, sometimes it might be granola and fruit that I've made," she said. "I'll have a coffee at home as well and then I'll either get a coffee en route or I'll have another coffee when I get to work."

Perrin also often uses the morning hours to talk on the phone with her husband, who lives primarily at their home in Toronto, while Perrin is based in New York.

"My husband travels a lot for his job as well," Perrin said. "He's in Europe a lot, so in the morning is usually a good time for us to speak, and that just happens to be a time he knows he can get me, because I'm not in the office yet."

She says the trains usually aren't too crowded if she leaves early enough.

"What time I get to the office depends on if we have meetings in the morning if we're at a conference or something like that, but generally speaking I'm sort of in anywhere between 8 and 9," Perrin said.

Today, she's in the Bid Department to look over the Auctioneer's Book ahead of her auction at 11 a.m.

This meeting is to review and discuss interest in the objects in the auction and to prepare for the sale.

"It's not just the auctioneer breezes in, takes the sale and leaves," Perrin said. "It's very much a collaborative endeavor, and I think that's key to the success of any sale."

"I am generally very conscious of using my reusable bottles and mugs," she said.

It's the Christie's Design auction, which includes mirrors, chairs, lamps, tables, sculptures, and other works from the turn of the 20th century to the Contemporary era.

The auction totaled more than $14 million in sales, with the highlight being a 1937 cabinet by Eugène Printz and Jean Dunand that sold for almost $5.5 million after a "protracted bidding war among three telephone bidders." The final sale was ten times its estimated price, Perrin said.

There are many different aspects to juggle during an auction, Perrin said.

"There's the numeral dexterity, there is being the showman," she said. "I often have discussed it's like being the conductor of an orchestra. You're pulling in the various different elements of the room at various different times to make everybody feel engaged, and you've got to be confident in a lot of the decisions that you're making because the auctioneer, he or she is in charge of the proceedings, of what's happening in the room at that time."

A typical sale lasts between one and three hours, although some can go on much longer — and there are no breaks.

"When you're up there, you're up there," Perrin said. "You're there for the time that you are selling. So you don't necessarily get a break."

When it comes time to sell a particularly high-priced object in an auction, you can feel the tension among the crowd, according to Perrin.

"It's like you can hear a pin drop in a room," she said.

Perrin said she tries to have working lunches whenever she can.

In the auctioneering class, Perrin said she gives "a sense of how we would go about taking bids in the room or how you use open hand gesture instead of closed ones, not putting up your hand like you're trying to stop traffic when you're saying, 'Are you bidding?' ... You should use an open gesture."

Auctioneers should look engaged and receptive, Perrin said.

"It's a lot easier to watch somebody for two hours if they're using their arms and they're making it look like they're gesturing you to participate in the sale rather than standing very stiff and not using their arms," she said.

"Notice that there are always snacks on the table!" Perrin said.

She has one last meeting at 5 p.m. to prepare for an upcoming client meeting.

They go to the Summer Garden at Rockefeller Center.

They go to Locanda Verde in Tribeca, "a favorite spot for a light bite," Perrin said.

Perrin's husband, Lorenzo, comes to New York every other week or so, but when he isn't there to take care of Ryndie, Perrin has a dog walker who comes and walks her twice before Perrin gets home.

After an 11 p.m. call with her husband, who is on a business trip in Australia, Perrin goes to bed.