#559 Caitlin Donovan | Global Head of Sale at JOOPITER
Inside Pharrell Williams’ auction house
Caitlin Donovan explains how JOOPITER gives new cultural value to objects, from Pharrell’s collection to Kobe Bryant’s sneakers and a museum dinosaur.
« Once you’ve placed those first two, three, four bids, in your mind, it’s yours. »
What makes someone bid millions for a dinosaur, a pair of Kobe Bryant’s sneakers or an object that once belonged to Pharrell Williams? This week on TheBoldWay, I meet Caitlin Donovan, Global Head of Sale at JOOPITER, the digital auction house founded by Pharrell.
Born and raised in New York, Caitlin studied criminology and imagined a career in law. A job in handbags led her to Heritage Auctions, then to Christie’s, where she helped build the handbag department and brought sneakers and streetwear into its sales. After more than nine years there, she joined JOOPITER to help build a new kind of auction house.
We go behind the scenes of the decisions that give an object its value: finding a seller, telling the story, setting an estimate and earning a collector’s trust. Caitlin explains why Pharrell created JOOPITER, what makes sports memorabilia so powerful, and how scarcity drives the secondary market for Hermès bags and Patek Philippe watches.
It is also a conversation about ambition, emotion and authority. Caitlin admits that even she can get carried away when bidding, and reflects on the toughness she felt she needed as a young woman at Christie’s. What does it take to make room for a new generation of collectors while building a career on your own terms?
In this episode, you’ll discover:
Why Pharrell founded JOOPITER when established auction houses did not know how to present his collection.
How an auction works, from the estimate and reserve price to the buyer’s premium.
Why storytelling and trust can persuade collectors to buy expensive objects sight unseen.
What a Triceratops and Kobe Bryant’s game-worn sneakers reveal about the future of collecting.
How scarcity creates resale premiums for handbags, watches and other luxury objects.
Why even an auction expert can exceed her bidding limit, and how Caitlin’s leadership has changed over time.
Timeline
00:00 : Introduction and meeting Caitlin Donovan at JOOPITER’s SoHo offices
03:48 : Growing up in New York, studying criminology at Vanderbilt and leaving the law path
05:15 : Joining Heritage Auctions and founding Christie’s handbag department
06:49 : Understanding auction houses and the secondary market
09:34 : Auctions versus fixed-price luxury resale
11:08 : Why telling an object’s story matters
11:56 : Trey the Triceratops and the advice to collect what you love
14:37 : The steps involved in putting an object up for auction
17:02 : Estimates, bidding and the auction-house business model
19:10 : Why Pharrell Williams created JOOPITER
22:43 : Sports memorabilia and the emotional value of game-worn objects
25:59 : Auction versus marketplace, two ways to sell
27:21 : Trust and buying objects without seeing them in person
29:30 : Sales with cultural figures and the Michael Jordan rookie card
35:09 : Leaving Christie’s to build something new
36:57 : Caitlin’s advice for beginning collectors
40:17 : Handbags, women buyers and the Hermès scarcity model
43:28 : Why even specialists get swept up in bidding
52:40 : New York, work and life outside auctions
61:31 : Being taken seriously as a young woman and learning to lead