Mario Piatelli

Mario Piatelli

"The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm"-Aldous Huxley.

My hero, Mario Piatelli, has been selling to the highest bidder since 1948. I met Mario in 1997 when we referred me a large real estate auction in Heard County, GA. That was shortly after I started my own auction company. Since that day, we have sent a lot of business back and forth between the east and west coast, and he has been a loyal and true friend ever since.

Whenever we do auctions in California, Mario always does the bid calling. We had a particularly challenging sale once in Monterrey County, when he sold a property for $4.1 million with only a handful of bidders in the room. We worked together on another auction in California where we ended up selling a single property for $10 million. Mario sees sales this big pretty regularly, where for us they are pretty rare!


Over the years we have become not only auction affiliates but great friends. Whenever I visit him in California, he insists on picking me up at the airport. Until very recently, he drove a 1966 Vista Cruiser wagon, which he maintained in mint condition! Now he has a new Jeep!

Mario is an honorable business man, a prominent member of his Brentwood, CA community and the ladies adore him! He is quite handsome, and walks with a proud upright posture, and self-assured presence that draws all eyes in the room to him.

He is very kind, thoughtful, and considerate, and always asks about my family. He still enjoys a good meal at a fine restaurant, although he favors his local deli in Brentwood, and often will be seen there first thing in the morning with a cup of coffee. He has never been a drinker, although he can be persuaded to share a glass of wine with friends.

He is up early every morning, and always wears his suit to the office, where he goes every morning after his visit to the deli.

Mario has years on him, but his enthusiasm for life keeps him young. He is active on the internet, and his company website is quite modern and impressive.

The National Auctioneers Association recently published an article about Mario in their November issue of "Auctioneer" magazine. The article, entitled “Oldest Active Auctioneer? NAA Member going strong at 94”.

Accompanying the article is a video produced by my wife, Marsha Howell. Take a moment and meet Mario. You won’t be disappointed.