You'll be issued a paddle with a number on it. Raise your paddle if you feel like bidding. It's very quick. Something you've been sweating over is up and down in the blink of an eye. Still, make sure you want what you're bidding on, because once you've made the top bid on that butter churn, it's yours.
Auctions generally last at least three hours.
The Groton auction took all day. While prospective bidders leafed through a stapled list of items for sale and rummaged among the dusty offerings, the auction staff toted out even more furniture from the house. Renee Alexander, the auction veteran, spotted an old iron child's bed among the freshly foraged items. Not included in the catalog, the bed was among a number of objects marked for sale at the end. The retired educator's younger son had just gotten engaged.