Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-06-22
A CHAPTER ON AUCTIONS.

The Auction Is now one of the great institu-
hons OF Commerce. In looking over the second
volume OF Appleton's New American Cyclopae-
dia, we find the following, which will interest
some Of our readers:
AUCTION Lat dHctIO, the act of increasing
pubic SALE whereat persons openly compete,
each offer or bid increasing upon the preyious
one, and the property being finally sold TO him
who will give the most for IL. the highest bid
der In Holland, and at what are called Dutch
auctions elsewhere, this process is reversed.
the seller naming price beyond the value of
his goods, which is gradually lowered. until
some one closes with the offer, the term auc-
uon as applied to such a sale, being obviously
a case of LHcms a NON IHeendo, a complete LII
nomer. Rome, SO far as is known, invented
the auction, which was at first held for the sale
OF military spoilS among the soldiers behind
spear stuck in the ground, whence it was called
6HctIO SHJ hGSta (under the spearn or subLas-
fati0. The signal of the spear was afterward
put up at all sorts of auctions and the name
retained long after the signal was disused. At
auctions IN Rome, for which the permission of
a magistrate must always be had a spear was
liked IN the forum by crier, who proclaimed
the articles to be sold, and furnished the COM
pany with catalogue upon tables Subse-
qGently sales were proclaimed by n trumpet
Bids were made by holding up the fingers
After the death Of Pertinax A. d. 1913, the
prstcr an guards pCt Up lie Roman Empire at
auction, which, alter a number of bids by Sui
pIcian and Julian, the sole cOmpeti was
Knocked down to the latter for $50 drachms
about 81 600, to each soldier. In England
sles :" by the candle or 90 by tie inch Of can
dle, which are still occasionally advertised
derived their name from an ancient practice Of
measuring the time within which the biidings
must be completed by candle, the highest
bidder at the moment the inch burnt out be-
coming the purchaser. The minimum price at
which the owner was willing 10 part with his
property was sometimes put under a candle
stick-"'dumb biddings;' and in the north of
England still occur sales where the bidlers do
not know each other : offers 'cand,estick bid
dIngs." n curious kind of auction used ac-
cording to an old reporter q Dow 81 to be
held by females, who did hot speak during the
whole sale, but gave every person the moment
he bid glass of brandy, the purchaser being
he who received the last glass in "a private
room. Ii is little surprising that practice,
so we'll calculated to warm ap competition.
should have become obsolete. In England a
person Is sometimes appointed, called The Judge
OF the roup, to superinteEd the sale and act as
arbiter /, disputes arise. In modern tunes
sales at publ; auction are rs common as pri-
yate sales, and are directed in most cases by
the law, where it interposes between the owner
OF property and the pGTchaser-its object be-
Ing the protection OF those who necessarily put
the disposition of their estate in the hands of
trustee, as bankrupts or the ne mbers of mu-
nicipal corporation. The red flag is the ordi-
nary sign of the trade, and the auctioneer
with his hammer, bis bOistercus s'going, going
gone, and his earnest or humorous appeals to
The company, u often very original charac-
ter No prejudice appears to exist against
him or his business now but from 1916 to 1881
there was strong anti-auctiOn feeling in this
country, particularly i'll New York, aud upon
the part of importers and jJbbing merchants
chs vitE In
ties for cOncealment. smuggling and perjury
and with being injurious to the growth and
prosperity Of cities, and it was vainly at-
tempted to induce Congress to pass a law iiu-
Posing such duty upon them as would mount
o. prohibition The auctioneer is the seller s
agent, and "a such has n special property in
the goods, Ii N upon them or upon the pur-
chase money, where he is authorized to receive
1t. Tor bis Commission, the auction duty, and
the charges of the sale. If he exceed his su-
thority, or refuse TO give the name of his prin-
cipal, he renders himself personally liable
In sales of real estate he is usually authorised
TO receive the deposit, but not the residue Of
the purchase money lie often receives this
deposit as a sort of stakeholder, to bs paid over
II good title is made. 1t is his duty to do his
best 10 possess skill, to pursue the regular
course OF business, and to comply with all legal
instructions. The conditions Of sale and the
plans and description of the property, particu-
known beforehand. ii printed or written, they
control the oral statement OF the auctiOneer
for, in the words of Lord EIlenborough. s.men
cannot tell what contracts they enter into, if
the conditions of sale are to be controlled by
the babbe of the auction room" Slight inac-
curacies Of description do not but substantial
ones do avoid the sale. A bid at an auction
may be retracted before the hammer is down
and In eases where a written entry is required
to complete the sale, before that is made For
bid is oily an offer, which does not bind
either party until assentcd to. Fraud upon
either side avoids the sale. The employment
of bidders by the owners Is CT is not Illegal ac-
cOrdIn2 as circumstances tend to show bad or
good faith To employ them in order to pre-
vent sacrifice by buying in the property is
except where the sale is advertised as being
without reserve" allowable. But il is a
fraud to use them for the purpose Of enhancing
the price through fictitious competition. On
the other hand the sale is void, if the pur-
chaser prevails upon others TO desist from bid
ding by appeals TO their sympathy or false
Representations Mock auctions. live by the
dSregdrdinS Of these rules. The only J0Hu
y'fs bidders at them are persons unacquaintsd
with the ways Of The city, TO whom, therefore,
articles are knocked down at once.