Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-01-04
AT A WOOL AUCTION.
AN INTERESTING PICTURE FROM THE
LONDON WOOL EXCHANGE.
The Self-Possessed, keen-Eyed Auctioneer
"A Bear Garden of Indescribable Con-
fusion-The Difficulty of S. ot-
ting the Highest Bidder.
London Spectator.l


There is no more curious sight in the cit H.
than one of the wool auctions which are now
being held every afternoon in the wool ex1
change, Coleman street. Imagine large
and lofty room, capable of holding about so
people. Benches, in the form of semi
circle, rise tier above tier, so that all the sit
tiers are plainly visible from the tribune or
rostrum-an elevated desk at the bottom Of
the room. Every seat is numbered, and the
highest number is 39S. A narrow gallery
provides accommodation for the few spec
tators. Five minutes before 4 nearly every
seat is occupied, the demand for them ex-
ceeding the supply; and as the clock strikes
the hour the auctioneer, or selling broker,
takes his place in the tribune. lie is a cUcl
self-possessed, good-looking mIn, with a
keen eye, rosy cheeks. and hair r artei in the
middle. On either side of him sits clerk
one bald and dark, the other hirsute and
blonde
No time is lost in preliminaries; an elo-
quent wool auctioneer would bc an intolera.
ble nuisance and this one is as sparing Of
words as telegram from China. Every
buyer before him is the busiest of men, and
he has to sell 100000 pounds sterling worth
of wool before 6 o'clock. LOT 2l2, ten
bales he says. Simple words, but the
signal for very tempest of excitement.
From every part of the room come, as it
were. scattered shots i'll quick succession-
"eight, half nine, ten. ten-half" Then up
spring dozen, or 1t may be score, of eager,
earnest men, who shout passionately at the
top of their voices, and almost in chorus:
"Ten-half, ten-half ten-haf, ten-half," until
1t almost seems as If the roof
would split Some stretch their arms
toward the tribune, If they We're threaten.
ing foe; Others work them to and fro, as il
they were engaged i'll mortal combat; others,
again, raise them upward, as if they were
appealing to heaven. They yell still more
loudly; gesticulate still more wildly, some
in their excitement bending forward until
they nearly topple over on the seats below.
1t is a bear garden, a Babel, a scene of indie
scrlbable confusion, and to the initiated
spectator it seeEls as if the frantic bidders
were about to spring from their places and
punch each Others heads.
But the auctioneer speaks one word, and
the storm is stilled; every voice is hushel,
every man resumes his seat. That word is
"Tomkins." The lot has been knocked down
to Tomkins. Without drawing breath the
selling broker goes on to the next lot, and
then there is another startling roar followed
by an equally sudden collapse. The faces Of
some Of the bidders are study.
One gentleman, with a bald head
surrounded by fringe of black
hair, and features unmistakably French
gets so excited that you fear he may break
blood vessel or have a fit of appoplexy. His
wide nostrils quiver, his swarthy face be-
comes dark red, he fights the air with his
arms, and hurls bids at the auctioneer as if
he would annibilate him
Near the Gaul is fair Teuton, stalwart
and tall, shouting offers as if he were crying
"Vorwarts" in the smoke of battle and glar
ing at his competitors as if be would like to
charge down upon them as the Uhlans
charged down upon the French at Gravelotte
and Sedan. Not far from the foreigners sits
a gentleman whose cast of features and
style of dress leave little doubt that he is a
manufacturer Of wool. or stapler, and halls
from a northern country. To make his bid
more effective he puts one hand to the side
of his mouth and eesticulates with the other,
but he needs no artificial aid, for he has a
voice of thunder nd shouts like Boan-
erges.
But why all this noisol Why can not a
wool auctioneer knock down his wares to the
highest bidder, like any other auctioneeri
There is the rub; the difficulty is to spot"
the highest bidder. All the firms represented
at the auction know to fraction the value
of every parcel they wish to acquire, and
five. or ten, or a score, as the case may be,
are willing buyers of a certain lot at, let us
say shilling pound-more they can not
afford to give. The rule is, when there are
several bidders at the SANE price-and there
generally are several bidders-to prefer the
one who bids the first which is practically
the one who first succeeds in attracting the
auctioneer's attention. in such a contest
the feeble-voicel have no Glance, AMI the
loud shouters are the most likely to come out
of it victorious. When the selling broker
names the buyer vino has caught his ear
all the rest subside like would be orators in
the house of commons who fail to catch the
speakers eve. The confidence in the auc-
tioneer's impartiality seems to be absolute;
he never loses his self-poSsession, and time
is too precious to lie wasted in wrangling.