Wichita eagle., 1888-05-12
At A TEL AUCTION.
HOW THE EXPERTS VALUE THE
STOCK BEFORE 1T is SOLD,
Scene in Saiesroom-A Visit from Pro-
fessional Tea Tasters-A Preliminary
Test-The Accommodating the Flavor.
Quiet Purchasers.

fessional Tea Tasters-A Preliminary
Test-The Accommodating the Flavor.
Quiet Purchasers
4 dozen CT a score of tea importers may
be represented in the stock of tea which
4 hrra OF auctioneers offer for sale on
ii given day. Two hundred or more different
grades Of tea may be III the consignment.
A sample chest, half chest, or package Of
each grade is sent to the suction room for
inspection and sampling by prospective pur-
chaSers. These are ranged in tiers about
the auction room so that their distinctive
names and marks may be seen. All these
MARKS and queer los of hieroglyphics they
are, are reproduced In the catalogue, always
large leayed, and with plenty of room for
notes alongside the description of each lot of
particular grade of tea The lots vary
from q single package or half chest up to
perhaps ashundred packages Of the fragrant
Oriental leaves. The small lots are usually
particularly choice brands Of tea, the large
ones the cheaper and standard grades.
The distinctive marks on these chests aside
from the Chinese figures are either figures or
letters, sometimes standing alone, but oftener
lnc!osed IN circle, square: a triangle, an
eEpse, or some other geometrical figure, and
occasionally accompanied by an anchor or
some similar figure that is a symbol of no
one knows what exactly. Once in their
places IN the auction room, the sample chests
are made ready for customers who wish to
try the teas. And here is where tea auction
sales differ from other auction sales A pur-
chaser may try before he buys. To enable
him to try, big holes an inch and half or
SO III diameter, are cut through the chest and
its wicker cover, so that the tea can easily
be reached. The sample packages thus pre-
pared, everything is ready for the sale.
PROFESSIONAL TEA TASTERS.
For two days before the sale young men
with the big quarto catalogues and accom-
panied by boy with small tin boxes visit
the auction rooms and take samples for test
ing. These young men are usually profess
sional tea tasters, and to the casual visitor to
an auction room their methods are peculiar,
TO say the least. A wisp of the split bamboo,
such as the network of mating that covers
the packages is made Of, is the samplers
weapon for attack on the tea chests about
him. His catalogue is held in his left hand
With the right he thrusts his wisp Of bamboo,
doubled so as to make sort of hoe, into the
chest hauls handful of she tea on to the
catalogue pages. The eye serves to tell him
if the tea has been colored or bleached. That
point settled, the necessary note is made in
his catalogue. Then comes the preliminary
test. The tea is dumped from the samplers
catalogue into his hand Then, with the
hand partially closed, the sampler blows
vigorously into the mass of leaves, and at
once applies the leaves to his nose. Thus he
gets fair idea of the aroma. As he has no
further use for that particular sample, he
throws it into trough which stands at the
foot of the rows of chests, and which is put
there for the express purpose of holding these
discarded samples and the particles that do
not fall on the catalogue pages when the wsp
Of bamboo pulls the sample from the chest.
And so the sampler goes the round of the
long row OF tea chests, cycling and smelling
and once in great while tasting bit of the
tea, and always throwing away two or three
pounds during the course of his afternoon in
spection.
All the observations of this expert as to
color, aroma and quality are noted in his
catalogue. Some samples are quickly dis
posed of, and the sampler marks in his cata-
logue the value of the particular brand of
tea he has inspected. But there are some
brands, usually of the finer grades, that
puzzle him. He is in doubt as to the actual
value of the leaves he has looked at and
smeled of half dozen times perhaps. So
he insuructs youth who accompanies him to
"take a sample" This youngster, using the
same means as his companion has before him,
hauls liberal sample from the chest into
tin box, which is duly marked and labeled
with the same hieroglyphics that are in
scribed on the chest and in the catalogue. A
dozen samples may be taken in this way for
the experts use outside of the auction room.
These collected, his work among the sample
chests is ended.
GETTING THE FULL FLAVOR.
Accompanied by the boy and his small
tin boxes, the expert leaves the auction room
and goes TO his office to finish his valuation
of the samples his boy carries. Seated at
round table, which turns on its standard
at the slightest touch, he finishes his work
with speed which is little less than mar
velous A dozen French china cups and a
samovar, or urn, of hot water help him to
do this. Leaves from the sample tin boxes
are put in the china cups and treated to
bath of the boiling water from the urn in
nary sniff at the aroma arising from each
particular cup and then taste-Just sip
to get the flavor fully. This test settles the
valuation of the tea in moment, and the ex-
pert marks in his catalogue wiat he deems
the samples thus treated to be worth. No
one ever disputes that valuation, for the tea
faster is in his line an autocrat, despot
whose decision no one dares question. The
60 A,,r-
of the house the expert represents, and with
the latter there remains only the purely
mechanical work of attending the sale and
buying, if he can, at or below the figures
fixed BY the expert at the maximum value OF
the teas.
The auction sale Itself is very like any
other trade sale. A hundred men sit about
the auction room in front of the GLIB tongued
crier. Catalogue and pencil IN hand, The
crowd of buyers are very quiet party, ana
let the auctioneer make all the noise. a
pencil or catalogue raised in the AIR for an
instant goes for bid. Sometimes a nod OF
the head sufFices to settle the ownership OF
consignment OF tea. 1t is very rarely that
word is spoken, except when the starting DIG
is made When other spoken BIDS follow they
are usually made by some out OF town buyer
The auctioneer knows everybody III the
room except these same out OF town uler-
chants. who are looking for bargains 80 he
quietly tells his clerks the name OF the pur-
chaser. and stranger visiting the sale is left
in mystery most of the time, not only as to
who the buyer is, but also as to which one OF
the men in that very quiet but very business
like crowd made the bid Five thousand or
5000 packages of tea NAV be disposed Of IN
an hour or an hour and half, and then the
crowd of buyers melt away just as quickly