New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-20
SELLING TO THE CROWD
A DISCOURSE ON THE GENTLE ART or
AUCTIONEERING.

secondhand furniture at public bidding all IN.
cunning of the fox and the sagaciiy Of the Ion Ar.
needed by the auctIoneer TO conduct his sale n .
| successful issue. Then, too. however bright An
! auctioneer may naturally be. IL takes long year.
| Of experience for him TO master his field OF vo,L
| and to become so skilled to be able to avoid N.
many pitfalls before him
| The besi-knOSn furniture auctioneer in this c,,,
Is Captain Edward S. wilkins. who is one OF a
famous family Of auctioneers Of that name Nor.
ris wilkins, his brother. OF f.. II. Ludlow & Co. IA
| generally known the oldest real estate auction.
| Ger in New-York. Philip r. wilkins another
brother. now dead another well-known crIer
Of what am / ofered?' and Last call--sold.
| He was a member OF the firm Of A H. Muller
| p r. Wilkins e. Co. Captain wilkins earned hIs
| title as a captain. As he puts It, he ia.
| miliar with all the ports Of the world. and had
anchored everywhere except around the North
Pole. Twenty-Five years ago he abandoned the
| sea- after thrty-threo years OF life on the wave
and began his as an auctionecr with E. II.
Ludlow & co. He is well beyond threescors
years and ten, but he is lively cricket and
as CHEEKY as of Cheerybc Brothers.
SOME SALES OF THE PAST
Can tell you something about furniture auc
tioneering?' replied Captain wilkins TO a question
the other day. he paused In the abandoned cor.
ridor of the St James Hotel where BE- was arrans-
| ing for the sale Of the furniture Of the famous
] old hosiery Il think" he went On, as he took
seat on a dust-covered sofa, Il car tell you more
about 1t than any man In New-York have been
at it for twenty-five years. Just think Of the
hotels whose furniture | have sold out, There
was the Union Square Hotel. Of which Andrew j.
Dam was proprietor. Then there was the Metro
politan Hotel, ard the Southern Hotel, IN Cort-
iandt-st be.w zen Broadway and Churcn-st, south
side also sold out the Winchester IN broadway,
east side. at about Thirty-third-st Then there
her
ing now stands at Fifth-aye and Forts -second-s'
7 conducted the sale also at the New-fork Hotel
two years ago last spring, and IN" only arucle
missing ont of the whole sale q pair Of lace
curtains sold at - cents.
Then there have been big private sales when l
have conducted There was the Nathaniel 'fis-
void sale at Fifth-ave. and Thirty-fourin-st and
then there was the Carey sale at Madison-aYe and
Thirty-fourth-st At the AlmOn T. Grlswold sale
7 sold a statue of Zenoba. by Miss iiosmer' TO
Mrs A. T. Stewart not long before ner dea'h- lh''
sent truckman TO get IT and the 1901 pun c'O",
bar under the foot and broke it Off cola vi
you of many big sales for private persons O1' ''
is too short.
HOW THE CROWD Is HANDLED.
Il want to tell you one thing, young man.
never lose anything That pair Of lace curtains Is
the only thing [ recall that ever missed HOW
do | manage it? Well take it here in THIS MOTEL
sale for instance / 90 TO the top and worh gown;
| nut A numbered tab on everything, from ~
nm / measure each carpet and pat "A tap on IL.
measure the hall carpets and tab them. When me
sale comes off everything thdt Is tih..H ""ft,
checked with a porters check. 80 that II any ming
is missing il can be traced to the particular pore
who took it away. Not piece or M 'e. S
taken from the hotel without its check. or course,
a catalogue is made UP. ana everything ""eH
sold is checked of on that. ...,,... ..,.., ,,a
How do | handle crowd OF bidders VIII ~, we
sale is on? Well know pretty nearly VINO tns
dealers and who are the housekt.Pshss' 97.rs
the housekeepers a chance as against IN. Co.'s t
everv tIme The housekeepers are not up TO trlcA.s
OF the trade The dealers are W w ,ben sorts 0'
Captain wilkins paused moment as i 20 detei,
mine where to begin and then %.'n an
~ oO'r deem waters he fairly CALCULATED: Would you
believe it? have known dealers 70 come 70 $40
clothes and then slit hair mattress here and tnsfs
with knife ana 5tn s ont f [ns bar marss.
They bid this particular mstress ana 40 r 'ns Pr IT,
mattress is knocked down az fair price ana tnea
this constituencies scoundre or POSSIBLY more MN
oak 01 I and holding Wf it up viii excai o YOU
call this a hair mattress " course tNal MI, NC
SSe s anI fhlnss be? Well certalny-bu, N,a
me- would expose the loo i9r l Wona .. 4,,n ~
Of a clock hide it and then preieni ina' tHe COCK
i imperfect You have seen these pri tltt t.t" W
Side of the bedstead where the side IFS up, so mat
il will look broken and they can DID Il IN i'f
song
TRICKS PLAYED on THE AUCTIoNEER.
dealers? No end Of them. one way i FOR num-
her of dealers TO look over the lot and make up their
minds what they want. Then they viii 20 20 sros
sbop around the corner and throw dice for cnanIs'
They agree, OF course INA. NE ''S' S"''' '''
can you break up such a combination captain
wilkins asked
certainly" was the terse reply
How
This run EN- is great test Of the aurtoneers
shrewdness Captain Wilkins explained u IN th.s
way: Instead OF allowing bid on an att'.s WI.
SpSn 70 ce erns When Would take fifteen minutes Of
my time and make the artics q of , mr. 81 80;
II ought to bring / call out 8 am Oientu b, -,
and by that time a Legitimate bidder VIII an an 81 Xxx
Then my task in that line ends K,~ r IKE IL rght
whv then the article will be sold some ONE LIS ~
Captain wilkins has no patience "i ner cent com.
mission and expenses. when, a. ne sds IS
honest they can't do it, The ayer'Se on large
sales or the 2a per cent commission n'r rbev bays
got TO do It other way man . en men Al work
How? Well. suppose they nav ns charge will he
81 day carpet may sure ninety var Sont 20
put down eighty-fye yardi IN Ms hotel suppose
took the sac on 2s per cent suppose enter
change from 200 to l75 yards as 20 ls ro vases AZ
en- ,o IN, rS alter nv book to make II $50 Vl M,
this could be detected II the hotel pep" n,igh de-
expsr. on the MATER Gre 20 . %ds at s pair instead Of
SEQ each etc. Have such things pe'n mi furniture at
auc,,on' old Mr.. Ludlow said to me 10 ,Sd best
@ ,o,,,rsaf IN the owners place and 90 w ~
You can. II anything is wrong win =, ,y there IS
broken leg tell EN-.
NEVER WAS BRlBEp
Captain wilkins is proud Of the f',' s, he
rever received a dollar from dealer N le"'s
did only once This is how 1t happened. "ne 10" On
gave me roll OF bills early in my career ~
auctioneer put the roll I'm my vest po'Ae', " .,
,ry developments A mirror was knocked GOV o" ne
- low nrice The dealer who had NOT H'r Md
anal bid called out: That was my oidi - YOUR
holly: No Il not your bid. But uls - ;our
roll Of bills which you gave me. tieIv ss,siinsi
money | gave him back the roll IL 'o"'"'"
The venerable auctioneer unused nomenms
then started up. saying: Il have been C Ca old
thief and n liar over many a SAFE ~ hss,ced
woman once came TO and said You cnttase ION
me 30 cents apiece for those pillows. anu ~, ire