The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-20
At AUCTION SALES
UNEXPECTED THINGS ARE CONTIN-
UALLY HAPPENING TO MEN
WHO WELD HAMMERS
EXCITABLE woMEN's WAYS
Many People Make Money, by Re-
fusing to Take Their Pur-
chnses - Art of the
AuctiOneer.

Auctioneers are like poets At least they
are like them in one respect. They are
born not made. If any philanthropist
thinks of setting up a chair of auction
eering in some college, he is advised to
refrain. 1t would probably not turn out
one good auctioneer in twenty. 1t takes
circumstances to do that.
Chance and a relative sent me into
this business" said a well-known New
York auctioneer. THE relative got me
desperately involved while 1 was fighting
ia the Civil war and when I came home
there was nothing to be done except sell
out everything had. We started in with
a farm which belonged to me. engaged
an auctioneer to come out and knock DOWN
The stock, machinery and so forth, but
ha found so many taverns by the way
mat l had to put him to bed when ne
got to nv place
Il couldn't put the crowd to bed though.
They had come there for an auction. so
gave EN- one. When I had knocked down
the last thing and had stepped down or
the chair one of my old friends came up
to me and said:
Well, have you any notion what Won
will do now that you've got to begin over
again?
81" Yes I said
." What says he
be an auctioneer,' says I. That was
thlrty-five years ago and feel as If ia
been born with a wooden hammer in NV
hand" ~
Auction methods have changed in that
time, haven't they?"
Mine haven't. 1t takes the same quail
ties to make a good auctioneer now thar
1t did then. If man wants to succeed
In this business he's got to be able to DO
one thing, and that is, get the peoples
IaIe-
Ing hes got to get 1t 0nestIy Some
people think there's no such thing as an
honest auctioneer. That's all wrong. You
can fool some OF the people part of the
time You know. but you can't fool all the
people all the time. You can't have auc-
tion rooms in the same place year in and
year out if you're going TO be tricky"
But every honest man won't make a
good auctiOneer"
Hardy! An auctiOneer may be honest.
our he may be too blunt. Some of mem
actually brow-beat the people: tell 'enI
Trey don't know a good thing when they
see 1t, scold 'em for not bidding, laugh
at. en- for making a low bid or small
raise, lose their tempers or pretend to.
That don't go. you know: and vet vou1I
often hear auctioneers ranting and scold-
ING. You need never EXPECT to see them
occupying a arst-class position in the
business
An autioneer should follow two rules:
he should never lose his temper and he
should never misrepresent. In addition
ne must study faces and must learn those
OF MS good customers. He must learn to
SPOT the unreliable bidders too. There
are good many of that class"
Are most of them women?"
Wen, yes, I guess so. They're more
eNcltable' than men, and they sometimes
bld in haste and repent at leisure. | re-
member q
I was selling some horses at auction and
9 woman. kept bidding on a team until l
Hkaiiy knocked them down to her at $780,
When I did it, she tainted Yes. she
tainted dead away and they carried her
off"
9"The. next day her husband came TO
Sc me and asked me if it were true that
his Wife had bought some horses the day
before. told him it was
- Why he said g" 4 don't want those
horses any more than a dog wants two
tails
80 I'm sorry for that 1 said.
q" VIII YOU take out your commission
and call the sale off?' said he.
No 1 said I don't do business that
way 1t was fair and regular sale
and your wife bid the horses in You are
rich man and can afford to paw for
them The sale was recorded, and L an
responsible for it. If you like I'll put
It Will be for you this time
He agreed to that, and the next day
sold the team for $500. I'll bet his wife
tainted again when she found it out
That sort of thing doesn't happen often
put I've had two or three cases that
" ere amusing.
One time, for instance. a man came
In here and bought a hunting outfit,
coat, Knockers and so on, for his son. 1t
was new, and he got it for $3.50. a fair
enough price under the circumstances
When he took it home the lad didn't
want it, and the father sent it back with
note asking me to sell it for him for
anything I could get.
wei, l put it up, and, as luck would
have it, two rich men were in the room
and both of them began to bid on that
hunting outfit. Both of them got stub
born, and they kept pushing the price I'D
until I finally knocked the stuff down
at $225. The original buyer almost had
fit when gave him the check"
You hear great many pathetic sto-
ries. don't you?''
From people selling off their goods?
No. New York folks cont wear Their
hearts on their sleeves They ALWAYS
have some excuse for selling their things
It's never because they need the money:
oh, no! People come in here, whom !
know to be desperately hard I'D. but
married and they're going into an apart
ment because the house is too big and
too much care. They don't want inc
trouble OF storing the things and so thew
Just thought they'd sell them off Not
of it. :" III
7 remember one old lady though who
didn't make any bluff of that sort. She
must have been very poor for She
brought me, with tears in her ewes a
miniature which her husband had given
her as keepsake. 1 don't think we GET
so nuch OF that sort of thing as they do
at the paWnshops. When it comes to
anything that people especially treasure
they hate to sell it outright. They
70 would rather pawn it and have a chance
OF getting it back again
are there many people who have the
Which way? Buying or selling? We
seI EN- both ways. OF course, they
come oftener when they're buying but
we nave sellers, too bobbing I'D again
anu AGAIN with new lot of things to
Eeo rla OF. Some of my customers have
Leen coming mere for years. One time I
went over to Orange to see ono of then,
ana ne asked me if I'd like to see his
rouse. OF course I liked, so he took me
all through 1t and it was a beauty. FIR
nshed from top to bottom with fine fur
niture and bric-a-brac many of tna
pieces old and rare INC
ne SAID that he had bought almost au-
eiythlng In the house niece nv &c.
right here at my auction sales sfored
fhenl until he got what he wanted fhen
think he said it had cost him son,atl,ir
IKE SZo0DO, and that, if he had bouehf
the thlrgS of the dealers they woIIII
have cost him twice as much 49,"
good many customers are mak;ne-
COLLECTIONS and good many sellers are
trying to diSDoSe of fharo g. eto