Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1909-11-21

god of the auction bench" to get it.
Jewelry is the line usually chosen
for their operations, mainly because
1t Is a line about which the public
knows little, and they buy on the
word of the gentle %auctioneer, who, as
a rule, none OF them ever saw before,
and few will ever see again In this
world.
The ritter has seen these auctions
operated from the inside" and 1t is
usually something like this: The deal
err advertises hat there will be posi-
lively no b~y-bidders. and that you will
have the privilege of examining at
your leisure any article I'm his stock,
and will put up and auction off n
article on which O wish TO bid. and
that the highest bid takes it. Sounds
good, doesn't 1t Well. here is the
process: Surprising you are bidding
IN a watch which cost the dealer $25
and after the bidding reaches $50 it
stops. 1t will never do to let II go
at this figure, so, amid n running fire
of talk the auctioneer takes a ficti-
tious bid, something like this: TWEEN
ty, who'll go t~wenty-five: twenty.
who'll go Twenty-Five? Worth $50 II
it's worth "A Gently. T~wenty-whoIl
make it-thank you; I'm bid twenty
llNt ~ NHd EtiltltlIldH uNtI tIltitg
now who'll make il thirty" etc, etc.
Now. as n matter OF fact, nobody bid
the twenty-five at all, but the gap
ing crowd takes It for granted that
someone did, and a bidder may thus
be kept bidding against himself until
the article can be ~profitably sold to
him lat his own price" and he never
be the wiser.
If. however. no real bidder reaches
Ia no
knocked down" to him at a profit. it
is knocked down on n fictitious bid,
and by a signal from the a~uctioneer
the clerks know whether il has been
really sold or not. and handle 1t ac-
cordingly. For instance: There may
be two mats placed on the show case
in front of the auctioneer. and II the
article, after being knocked down"
IS placed on one of these mats those
"on the inside" know that IL has been
actually sold, n accordingly pro-
coed to wrap 1t up. deliver il to the
successful bidder and collect for IL.
If 1t is laid on the other mat IL is like
wise understood hat IL was only APP
parently sold. and take II back to the
wrapping counter and apparently get
it ready for delivery, but in fact shut
fle it away. and 1t will appear later
again for sale. In the meantime the
CROWD mas netn lnttTCsttu III StH1t I
other article offered for sale and has
forgotten all about IL. Simple, isn't
it2 And yet, true to his advertise
there have been no 'by-bid-
ders'' and to all outside appearances
has been conducted openly
and above board, yet the bidder has
paid a profit or been (appar-
ently) outbid, and the result Is the
same. The goods when finally sold
the dealer a profit. and the bar
gain hunters hold the sack" AS a
Of policy an article is occa-
Knocked down for less than
Il is worth TO keep up h interest.
and II pays But when an item is
sold on a fictitious bid (which fic-
may be very low the crowd
marvels at the wonderful bargains
being picked up. which stimulates the
next bidder. and so the game goes
on.
On watching this class of auctioneer
getting in his work. by one who
knows. the thought recurs very forci-
bly, hat "a fool is born every min
OF course there are legitimate auc-
Hons. but unless you know the auc-
as you know other men to
you are willing TO entrusf your
and hat his word is good. the
oniy safe nian y 10 forget any bar
propensity you may have and