Auction Articles

Original auction catalogs provide an instant, time dated, snapshot of the past. These historical catalogs illustrates how auction businesses operated long ago. They reveal the terms and conditions that buyers had to adhere to as well as descriptions of hundreds, sometimes thousands of items. Often the auction catalogs are illustrated with key items.

Personally, I enjoy perusing the contents of these early catalogs. It is interesting to compare how business was conducted then, with how auctions are performed today. The catalogs make fascinating reading. Many auction catalogs reflect specialty collections of art, antiques, books, coins, stamps, guns, glassware, porcelain, period furniture and many other categories. Some auction companies specialized in commercial liquidations of businesses, often “to the bare walls”. Such was the case with the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel auction.

Auctioneer Benjamin Wise of the WISE AUCTION COMPANY with a gallery at 428 Columbus Ave. in New York City conducted the auction. The firm produced a 3 part catalog for the total liquidation of personal property housed at the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel located at Fifth Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets in New York City. Each of the 3 catalogs sold for fifty cents a piece in 1929 ($9.74 in today’s dollars). The catalogs provided details of all lots to be sold. The Wise Auction Company had much experience in cataloging, as they had been doing auctions for 25 years before taking on the major challenge of selling over 12,800 cataloged lots on-site at the 16+ story landmark hotel.

According to the catalog the auction was to commence promptly at 10AM Wednesday, May 1st, 1929, and continue daily at the same hour until every article had been sold. The terms stated, “The number of lots to be sold daily will be decided each day by the Auctioneer, and the starting lot No. for the following day will be announced at the conclusion of each day’s sale.” Evidently the buyers were encouraged to come early and stay late. Apparently, Mr. Wise was going to conduct the entire multi-day auction event serving as the sole auctioneer.

Part one of the catalogue was to offer the complete furnishings of all the bedrooms and living rooms containing custom built dressers, chiffoniers, tables, desks, chairs, wardrobes, somnoes, (singly and in suites), couches, living room suites, cabinets, lamps, curtains, draperies, mirrors and pictures. In addition all the Bigelow Wilton room carpets in various sizes and colors would be sold in session one.

The second part, with a separate catalog, looked even more exciting offering the “World Famous Waldorf Collection of Art”. Included in this catalog are descriptions of paintings, bronze and marble statuary, clocks and clock sets, vases, bric-a-brac, tapestries, draperies, imported furniture of every description, 125 upright and baby grand pianos (yes, one hundred and twenty five pianos, some made by Steinway!). Also all the carpets, rugs, runners of every size and weave contained in the halls, lobbies and corridors would be sold.

Part three of the auction sale would be comprised of restaurant equipment, thousands of chairs, tables, china, glassware, cutlery and  table linen. In addition, the entire kitchen machinery and equipment of numerous restaurants were to be sold. Add to this all the pillows, blankets, bed linens, spreads, scarfs, bath mats, towels, mirrors, baskets, hampers and sundry fittings and we are almost done. Finally, this session will wrap up with ballroom and clubroom furnishings, props, office furnishings of all kind, safes, typewriters, desks and so much more.

So when is this auction supposed to end? Wise predicted the selling would be concluded by May 20th or the 21st. I do not know when the auction actually ended but all items had to be removed by May 23rd 1929, twenty-three days after the start.

The good news for serious buyers was that the entire auction was to be “sold at unrestricted public auction”. This was the way American auction companies typically conducted their auctions. There were no minimums or reserves. (Note: The term “unrestricted public auction” changed after an Appellate judges’ decision in 1934 that went against the auction firm of American Art Association – Anderson Gallery and in favor of Barnet J. Beyer to the tune of $20,258. plus several thousand dollars for legal fees. The judge found that “AAA-AG had deprived Beyer of his rights by not permitting him to make protective bids.” Beyer tried to bid on his own consignments under the term “unrestricted”. The auctioneer ignored his bids with the belief that a consignor could not bid on his own items at an “unrestricted auction”. Thereafter, the word “unrestricted” never again appeared in advertisements for public sales.)

Besides being “unrestricted” there were other “Terms of Sale”. Mr. Wise stated he was going to sell “any and all merchandise contained on the premises upon the following conditions:

1. There must be at least two bidders, the highest bidder to be the Buyer; and if any dispute arises between bidders, the lot so in dispute shall be immediately put up again and resold.
2. The purchaser is required to give correct name and address to the deposit clerk at the time of purchase together with a deposit of fifty per cent of the purchase price, in cash, or certified check, made payable to Waldorf-Astoria, Inc., at which time he will receive a purchaser’s number by which he will be identified throughout the sale; the balance of the purchase money to be paid and the goods to be removed within forty-eight hours of date of purchase – removal of the goods to be made at the expense of the purchaser.
3. Any goods remaining uncalled for after the expiration of the forty-eight hour period will be removed from the floor, where purchased to one of the large galleries, for which a handling charge of five per cent will be charged to the purchaser, and after 96 hours from day of sale a per diem charge of two per cent will be added. All goods remaining uncalled for by May 23rd will be resold at auction for the account of the purchaser either on premises or elsewhere at the discretion of the auctioneer and a commission of ten per cent will be charged for their resale together with moving charges, if removed from the premises for resale. Any loss sustained through this resale together with commission charges and moving charges will be deducted from the fifty per cent deposit made by the purchaser and any loss not covered by this amount the purchaser will be held liable for.
4. All goods are sold “as are” and the Wise Auction Company will not be liable for any breakage or damage not noted in the catalogue at the sale. (Note: no damage is noted in the catalog on any lot.) The Wise Auction Company will take reasonable precaution to note damages at the time of sale, but will not hold itself liable for any oversight or inaccuracies in description.
5. The purchaser is permitted and expected to examine all goods a the time of exhibition prior to the sale and note their condition.
6. The Wise Auction Company agree to deliver the goods to the buyer on the premises in the same condition in which they are purchased and their integrity insures purchaser of receiving exactly what they bought.
7. The bills must be settled for at the office designated prior to the removal of purchases. No one will be permitted in the rooms where goods have been sold without a receipted bill. Upon presentation of same to designated clerks, goods will be turned over to the purchaser or his agent. Clerks or employees are not permitted to make any changes or promises.
8. No goods will be delivered until 8:30AM of day following purchase. Our records of sales in all cases are final. No claims will be allowed after the removal of goods.
9. The Wise Auction Company will not be responsible beyond the purchase price for any article or articles lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed.
10. Commissions to purchase any article will be received if accompanied by a 50 per cent deposit. (Absentee or Proxy bidding?)
11. For the convenience of purchasers arrangements have been made with the Gramercey Storage Warehouses, Inc., who will have a representative on the premises to attend to the safe removal, packing, shipping and storage of all or any purchases made during the sale, also with whom any purchasers, contemplating buying a large quantity of goods during the entire period of the sale can make special arrangements. The Wise Auction Company recommend but do not assume any responsibility for the work done or prices charged by the Gramercy Storage Warehouses, Inc.
12. No one will be permitted to pass through the building with suitcases, bags or packages during the sale, a check room will be maintained for checking such articles.

The terms of the Waldorf auction did not specify selling by the “choice” method or with the “privilege” of taking multiple consecutively numbered identical lots for the price of the first lot. However, the catalog witnesses many identical lots in numerical order with a description that simply states “Another”. Example: Lot 11046 Tapestry upholstered side chair is followed by lots 11047, 48 and 49 all simply stating “Another.” My assumption is that the high bidder could take up to 4 chairs in numerical order starting with Lot 11046. Each subsequent lot chosen would be the same price as the 1st. Further, if the Auctioneer was having trouble getting a decent opening bid on the first chair he could immediately switch the offering to “so much each and take all four”.

This was a phenomenal auction spanning approximately 20 days. How much quicker would the auction be today with modern technology and techniques?  It appears that the auction started each day and went until the auctioneer called it quits. One auction ring with many commodities being sold over and over, day after day until the task was completed. It could have ended in 17 days or 22 depending on the tempo of the auction.

The 21st Century professional commercial auctioneer utilizing modern techniques and technology could have completed the “bid calling” aspect of the auction in a much shorter period of time. Perhaps the auction would have lasted a few days. Dare I suggest one day!

Two techniques to shorten the auction include selling in several auction “rings” at a time, and never selling the same commodity more then once.

In my opinion, selling non-competing commodities at the same time by different auctioneer’s works extremely well. In our Absolute Auction Center we might be selling 200 lots of sporting guns in one ring, while 250 lots of hummels are being offered by another auctioneer. Other examples might be dolls/tools, rugs/coins, etc. Some critics might state that a bidder couldn’t be in two places at once. I would agree. But, most do not want to be anywhere else. For the few that are interested in both commodities the auction company could provide duplicate bid numbers to allow partners to split up. Often, the bidder chooses to sit in one ring and leave “absentee bids” in the other. Still others position themselves to be able to bid in both rings simultaneously.

Mr. Wise could have had one auctioneer selling restaurant equipment while another was selling artwork, etc.

The second concept of “never selling the same item twice” was utilized by top commercial auctioneers during the RTC liquidation. Actually, auctioneer Kurt Keifer utilized this technique in liquidating the contents of high rise office buildings. If there were 1,500 5 drawer file cabinets spread out in various rooms on 35 floors they were all being offered when the 1st of them was encountered. This takes a lot of pre-planning. However, with today’s technology of networked computers and powerpoint presentations it is possible for the auctioneer to move through the sale of all 1,500 file cabinets while the bids are on that commodity and in a comfortable ballroom where no file cabinets are present.

Back in 1929 Mr. Wise had to bid call the file cabinet in the room that he and the bidders occupied. If there were three more file cabinets in the room his catalog would state “another” for each of the other three. At best he could sell 4 file cabinets to one bidder and then move on to another room. Having previewed in advance, Mr. Keifer’s bidders are comfortably seated in a ballroom looking at a projection screen following their catalog. When Kurt says “sold”, he simply asks “how many do you want?”  Believe it or not he actually allowed the bidders to be able to choose the lot numbers as well. Initially the prices may be high with buyers choosing smaller quantities. However, once the market price has been arrived at why not continue selling that commodity? Who else wants to choose at $75.? How many do you want?  The auctioneer continues to bid call another round, perhaps now the bidders have to take at least five units. Next round perhaps 10 units, etc. There is always the chance that a buyer will choose the remaining quantity at the current bid. Actually, the auctioneer might get lucky and the high bidder takes them all on the first round of bidding. Can you imagine all 1,500 from 35 floors sold in a few minutes?

When hotels are furnished there is a lot of duplication. Mr. Wise experienced this with 100’s of identical overstuffed brown armchairs scattered throughout, large quantities of the same pattern drapery, candlesticks, fireplace tools, clocks, floor mats, etc. He could have saved a couple of week’s time with the use of the 21st Century Auctioneer’s techniques.

But then again, if Mr. Wise were here to comment he might enlighten us that those two weeks were the most rewarding two weeks of his life. Perhaps those twenty plus days enabled him to build valuable relationships and book additional auctions. One look at the catalog would confirm that Mr. Wise was on top of his game in 1929. Let’s hope he was wise enough not to put his profits in the stock market. It crashed five months later on October 29, 1929.