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Pier 41 on the North River (The lower Hudson river) was the unloading place for all the oranges, lemons and grapes coming to the states. All type of ships from big steamers, sailing vessels and schooners lined up daily for unloading their cargo at Pier 41. The lemons and oranges were imported from Sicily and the southwestern part of the main Italian peninsula. These fruits were packed in boxes. Whereas the grapes were packed in barrels and mainly brought from Spain.
Each lot for a specific consignee was loaded at a different point on the dock at Pier 41. All cargos were opened for inspection. According to the author, “The buyers come down in force, and an interesting gathering they are. Their personnel ranges through every degree of commercial respectability, from the wholesale buyer who is worth a million down to the street peddlers who sell from baskets and pushcarts. Perhaps no other business do the two extremes come so closely in contact. On the one hand is the buyer whose credit would be good for every ounce of fruit on the pier; on the other the vagabond who must pay his money before he receives his goods, and whose coin must be tested as a protection against counterfeits before he gets his receipt. This latter class of buyers has one or two pleasant little tricks that necessitate the employment of sharp men on the piers to keep a careful watch upon them. Some of these gentry have been known, for instance, to accumulate an entire stock in trade, one orange or lemon at a time, from the different lots on inspection, and then go forth and peddle them in the streets, returning to acquire another outfit when the first was disposed of.” Evidently, another trick utilized was to take rotten fruit and smear it on perfectly good fruit to fool others into thinking that all the fruit in that particular crate was rotten. Of course the one doing the smearing would hope to pick up the crate at a much-reduced price. (Wow, some things haven’t changed).
The stage changes from the early “Preview” on Pier 41 to the grand building of “Brown & Seccomb’s” located at the corner of State and Bridge streets. It is at this location that the Auctions took place. This specialty auction firm has commanded center stage for the sale of fruit since the early 1800’s progressing from R.R. Minturn & Co.”, “Minturn & Co.”, “T.R. Minturn & Co.”, “Minturn & Partridge, and “T.R. Minturn, Brown & Co.” to the name “Brown & Seccomb” by 1889. Within its multi-levels were all the latest in mechanisms for moving fruit at a pace that was not matched any where in the world at the time.
The first floor of the building was designed for the sale of grapes having hydraulic lifts bringing samples from the cellar below up to the amphitheater of bidders. The second floor housed a staff of sixty fulltime clerks, while the third floor was the auction room for the sale of oranges and lemons. (Note: This newer building was said to be a vast improvement for the buyers from the old method of selling directly on the pier.)
According to the author, “One of these sales of oranges and lemons is a bewildering sight to a novice, almost as much so as a sale on the Stock Exchange, with the difference that the spectator is not so apt to mistake the floor for the recreation-grounds of an insane asylum.” The Auctioneer was located at the front behind a podium with three clerks to his side to record the sales. Directly in front of the Auctioneer were rows of seats set up in classroom style. Each important buyer in the trade had his own seat with his name engraved on a metal plate on the back of the chair. Those dealers that purchased the most had seats closest to the auctioneer. The front row was reserved for the importers, or agents for the sellers whose fruit was being sold.
Interestingly, every buyer was provided with a catalogues with the lot numbers placed next to the emblem of the shipper. Every shipper had a trademark emblem. The auctions commenced at 12 noon each day. The buyers were the same people that inspected the fruit in the morning on the pier. They would have marked their catalogues in preparation for the auction. Although small buyer who might sell from pushcarts on the street had the same rights as the largest buyers they had to purchase a minimum of twenty boxes. According to Mr. White, the author states, “This limit, however, does not affect the frugal Italian peddler, who generally has sufficient capital in his dirty clothes to purchase at first hand and save the profit that would go to a middleman if the peddlers were obliged to purchase in smaller quantities.”
Further, the author writes, “It is useless for the spectator who has not served an apprenticeship in the business to attempt to keep track of the sales. To him it is only a babble of voices, above which the auctioneer’s is heard in a perpetual clatter of figures. The spectator cannot tell when a sale has been made, who has bid the highest, what the price was, or what lot is under the hammer. He knows that business is being done, however, because the buyers are continually turning the leaves of their catalogues and jotting down figures on the pages or in memorandum-books, while the pens of the clerks beside the auctioneer are incessantly flying over white paper.”
The Auctioneers, Mr. Brown and Mr. Seccomb, switched every two hours until all the fruit deposited on the pier that morning was sold. The room would then be cleaned and prepared for the next mornings Auction/sale.
The Auction/sale of grapes, conducted on the first floor of the building was even more interesting to a spectator as the bidders did not have an opportunity to view the grapes from their sealed barrels on the pier ahead of time. During the Auction samples of grapes from three barrels from each consignment were hoisted from the basement to the auction room and sold every thirty seconds. The experienced bidders needed only to glance at the product to make their decision on what to pay per lot. The room setup had elevated seating on three sides of the lift area. Each buyer had his special seat. While one lift was at the top being inspected, a second was in the cellar being loaded to be raised next. Grapes were sold from catalogues the same as the oranges and lemons.
Once the auction was over the biggest buyers whose purchases go on the records of the firm, are given orders by the clerks permitting immediate removal from the pier. On the other hand, the peddlers needed to go to the basement and pay cash to the clerks behind steel caged areas. Two or three policemen were on hand to preserve order while these transactions were completed. The police safely escorted the clerks with the funds upstairs after final payments were collected.
From Pier 41 all the lots were distributed to small boats, schooners, horse and wagon to warehouses, markets and groceries with final destinations in all parts of the country.
The Auction Method of Marketing has always been, and still is the fastest most efficient way to find fair market value and disseminate perishable goods in a timely manner to all points of civilization.
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