This article first ran in the November 2002 issue of the Auctioneer.

History of Auctions
From ancient Rome to todays high-tech auctions
By Robert A. Doyle, CAI-ISA and Steve Baska

No one knows exactly when auctions began, but the simple idea of lifting a product into the air and having people gather around to bid on it to receive the highest price possible was a natural idea that occurred to man in society very early.

The word “Auction” comes from the Latin word “auctus,” meaning “to increase,” as in increasing the bids until the highest price is found. But why should we study the history of auctions?, some may ask. Answer: it not only gives you interesting stories to tell, but it enhances your knowledge and respect for your industry, and gives you ideas for business methods you may use in your business today.

“T his ancient selling format has always served to present the commodity at hand to the largest competitive marketplace,” says an article on auctionwatch.com. “However, in addition to being a vortex of energy and excitement, the auction also has often sounded a keynote of any society--what do we find valuable? This metric of worth holds true for the citizen of Ancient Greece just as it does for the contemporary eBay Intenet site today.”

The beginnings
500 BC: Selling women for wives

In Greece , Herodotus wrote around 500 BC about auctions of women to serve as wives. It was illegal to allow a daughter to be sold outside the auction method. These auctions were also conducted in the “descending” method of starting with a high price and going lower until the first person to bid was the purchaser, as long as the minimum price set by the seller was met. The buyer could get a return of money if he and his new spouse didn't get along well, but unlike a horse, maidens could not be tried before auction. It was a “virgin or money back” business deal. Women with special beauty were subject to the most vigorous bidding and the prices paid were high. Owners of the less attractive women had to add dowries or other monetary offers in order to make the sale, explains information on learntoauction.com.

30 AD: Family furniture auctions

In Rome, Italy , around the time of Christ, auctions were popular for family estates and to sell war plunder. Marcus Aurelius sold family furniture at auctions, for months, to satisfy debts. Roman soldiers sold war plunder at auction. There were specific titles

for people involved in auctions. The “Magister Auctionarium,” a licensed auctioneer, drove a spear in the ground to start the auction. The “Dominus” was the seller. An “Argentaurius” was the person who organized the auction, while the “Praeco” advertised, promoted and conducted auction. A recognizable word today is “Emptor,” meaning the buyer, as in the phrase “Caveat Emptor” (buyer beware).

Middle Ages
7th to 16th Centuries

As early as the 7 th Century AD deceased monks belongings were sold at auction. French auctions at this time were very controlled in many aspects. And, in the 13 th Century, King Henry VII licensed auctioneers. In 1556 the French government had bailiff-auctioneers sell items for government from those that died or were executed.

English auctions date back to 1674, when the first recorded auction of a painting in England was conducted at the Summerset House. In the late 1600s, book auctions were operating in London . The first recorded real estate auction in England was announced in the London Evening Post on March 8, 1739 . At about the same time, Holland auctions were popular and their bidding system was called “mine.” It was also operated in descending order until someone bid.

English auctions were held in coffee houses and inns. Auctioneers at this time were know for being charismatic, enthusiastic, entertaining masters of the crowd. The auction is also known as a roup in Scotland and northern England . The earliest mention of the auction in the Oxford English Dictionary is as follows: "1595 Warner Plautus' Menaech. v. The auction of Menaechmus…when will be sold Slaves, household goods, etc," according to auctionwatch.com.

Modern Era
17th and 18th centuries

“The late 17th and early 18th century marked the auction's transition from a small event with a few people to a larger gathering. Auctions were now promoted in the periodicals of the day and staged in rented coffeehouses or inns. Ultimately, auctioneers began to take up their own permanent addresses,” reports auctionwatch.com.

Auctions of many kinds were going strong in the developed world. In England , well-known auctioneer Christopher Cock sold estate merchandise in 1735 at the Great Room at Covent Garden . Cock was one of the first auctioneers not only to advertise extensively, but also to court the nobility as patrons, a trend which would prove beneficial to the auction world. 15 years later James Christie was selling “pictures” and Samuel Baker, Sotheby's founder, was selling books.

American auctions date back to the Pilgrims arrival on America 's Eastern Shores in the 1600s and continued in popularity during colonization with the sale of furs, crops, imports, clapboard, livestock, tools and slaves. In 1617 Dutch traders sold slaves on the block in Jamestown . A 1769 auction handbill tells of a slave auction in Charleston , SC. “Slavery did not help the reputation of auctioneers,” reports a story on learntoauction.com. “Public sales of slaves helped fuel the largest slave market in the western world. Selling slaves at "public outcry" began in Virginia and quickly spread south.” However settlers also sold real and personal property at auction.

1800s

In America in the 1860s, Civil War Colonels auctioned the spoils of war and surplus. Only officers of the Colonel rank could conduct an auction, spawning use of the term “Colonel” by many auctioneers still today. “As the Civil War progressed, many troop battalions made a practice of seizing property of land owners and merchants as they marched” explained an article on learntoauction.com. “Contraband would be collected and carried to a favorable area, then the Colonel or commanding officer would sell the goods at public sale…Even after the Civil War, military Colonels traveled to sell surplus army goods and seized goods. Auctioneers followed some of the same trails and dressed similar to the army Colonels to such an extent that the public began to recognize auctioneers as "Colonel."”

Real estate auctions were also going strong in America as evidenced by handbills of the time. In 1828 a man named Niles Register tried to outlaw auctions but was unsuccessful. Auctioneers during the 1800s were using several props, including a gavel, bell and cane. It was also common for them to wear hats. In 1887 auctioneers sold meadows of grass and other real estate.

Antiques auctions got their start in America about 1876 with the first centennial of the country celebrating its birth in 1776. Furniture of that earlier century became in high demand. As the United States continued to come of age, however, the auction became a more respected practice, one that eventually became associated with the finer things in life. “In 1883, America had its first fine art auction house with the opening of the American Art Association by Thomas E. Kirby in New York City . The association's contributions included a trend toward integrity in auctioneering, the creation of colorful theatrical displays of the goods to be auctioned, and the formal, black tie evening sale, which would be adopted much later by Sotheby's,” reports auctionwatch.com.

The Auctioneers Institute of the United Kingdom was founded in 1886 (today it has 2,000+ members).

1900s

At the turn of the century, “professionalism” was an industry buzz word in America as auctioneers sought to establish themselves as honorable and trustworthy, in contrast to some in the industry during the Civil War years and afterward. States began organizing associations, such as the 1904 start in St. Louis of the International Auctioneers Association. In 1901 Fred Smith of Auburn , NY became the president of the New York State Auctioneers Association.

Real estate auctions were becoming very popular and, in 1904, half of all real estate in New York is estimated to have been sold at auction. In 1909, for example, in New York multiple auctioneers shared one facility to sell multiple real estate parcels to a crowd of 1,500 buyers.

1904: auction schools began

Many auction schools started in the early 1900s in America . Believed to be the first was the Jones' National School of Auctioneering and Oratory, started in 1904 by auctioneer Carey M. Jones in Davenport , Iowa . For the first term the school promoted “Competent Instructors teaching General Merchandise, Real Estate and Fine Stock Auctioneering. However, not all auctioneers believed that an auctioneer could be “trained.” Many auctioneers felt that auctioneering was a “natural ability” – you either were born with the proper traits to be successful or you weren't.

In the early 1900s there were many challenges for auctioneers not encountered today. There was n o amplification yet for the auctioneer's voice. Travel was mainly still by horse and wagon. Auctioneers routinely offered a free lunch to draw crowds. Weather dictated the time the auction started.

1920s

In the 1920s, American companies began using images of auctions in their advertising. Post Bran Flakes, Ford automobiles, beer advertising and insurance companies all showed scenes of auctions in their advertising. In this era, weekly horse auctions were very popular as stockyards accumulated horses for auction, with a high price of $191,000 reportedly paid in New York for a horse named “Flying Fox.” In England , around 1900, the country boasted of having 60,000 licensed auctioneers.

In 1929 there was legislation to outlaw “pooling,” the practice of a ring or pool of two more bidders acting together to suppress prices, but this legislation had little affect. Pools of bidders affected American auctions as they had dominated English auction for 300 years.

1930s: the Depression Years

Some auctioneers traveled the country to liquidate the estates of farmers whose farms had failed because of drought and bank foreclosures. In fact, while some auctioneers had earlier held supplementary jobs for additional income, unemployment in the 1930s wiped out those extra jobs, and auctioneering became the only source of survival for many auction families.

1950s

“The business began to make great strides after World War II when businessmen began to see an opportunity to use the auction method as an alternate marketing tool,” reports a story on learntoauction.com. “The sale of goods and real estate at private sale was booming in the post war period. There was a need in certain cases to move real estate and personal property faster than the private market would allow. The modern auction business was born. Now businessmen in business suits and ties began to nurture the business and raise the reputation to a higher plane. Nashville and Middle Tennessee became the nucleus for this transformation. Auctioneers now had business links to banks, attorneys, accountants, the court system, government agencies, and the public.”

1990s

By the early 1990s auctioneers were beginning to incorporate technology into auctions at a faster pace. Computers, copier machines and other office products were making business easier. Some auctioneers began using big screens to show photographs of small items, like jewelry, on big video screens at indoor auctions. Cell phones were becoming popular and made auctioneers easier to reach while they traveled. Some auctioneers were also beginning to specialize in charging customers to do appraisals, which had often been a free service. The industry was undergoing new types of rapid change as auctioneers also increasingly heard advice to get into new auction “niches” to supplement their income if one type of auction slowed down.

1995: the Internet Auction

Auctions burst into the realm of cyberspace “as the Japanese company Aucnet went online with automobiles for auction in 1995. This was followed closely by the launches of Onsale (May 1995) and eBay (September 1995), which eventually would go on to become the online auction leader,” reports auctionwatch.com. “Since 1996, the enthusiastic market response has led to continued growth, spurred by the arrival of smaller, niche sites, as well as the addition of such Internet heavyweights as Yahoo and Amazon.com . Most recently, the FairMarket Auction Network brought together several prominent companies--Microsoft, Lycos, Excite, to name just a few--to create a centralized auction network . Buyers and sellers--if they have the time--can now browse more than 400 auction Web sites.”

Today

Today the auction method of marketing is as strong today as ever. Some observers say the auctions appear on the verge of the same resurgence and awareness of the auction method as was occurring in 1904 when real estate auctions comprised half the real estate sales in New York . And the future looks bright because, as described by auctionwatch.com, “Whether goods are presented to a few dusty toga-clad bidders in the town square or to millions of cyberbidders hunched in front of their computer screens, the highest bidder wins.”

Author Rob Doyle is an auctioneer in New York and former NAA president who writes a monthly column on auction history for Auction World.. Steve Baska is editor of Auctioneer.