May 1976 RAIN Page 3 Country Auctions Most of the busiest airways in the country cross each other and the Mississippi River above the small town ofMuscatine, Iowa. From the river you can see dozens of planes passing far overhead every day. Looking down through seven miles of nothing from your airplane window you might be able to make out the single bridge crossing the Mississippi, and south of the bridge you might possibly see a small white speck anchored to the wooded Illinois shore across from the town. That speck turns out to be an old sternwheel river towboat on which live two river ratsLane's sister Cathy and her husband Steve. Auctions, they've discovered, are probably closer to being the social glue of that rural area than even the churches, and they've become true auction fanatics. (TB) We're building our house slowly, and as a real bed replaces a door resting on cupboards, we move the cupboards and have no room for the door ; as we finally build our own chairs, two wonderful old overstuffed chairs, well-loved and well-worn, become sad misfits to be climbed over or piled in a corner. And as we build and change, new needs arise. We find an old hand drill which needs a chuck no longer made; we cannot afford the materials for a duck coop and the ducklings are fast outgrowing their cardboard box. Where to go? We trundle all our outgrown objects into the car and head to the local auction barn where they are sold on a twenty percent consignment basis to the highest bidder. In return, we find another hand drill, not as nice as ours, but with the perfect chuck, and we pick up a pile of screens for 50¢ that will make the airiest duck coop (we will place the screens on a floating platform fished out of the river). The survival of the auction is a hopeful sign in a society so accustomed to disposable living that it is not unreasonable for an imaginative person to live solely on articles found in garbage cans and back alleys. Those whose throwaway habits bring on a twinge of conscience give to the Good Will. Well and good. But the auction presents a Good Will with dignity and profit for all. We are talking about visible and participatory economics. Every bidder must determine an item's value. .Considerations range from general availability to a comparison of the article bought retail to an item's resale value or its adaptability. An old bar stool is bid on by one who will sell it as scrap metal, one who will replace his tractor seat, and one who will paint it up and put it in his basement bar. When an article is in good shape for its original purpose, such as a tool, and the dealers don't want it, we have watched such serious and close bidding that the caller could not get a bidder to raise even a nickel. And time and time again we have checked those winning bids with the price in the Sear's catalog and found the auction price to be about 75%. These people survive on the ability to assess the real worth of every item, by weighing the retail value against all other considerations. How much time can I save by owning this tool? What is the cost if I made it myself? Can I adapt this piece to that purpose? We like to think we have discovered something new, but we are witness to an old and essential art. The auction as a marketplace and a social institution has served its clients well. The influx of outsiders, like ourselves, creates pressures on the institution. Strangers can break down the social cohesion, and strangers increase the instances and fear of stealing. The new buyers also tend to change the auction's economic structure. Values change according to purpose. To a curiosity seeker the process of winning takes precedence over the price paid; and the person looking for a novel plant pot can usually outbid the farmer who needs the ceramic crock for its original purpose-to make beer. It is a problem inherent in the system, and in fact is the basis of that system, but it is magnified when groups vastly different begin to mingle. We owe much to the auction. We have spent many wonderful evenings with the crowd and have been able to build more than we could ordinarily afford through its bargains. But it is a system that is dependent in many ways on a cohesive economic and social foundation, and perhaps even a measure of trust. Is it adaptable to other, non-agrarian situations? Can it even survive in its own climate? We hope our presence does more to contribute than to harm the system on which we have begun to depend. Cathy deMoll To find out about country auctions in your area, look under "auctioneers" in your Yellow Pages and ask one where they are. Or contact the following: American Society of Auctioneers 4209 Lindell Blvd., Suite 408 St. Louis, MO 63100 National Auctioneers Association 13 5 Lakewood Drive Lincoln, NE 68510
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