Auctions

Auctions are publicsales of goods,conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He or she asksthe assembled crowd in the auction-room to make offers,or"bids",forthe

various items onsale.He encourages buyers to bid higher figures,and finally names the highestbidder as the buyer of the goods.This is called"knocking down"thegoods,for

the bidding endswhen the auctioneer bangs a small hammer on a table at which he stands.This isoften set on a raised platform called a rostrum.

The ancient Romansprobably invented sales by auction,and the English word comes from the Latinauction,meaning"increase".The Romans usually sold in this way the

spoils taken in war;these sales were called"sbu hasta",meaning"under thespear",a spear being stuck in the ground as a signal for a crowd togather. In the eighteenth and

nineteenth centuriesgoods were often sold "by the candle",a short candle was lit by theauctioneer;and bids could be made while it stayed alight.

An auction isusually advertised beforehand with full particulars of the articles to be soldand where and when they can be viewed by possible buyers.If the advertisement

cannot give fulldetails, catalogues are printed,and each group of goods to be soldtogether,called a"lot",is usually given a number. The auctioneer neednot begin with Lot 1

and continue innumerical order. He may wait until he registers the fact that certain dealersare in the room and then produce the lots they are likely to be interestedin.The

auctioneer'sservices are paid for in the form of a percentage of the price the goods aresold for. The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up thebidding as high

as possible.

Practically allgoods whose qualities vary are sold by auction.Among these are coffee,hides,skins,wool,tea,cocoa,furs,spices,fruit and vegetables and wines.Auction salesare

also usual for landand property,antique,furniture,pictures,rare books,old china and similar worksof art. The auction rooms at Christie's and Sotheby's in London and New

York are world famous.China hasalready had auction sales since earlier times.

A.Right

B.Wrong

C.Not mentioned