Auctions and Their History

The word ‘auction’ in lay man terms, refers to the selling of particular objects or things amongst a large number of people, using the bidding system. The people present at the auction, bid for the object in subject and quote a certain price, and finally the item goes to the person who quotes the highest price, which in turn is the final one. It was originally derived from a Latin word “augeō” which mean ‘increase or ‘augment. It is a great way for raising money for charity and selling off your product fairly quickly.

Auctions have come into practice several thousand decades ago and appear to have an immensely long history; the first auction is recorded to have taken place as early as 500 B.C. According to Herodotus, initially auctions started off by women being auctioned for marriage in Babylon, and they were held annually.

In later years, in the middle of the eighteenth and the seventeenth century, the system of auction came into practice in some parts of England. The auction commenced by lighting a candle and until the candle died out, bids we made in an ascending order. The person who won was the one who had the highest bid at the time the candle went out. The Stockholm Auction House  is known to be the worlds olders auction house which was founded in 1674.

With the passage of time and by the 18th century, auctions were started in coffeehouses and taverns where spectacular pieces of art were offered on sale. These auctions took place practically on a daily basis, the items being sold were also printed in catalogues to inform the bidders.

These catalogs were then distributed all over town and contained information regarding rare and collectible items being offered at auction. The world’s second largest coffee house currently is Sotheby’s, where the very first auction took place in 1744. There are many other auction houses, for example penny auctions, amongst the many, that are still operating throughout the world.

Tags: auction, auction sites, auctions, Penny auction, penny auctions