Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505050033
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID AND LOUISE HOLLYER SPECIAL TO ROANOKE TIMES 7 WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
This scene, or something like it, goes on several hundred times a year at inside and outside auctions, summer and winter, day and night. If an item can be sold, it probably can be sold quicker and for more money at an auction.
And it is the auctioneers who make it exciting. They are the catalysts who make the system effective - the dramatists who, by the unique ``roll'' or ``chant'' of their rapid-fire verbal delivery, whip up the crowd's enthusiasm until it sometimes creates a personal contest between bidders and the ``winner'' ends up paying too much for something he or she never intended to buy.
An auctioneer is a person who is authorized to sell at public auction for a commission. In Virginia, auctioneers are state-licensed by the Virginia Auctioneers Board, regulated by the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation in Richmond. They must be covered by a surety bond of at least $10,000.
The Virginia Auctioneers Association has about 550 members.
There are at least two dozen basic schools of auctioneering listed in the American Trade Schools Directory. One of the oldest and best known in this area, attended by many Virginia auctioneers, is the Mendenhall School of Auctioneering in High Point, N.C. It has operated since 1962
An auction is more than a favorite form of entertainment for a sunny Saturday afternoon. It is a very efficient means of unloading a tremendous amount of goods quickly.
Basic qualities necessary for a good auctioneer are a pleasant chant, product knowledge and good business-management techniques. He should enjoy dealing with people and, above all, be a super salesperson.
The Auctioneers' ``chant'' or ``roll'' is one of his most important tools. The roll should be rhythmic, delivered in a singsong voice with variations in tone with the words close together. Clarity is most important so the numbers are easily understood.
A wide variety of properties is sold at auction. In Western Virginia, they include annual tobacco sales, with sales of automobiles and trucks, antiques, furniture, and coin and stamp collections common. Also in Virginia, the sale by auction of farms and farm machinery constitutes a large specialty for rural auctioneers.
Livestock auctions are another specialty. One of the busiest places is in the little town of Moneta, just 18 miles east of Roanoke.
Here, every Saturday year round, hundreds of cattle farmers gather on the bleachers at Spring Lakes Livestock Auction, where Epperly family members have acted as consignment brokers since 1987. Albert Epperly is manager and Frank Epperly, his father, is auctioneer. ``He has been doing this for about 30 years and he knows cattle,'' the son said of his father.
The auctions start at 1 p.m. and can run to midnight. Prices are determined by the commodity market and reflect what a fat steer is worth in the Midwest, where it is killed for meat. This price trickles down all the way through the cattle economy and determines what all phases and all sizes of cattle are worth.
``The buyer makes the quality judgment at the time the animal enters the ring,'' said Albert Epperly. ``That's what distinguishes a good buyer from the poor buyer - the ability to judge cattle.
``All animals are sold on consignment and we receive a 11/2 percent commission on the sale,'' he said.
Automobile auctions are one phase of the auction business that is growing tremendously. These are conducted on a regular basis across the country. Most big auto auctions are corporately owned, but they do hire licensed auctioneers to handle the bidding.
Bryan Buchanan, owner of Buchanan Auto and Auction Inc. in Cloverdale, has been selling cars by this method since he graduated from the Mendenhall School in 1982. ``In fact,'' he said, ``my father was an auctioneer before me, as he went to the school in 1963. I guess it runs in the family.''
The cars on sale are a mixture of repossessions, with some from dealers and individuals. The car's ``stated'' mileage - meaning there's no guarantee - and its features, such as air conditioning and four-wheel drive, are marked on the windshield. Customers can look the cars over before the sale but they cannot start them or drive them. The cars are started by auction employees at the time of the sale and they are sold ``as is, where is.'' Payment is due in full on the day of the sale by cash, certified funds or checks with a bank letter of guarantee.
Furniture and household furnishings are another big auction item. Some permanent auction houses or galleries sell only furniture, antiques or both. These are frequent destinations for a Sunday outing.
Cariton Hill of Buchanan, one of the region's favorite auctioneers, has been conducting every type of auction sale known to the area for 16 years. While many auctioneers now look like well-dressed corporate executives, Hill dresses the part of the typical old-time auctioneer, with his gray sombrero with the silver band, fancy corduroy jacket with leather inserts, and boots. He is very tanned (the result, no doubt of many outdoor sales) and sports a small black mustache.
He was a licensed real estate agent when he attended the Nashville School of Auctioneering in 1979.
``At the start of my second week at the school, a local auctioneer in Buchanan sent word to me to hurry home, as we had a big sale coming up. We sold an orchard out in Cloverdale - and I've been at it ever since,'' he said.
He holds weekly auction sales in the vacant Edwards Furniture Corp. store on Main Street in downtown Buchanan, selling household items, antiques, quilts, oil paintings and old glass. He also travels to sell houses, farms, horses, trucks, tractors and other farm equipment.
According to Hill, ``Today, I estimate that 75 percent of my auctioneering income comes from real estate sales.''
For 15 years John W. Elkins of Glade Hill has held occasional sales and as well as auctions three times a year at the permanent facility he built on his farm. These draw individual buyers and dealers of antique shows and shops from Richmond, Northern Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley and North Carolina.
They flock there to bid on quality antiques, paintings, porcelain, jewelry and Oriental rugs he has assembled or taken to sell on consignment from bank trust departments and private homes or collections from all over Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. He even imports antiques and personal property from England.
``Many buyers are regular customers,'' Elkins said, ``and there are lots of homes in the Roanoke Valley that are 90 percent furnished with pieces from my auction sales.''
Elkins' hobby of collecting treasured pieces got him into the business when his collection became too large for his home. He has a vast knowledge of collectibles and his experience as a collector is vital to his success. ``I think that as an auctioneer, you have to be versed in a product or item you are selling, whether it be real estate or a piece of furniture. I think you need to know what you are talking about.''
He attended the Mendenhall School to complete his education and has since sent his helper, Steve Craighead, to the same school.
``For persons who want to dispose of a collection or sell an estate, an auction is the only way to go,'' Elkins said.
by CNB