| 1. _____ Auctions are public sales of goods, conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asks the crowd assembled in the auction- room to make offers, or "bids", for the various items on sale. He encourages buyers to bid higher figures, and finally names the highest bidder as the buyer of the goods. This is called "knocking down" the goods, for the bidding ends when the auctioneer strikes a small hammer on a table at which he stands. 2. _____ The ancient Roman probably invented sales by auction, and the English word comes from the Latin auction, meaning "increasing". The Romans usually sold in this way the goods taken in war. In England in the eighteenth century, goods were often sold "by the candle": a short candle was lit by the auctioneer, and bids could be made while it stayed alight. 3. _____ Practically all goods whose qualities vary are sold by auction. Among these are coffee, skins, wool, tea, furs, silk and wines. Auction sales are also usual for land and property, furniture, pictures, rare books, old china and similar works of art. 4. _____ An auction is usually advertised beforehand with full particulars of the articles to be sold and where and when they can be viewed by potential buyers. If the advertisement cannot give full details, catalogues are printed, and each group of goods to be sold together, called a "lot", is usually given a number. The auctioneer need not begin with Lot 1 and continue in the order of numbers; he may wait until he notices the fact that certain buyers are in the room and then produce the lots they are likely to be interested in. 5. _____ The auctioneer's services are paid for in the form of a percentage of the price the goods are sold for. The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up the bidding as high as possible. He will not waste time by starting the bidding too low. He will also play on the opponents among his buyers and succeed in getting a high price by encouraging two business competitors to bid against each other. | 
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