SOUTHPORT, Ind. — It’s a fast-talking, quick-thinking business.
“Auctioneers, there’s really nothing we can’t sell," said Jack Christy, owner of Christy's of Indiana. “A general auctioneer will sell about 80 or 90 items an hour, so that’s one to one-and-a-half items per minute.”
He comes from a family of auctioneers.
“I picked it up in ’74 and graduated in 1975," said Christy, who's been teaching the profession for decades. “It’s a 10-day course. In that 10 days, you learn how to be an auctioneer.”
And Christy can teach just about anybody.
“You think, 'well, I could never do that,' and it’s just counting and then we put filler words in it like, 'I have 10, would you give 15? Fifteen, would you give 20? Twenty, would you give 25? Thirty, would you give 35?'" he said.
Auctioneers in Indiana use a much different rate of speaking than auctions on the coasts.
“Down here, they like the Midwestern style of cattle auctioneers, automobile auctioneers where they go so very fast," said Christy. "What we try to do here is try to make sure people understand because if they don’t understand what you’re asking for, they’re not going to bid anymore because they’re confused.”
Above all, auctioneering is a people business.
“I can tell you what a great deal of my people come out here to buy," said Christy. "There’s people who like china and porcelain, there’s people who like guns, jewelry. I know when jewelry buyers are coming in to buy and some of them just buy gold, some of them just buy silver. The art form is knowing people and to market that particular product to that different individual.”
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