Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 January 1899 — Auction by Candle. [ARTICLE]

Auction by Candle.

It would seem strange to-day, says the Portland Transcript, to step into a large auction-room where furniture, wearing apparel, jewelry and knickknacks of every description were scattered around awaiting their turn to be disposed of according to the whims of a burning candle. The proceedings in a candle sale were as follows: A piece of candle an inch long was lighted, and the instant the flame arose the bidding on a certain article began. The last bid was made before the flame expired was the lucky one. Sometimes this was varied by dividing the whole candle into sections, marked off by red circles. Bids were received on any article during the burning of one section, and the last bidder before the second ring was reached was the purchaser. This manner of conducting an auction was very general tyring the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The custom is by no means obsolete, certain portions of France and some counties of Western England still retaining it.