Did your town/area have an auction house ?

[Mikey]

Growing up in 1970's northern New Jersey we all had our fair share of auction houses.

I would say almost every 3rd town had one on Thursday night.

Incase you're wondering what exactly I mean when I say town auction let me splain.

A decent size hall building - sometimes also a gin mill on the side to keep revenue coming in all week.

Thursday night you come and pay a small entrance fee.

You sit in a large room --- like you're going to watch an elementary school play.

The auction man comes to the stage and say's, Hello ladies and gentlemen, first off I got a crazy deal on a truckload of Marx Fort Apache playsets.

Can I start the bidding at $5.00 apiece

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After the bidding ends (usually at around $6.00) the auctioneer gives everyone a "special deal" and sells them all for $3.00 apiece to whomever wants them.

This same auction style went on for 2 hours with many different items.

My town had one of these auction houses along with many towns around me.

Now that I think about it they weren't really even auctions.

Anybody have one near you back in the day ?

[jwyblejr]

Not in my town but there was one not that far away. It was over by where they had the county fair for the area. Didn't have to pay to get in though. I worked for them for a short time. I would take the paperwork from the auctioneer and take it to the area where you had to pay for your items. Didn't get paid but they let me get free food from the concession stand.