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This article first ran in the February 2005 issue of the Auctioneer.
Photos courtesy of the National Auctioneers Museum
Troubles of the American Auction after the War of 1812
By Lynn M. Ward, Curator, National Auctioneers Museum
I never grow tired of learning about auction history. Auctions are very much integrated into daily lives of people in the past and present. I find it fascinating to learn the impacts of the auction method of marketing on our culture and how different turns of events can bring auctions to the forefront of marketing. Some of the most common times in history that have had effects on the auction method of marketing are war and post-war times. Recently I have been reading about how the War of 1812 had an impact on the auction industry in the United States in the book A History of the Auction , by Brian Learmount. For those of you not familiar with this part of auction history, I'd like to present a shortened version of the story here.
The War of 1812, as per its name, began in 1812 and lasted until 1814. It pitted the United States and France against Britain . Prior to and during this time the American government pursued a policy of restricting American ships from entering European ports, which essentially shut off a large part of foreign supply for American merchants. The deprived Americans developed a strong demand for goods, in particular the kind of mass produced goods which the British had in plenty. The British --through their industrial revolution --had concentrated on the manufacture of cheap goods for mass markets, while the French continued to incline towards the production of luxury items at high prices.
According to A History of the Auction , British merchants set up well stocked depots in the British possessions nearest to America such as Halifax and Bermuda in anticipation of the end of the war. The British observed while waiting that when prizes were taken at sea during the conflict the cargoes were disposed quickly by selling at auction. These large sales and the high prices obtained attracted the attention of the buyers and sellers alike, and gave them the habit of attending public auctions. At the close of the war, the British merchants were ready to bring their mass-produced wares to America . They chose the auction as the quickest and most convenient method of sale. Indeed, a publication at the time declared that a British merchant or manufacturer by selling his goods at auction could sell three times as much as could the American importer at no greater expense. Thus the battle lines were drawn between the merchants and auctioneers. Although the real complaint of the American merchant was against the large scale dumping of cheap British goods on to the market, the merchants declared that the auctions allowed foreign importers to overwhelm and disrupt the local retail trade.
One of the methods used against the auctioneers by the merchants was to encourage auction boycotts. However, since the auctions were so popular the tactic did not work. Legislation was introduced several times but not acted upon. In 1829, as a result of the pressure from several state merchant groups, the Committee of Ways and Means presented a bill, the ‘Ingersoll' bill, in an attempt to restrict the auctioneers. The bill failed and so did the movement as a whole. The 1830's were to be a prosperous period in America and sufficient business was generated to allow the merchants to survive comfortably alongside the auctioneers.
he book A History of the Auction , by Brian Learmount (published in 1985 in Great Britain by Barnard and Learmount) is one of the many books in the National Auctioneers Museum Archives. I welcome any comments or questions on this topic or any other auction history topics. Similarly, if you know of any books that would be useful for our archives, please contact me.
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