"A Question of Value" by Robert Brunk

An experienced auctioneer is in a good position to shed light on the human condition. After all, they're up there in front of a crowd, dealing with both buyers and sellers, as well as spending a lot of time evaluating the bric a brac we all love to collect.So it is with Bob Brunk who spent 35 years as an auctioneer in Asheville, N.C. Brunk's collection of essays, A Question of Value, shares some of his experiences auctioning off everything from glass eyeballs to telescopes.Some of the characters in the collection include the 90-year-old woman who was divesting herself of her earthly possessions, some going to family members, other things going to auction. "I just want to come out even," she tells Brunk.There's Robert Young, the fiery little auctioneer who negotiated only one way--his way. Brunk recalls being in Young's shop when a woman offered Young $1,800 for an item that was priced at $2,200. He informed her that the price was as marked but if she asked again, the cost would be $3,500. "Naturally, she hurried out of the store," said Brunk, whose own auctioneering approach was less confrontational."I went to auction school where they teach you the chant but I found that what worked best for me was to be clear about what the bid was and what I was asking," he said.Like everything else, the auction business and the selling of antiques has seen plenty of change over the years, said Brunk."When I started here in Asheville in the 1980s there were 14 or 15 antique stores. Now there's just one," he said. The number of auctioneers has also dwindled, noted Brunk, pointing out that some of the things that people collected in the past--such as pewter dinnerware, Hummels, and pressed glass--don't have the same value today. Just because something gets older doesn't always make it more valuable, he added.The internet has also brought change to the business of buying and selling items, said Brunk, recalling a regular buyer who told him he was no longer going to come to auctions because the internet opened the field to "the whole world." When that same individual had a collection to sell, however, he asked Brunk if he was still involved with "that internet thing."