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"Ten, ten, ten ... what about five, who'll give me five? OK, four, now what about five ... this is an excellent piece ... five, yes, now seven, who's got seven?"
David Beasley paces across the front of the hall trailing a staccato chain of words, inviting, urging and cajoling bids for this knick-knack and that piece of kitsch.
It's a Monday night at the King City Community Centre and Mr. Beasley is getting into the rhythm, his auction patter rattling along, interspersed with occasional greetings to regular visitors and admonitions to people who are more interested in talking than in bidding.
"You guys are just a little loud in that corner ... who's got 25, 25?, OK,
22 and a half ... 52's the buyer."
The Aurora resident was elected president of the Auctioneers Association of Ontario last weekend, but says he got into auctioneering in the early 1980s almost by accident.
"I was at an auction and somebody didn't show up for work. I offered to help out," he recalls. "When it was over, the auctioneer said, 'so you'll come
the next time?'"
His early days were spent holding items up, sweeping up and as general
dogs-body for former Bradford-area auctioneer, the late Alan Horner. He can't remember exactly where he auctioned his first item, but he remembers what it was; "A Shelley cup and saucer. It went for $40. Some of them go in the hundreds of dollars on e-bay. I think most auctioneers remember their first item."
His auction voice, enhanced slightly with an FM mike, is pitched a little
lower than his conversational tone and there's even a slight trace of an accent, an echo of the American south, as he moves quickly from item to item.
For anyone who attends auctions regularly, he's a welcome treat, knowing
when he's reached a peak, and refusing to drag on the bidding interminably
to squeeze another dollar or three.
"You try to move it along," he says. "People don't want to be there all
night. It comes with practice and research; you know the type of price range
you're going to get."
Wife Carol, who, like Mr. Beasley, is a certified antique appraiser, is working the registration desk for this sale. Son Kevin is the clerk and pals Don Garner and Roger White are taking turns holding up items as Mr. Beasley stalks back and forth in front of the audience.
"Everything is as is, where is and there are no guarantees, no warranties.
If we know it's got a crack, we'll tell you."
In spite of this usual, pre-sale warning, this is a very clean sale; no under-the-table boxes of junk and the items neatly presented include antique furniture, glassware, china, figurines and a table full of Bradford Exchange plates, most of them Norman Rockwell scenes.
In addition to his regular King City sales (there are two more in the next month or so), he contracts out to other auctioneers, sometimes as often as three or four times a week.
He was Ontario novice champion auctioneer in 1990, has been runner-up masters champ four times and has competed for the Canadian and/or world championship "eight or ten times", he recalls.
He's on a bit of a high tonight because of his weekend election as president of the association. "I was given the key to the city by the mayor of Niagara Falls," he announces, getting a round of applause from the audience.
"What about 35, 40 now? All in, all done at $30? ... Yeah, yeah, you know you want it, what about $35?"
And quite often he does it for nothing. "I'll be at the Royal York hotel in Toronto this weekend, working with (comedian) Mike Bullard at an auction for the Scarborough Hospital foundation." Other fundraising auctions have been for Ducks Unlimited, the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, Southlake Regional Health Centre, the Ontario Anglers and Hunters
Association, the Aurora-Newmarket Community Living Association and for a playground for disabled kids in Aurora.
Born in Willowdale in 1947, Mr. Beasley and Carol moved to Aurora in 1969.
He studied for his certified auctioneer papers at the University of Western Ontario. When he isn't auctioneering, he's a member of the King City Lions Club.
He's sold, he says, pretty much everything. "I used to help Ed Gardhouse at auctions at his old place in Schomberg," he recalls. "People would show up with guinea pigs, rabbits, fruit, cars and trucks; right up until sale time. You get used to selling all kinds of products."
The most important thing, he says, is knowing your business. "It takes experience and knowledge. You have to know what you're selling.
If you're asking $2 for a $150-dollar item, they know you don't know what you're doing. And how much trust will they have in you to sell their stuff?"
Although he began his working career with the department store arm of Oshawa Wholesale and later became a driver and manager for the TTC, its obvious Mr. Beasley has found his raison d'etre.
"I love doing it. When you hit the block, there's always a bit of adrenaline. When you get in the rhythm, it's the greatest; you're singing and dancing out there."
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