Auction House Social Club–ID Cards

A multi-part entry from observations at an auction house. Starts here.

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ID Cards

New members at the AHSC have to participate in a number of initiation practices to become a member in good standing. First, initiates must obtain their identification cards.

Wanting to maintain the role of participant-as-observer on my first day of observation, I asked directions to the clerk’s office and made my way into a tiny office tucked away in the comer of the auction barn. A small sign hung below the counter stating, “Thou Shalt Not Whine.”payingupAfter assuring the lady behind the counter that was not there to whine, I dutifully name and address on a clipboard and picked up my card-number 144. It was a white 3.75″ x 7″ card with the number handwritten with a thick black marker along one edge. I tucked it in my pocket to have it ready for a bid. Getting one of those little cards had always seemed to symbolize a right of passage to me. Children don’t get bid cards. Adults do. With a bid card, could enter the world of the AHSC as a card-carrying member. He who has the card can, if willing to pay enough, win the bid. Like getting your membership card for the country club, the bid card becomes the member’s identity card when it comes to buying anything at that particular auction. Having that card made me official and granted me a sense of belonging. While it reduced my public identity to a mere number, it gave me the basis on which to reveal my true identity to those choose. Continue reading

Auction House Social Club — Join the club

A multi-part entry from observations at an auction house. Starts here.

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Joining the Club

Joining the AHSC is not difficult. Nearly anyone can do it, but it takes time-a lot of interaction and time-to become a “member in good standing.” The quest for membership at the AHSC requires the potential member to do more than stand silently and bid on a few items.auctionstuff

The potential member must share time and a part of themselves through role-playing and self expression through personal stories, a sense of humor and even through their dress. While being present is important, interaction is of greater importance at the AHSC. I found that my presence did not lead to any important relationships until I began to interact with the other members. Joining the circle of high auction society takes a combination of time, effort, and simple enjoyment of the auction shared within the fellowship of other members.

 

To be continued next week…

Copyright 2001 Michael Shead

All references available: https://drypixel.com/159/auction-house-social-club-references/

Auction House Social Club — Findings

A multi-part entry from observations at an auction house. Starts here.

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Findings

On my first visit to the auction, I parked in a grassy spot next to a long row of cars, trucks and trailers and made my way over to the rows of merchandise where potential buyers were perusing tables covered with all types of auction items. There were antiques, tools, furniture, household items, exercise equipment, books and plenty of junk. You name it; they had it or would gladly substitute something else in its place. 

On first glance, I didn’t see the community I’d come seeking. It looked like an organized business. Items were numbered, people were there to buy and inside the auction barn a faded sign read: “Not responsible for breakage, Not responsible for accidents, Commission 15%.”auct

Accepting that first impressions can often be deceiving, I started looking deeper and began to see groups of people loitering about the lot as friends, associates and acquaintances met to chat before the bidding began. There was more to the activities at this cement and metal building than first met my eye. A business it was, but the Columbus Auction had become a place of interaction-a place where people gathered not only for the products that were sold, but also for the social interaction they found and the friendships they built there. The attendees at the auction developed a community that has been “created and sustained by everyday [in this case, weekly] patterns of human interaction that take on shared meanings among members of a particular group” (Adelman Frey, 1997, p. 5). After observing the auction and the strong social interactions that took place there, I dubbed it the Auction House Social Club (AHSC): A place where people buy a little, sell a little, and share a lot. 

In my mind the AHSC is not that different from a country club or weekly social gathering. Like a social club where the product being sold is a meal, a game of golf, or access to a swimming pool; the products sold at the auction were the loosely tied twine that kept the members involved as relational bonds were built and a community emerged.

While interactions among members of this community are only loosely knit together; repetition of shared events; exchange of information and stories, and the common location of the auction all contributed to the building of a sense of community. Items and places are the visible bonds of an invisible relationship called “community”. As Bird (1999) writes of her email fan group, the AHSC members built a greater sense of community through exposure of self and expression of ideas as they talked about the objects and situations surrounding them in the places where they are linked together.

 

To be continued next week…

Copyright 2001 Michael Shead

All references available: https://drypixel.com/159/auction-house-social-club-references/

Auction House Social Club – Methods

A multi part entry from observations at an auction house. Starts here.

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Methods

I chose the role of participant-as-observer and peripheral membership as my approach to answer questions that developed even as I carded out my research. Using the role of a peripheral member allowed me to interact as a member while not taking part in all the activities or committing the amount of time considered necessary for complete membership (Denzin & Lincoln, 1998). Being on a limited time schedule, I recognized that attempting a more integrated approachor a slower, more removed observation approach would take longer than the amount of time available.

I wanted to ask people questions about the auction and watch them in action while not being too conspicuous. Being a participant-as-observer and peripheral member allowed me to do that. It also gave me the freedom to put people at ease and still acquire useful data. As Denzin and Lincoln (1998) noted, the value of observation as a participant-as-observer is in the ability and freedom to follow the “flow of events” and be “free to search for concepts or categories that appear meaningful to [the] subjects” (p. 81).

I had questions. I hoped the answers were in my observations. During my investigation, I wondered if the regular attendees came just for the products or did they come for more? I wanted to know what relationships were built after years of seeing each other week after week and if they have a sense of community.

As a participant-as-observer, I attended the Monday afternoon auction held at the Columbus Auction five different weeks during September and October of 2001. During my observation period, I conducted both unstructured and loosely structured interviews and held conversations with various people who attended the auction. gained permission for my observations from Jack Garner, the owner of the Columbus Auction. In addition, told my informants about my reason for studying the communication at auctions. Some had questions about my research, but, for most, simply stating that I was a student studying the auction seemed to satisfy any curiosity. I found that many were willing to share their experiences with me once they understood why I was asking questions.

 

To be continued next week…

Copyright 2001 Michael Shead

All references available: https://drypixel.com/159/auction-house-…lub-references/

Auction House Social Club — References

A multi-part entry from observations at an auction house. Starts here.

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References

Adelman, M.B., Frey, L.R. (1997). The Fragile Community: Living Togethe with AIDS. Mahaw, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Bird, S.E. (1999). Chatting on Cynthia’s Porch: Creating Community in an E- mail Fan Group. Southern Communication Journal,65(2), 49-66.

Booth-Butterfield, M., Booth-Butterfield, S. (1996). Individual Differences in TheCommunication of Humorous Messages. Southern Communication Journal,56,205-218.

Denzin, N.K., Lincoln, Y.S. (Eds.). (1998). Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Fagan, R., Royer, R. (1995). Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident) [John Michael Montgomery]. John Michael Montgomery [CD]. (1995). New York: Atlantic Recording Corp. Retrieved Dec. 4, 2001, from http://digilander.iol.it/lerenti/lyrics/full/m/montgomery_johnmichael/jmm22.html

Hemingway, E. (1952). The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 

Lyttle, J. (2001). The Effectiveness of Humor in Persuasion: The Case of Business Ethics Training [Electronic version]. Journal of General Psychology, 128(2). Retreived November 28,2001, from the Expanded Academic ASAP database.

 

Copyright 2001 Michael Shead

Auction House Social Club

Community and Talk at the Auction House Social Club

It seems like I’ve always been interested in auctions. Since childhood I’ve enjoyed wandering through rows of other people’s stuff looking for something that might catch my fancy. During those tours de stuff, I was cautious to keep my hands still so as not to make an accidental bid.

I usually went to auctions with my father who occasionally bid on a few things, but he was always ready to go before I was. For me there was something about just being there with all those people, looking through the myriad of items and listening to the auctioneer’s song. Those auctions held an air of excitement, entertainment and friendship that welcomed whoever would stay around long enough to understand it.overview

My father once told me that my great uncle-who went deaf after hearing too much heavy artillery in World War 11-liked going to auctions. He didn’t go to buy. He went to enjoy a piece of pie and the company he found there. For my great uncle the auction was a place to grab a bite to eat and to socialize. His enjoyment of the auction reached beyond the mere purchasing process or business transaction and inspired me to study what I’ve come to call the Auction House Social Club. Continue reading