Dear Estate Holders:
This just in from Silverbuy, responding to some comments from participants.
"Thanks to all the ladies and gentlemen who have inquired about my health. It's true, it was a lot of gaveling in a short time, but I am recovering nicely in a comfortable, quiet place. Leizel drops in often to visit. She is her usual cheerful self. Athiena is busy, she said, with the business of the Baron, this week directing the clean up of the festival grounds.
"All the best to you, too. Now for some comments in response to your questions.
<What happened to the near 100 items you mentioned at the beginning?>
"I apologize. I should have just said, 'a lot of other stuff,' as was suggested, afterwards, but I deal in numbers, and I wanted to be a bit more specific. I counted before we began, not knowing how long it would take to auction each item or to note each bid. One problem was including items within items in the count. A few packages had a dozen or so parts, and in tallying them, they were included in the total count. That shouldn't have 'counted,' because they were hidden inside containers and only one person got that prize, but it "counted" for the folks who made the items and checked them over, and it counted in the total value of the auction.
"But you folks are good at numbers, too. I wasn't trying to pull anything over on the management or its customers. I was just overly ambitious in thinking I could handle that many items in such a short time. We were all shufflin as fast as we could, I guarantee. I'm looking at increasing my staff.
"There were about 40 "sales" for each auction, and that would have been a better count, or a better indication of the odds of a person "winning."
"Next time, if the potato crop will allow, I hope to have a catalog.
"We got a late start on all three auctions. There were problems with folks getting unexpected information when they consulted PREMIUM 10. The folks in the business office stepped in and did a fix on that and assured me that all who were issued tokens by the clerk are members in good standing.
"After we began, there were some unexpected interruptions. People bidding more than once slowed us down a lot. For example, one feller bid 43 times on one item. His token wasn't chosen. We certainly didn't expect folks to try to take the items being displayed. They had to be dealt with. Those interruptions cut into the time we had allotted for the auctions. It takes a while to note more than 400 bids. I'd say almost everyone bid on every item in the token auctions.
"We'll get better. Thanks to those who participated in Thursday night's token auction for fun. We worked out a lot of kinks then.
"The first token auction on Saturday was about four hours, the second on Sunday was a more reasonable three hours. The silvers auction also began late and ended by design when Terald's auction began. It's auctioneer etiquette. "
<My only complaint is that many, I'm not sure of a count, of the items were unusable by barbarians: i.e. snake charms, spidersilk cloaks, parakeet charm, flames, etc. While I do not mind these items, it would be nice to hear: "Next up is this very nice Whatchadoohickey, unfortunately for you magic-users out there it's virtually useless.">
"You are not alone. We might consider an auction just of that sort! One with more weapons ...uhm... weapons... and...weapons! "
<How about a "grabbag" so everyone gets at least something?>
"Not many auctioneers I know do that, but I like stuff too, so I'll pass that suggestion along to the Estate Holders management.
<When will there be another auction?"
"We will continue to gather auction items, and if there aren't too many complaints to the management about my work, perhaps we will be invited back.
"I was very impressed with your festival and my accommodations. I appreciate your making me feel welcome and comfortable. Thanks again for sending along the comments, and I hope to see you again soon.
"~Silverbuy"
Watch the NEWS for announcements of future token and silver auctions.
On a personal note, it was grand to see so many of you gathered in one place. I'll look for you everywhere.
For the Estate Holders,
~GM Winnow
