How do auctioneers learn to talk like that?
I guess we see pretty good ones at the sales we go to but where (what types of sales, also) do they do starter sales to learn to practice?
Tx.
They go to school to learn to control airflow and rapid speech. Have been told by an auctioneer they also practice rapid fire speech with tongue twisters…things like the sixth sheik’s sheep was sick and rubber baby buggy bumpers.
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I always thought a better question is WHY do they talk like that? It always seems to me like they don’t want you to be able to understand them so maybe you will be tricked into bidding more than you thought but that doesn’t make any sense because then you could just refuse to sign the slip.
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Its part of keeping the “excitement” of an auction going and encourages people to jump in. And yes, it trips up many people until they get into the rhythm. Btw Laurie, many auction services, including the one I work for, now require things like a signed bidder’s statement, computerized entry of license numbers, and the auctioneer has no qualms dialing up the local LEO to deal with a reluctant buyer when it comes time to pay the dues. Usually if the item is memorable or high priced enough for the fuss, there are pleanty of staff and even buyers left at the end of the sale to vouch for the high bid and that the person in fact made it. The software we use will link back a swipe of a license to any previous time the bidder has been in the system, and can show at a glance any outstanding accounts 
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Some people, believe it or not, come by it very naturally with just a bit of practice at home! When I was about 10 years old, the boy next door, same age as me, could do it, and would have us girls in fits of laughter imitating auctioneers. I shudder to admit this but I think we even “played auction” with our horses one bored summer afternoon. Got them all “sales prepped” and everything. But we were, of course, pretending it was Keeneland, NOT the local feedlot! :winkgrin:
I wasn’t talking about skipping out I was talking about finding out the horse you thought you bid 5k on was actually just purchased by you for 50k because you couldn’t understand them. Just refuse to sign the slip and have them bring the horse back in the ring due to your misunderstanding. Of course nowadays we have electronic boards that print the price on it as it is going up so that is less likely to happen but back when they first started talking that way I am sure it happened frequently.
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Ah! And yes!
Sometimes it’s a family thing. Current Keeneland auctioneer Cris Caldwell is the son of longtime Keeneland auctioneer Tom Caldwell. I believe his brother Scott is also in the profession.
FWIW, I can’t imagine anyone bidding if they were so confused by the process that they didn’t know if they were bidding 5K or 50K.
When we were first buying TBs I did find the bidding to be intimidating, so I sat with someone who was experienced and had them bid for me. Now it’s no big deal. And of course at the big TB auction houses, you can simply stop the bidding and ask a question anytime you get “lost”.
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They get their start doing the disclosures at the end of car commercials…
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They chant like that to keep you mesmerized , so you don’t realize what your spending. That’s what it does to me anyway.
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It’s incredible, isn’t it? I find it hypnotizing at first, but after a couple hours sitting in the pavillion I always have a pounding headache. I can’t sit through the whole day–I just come in and out when I’m interested in the particular horse in the ring.
Scott Caldwell is indeed in the business and is in fact one of Keeneland’s regular auctioneers alongside brother Cris. Their dad apparently was an auctioneering legend around the nation–and not just in the horse sales world. I talked to a young auctioneer once who was just moving from car and cattle sales into horse sales, and he said that auctioneers everywhere know about Tom Caldwell. I thought that was kind of neat.
What are the auctioneer chants
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What people know, consider the “standard” sing-song,chant, auctioneer babel comes by and large from the media, TV, movies, commercials, etc. What we hear at Fasig Tipton, Keeneland most major horse auctions is completely based on derived from the style developed by tobacco auctioneers well over years 100 ago. It has that “southern thing” because the south was were the vast majority of tobacco was and is still grown, Maryland further south.
Every fall the entire tobacco crop is/was brought to regional warehouses, graded and sold by the auction process. Up until the early to mid 90s the tobacco auctions were a big deal in downtown Lexington a few weeks after the Keeneland yearling sales. The warehouses lined South Broadway just up the hill from center downtown. Not far from the Red Mile standard bred track. Their race meet coincided with the tobacco auction “party”. Long gone now and the that area has been completely redeveloped
The stereotypical southern auction “chant” is not the norm at the majority of auctions, especially at Auction Houses. The auctioneers that work for Fasig Tipton, Keeneland, OBS the major horse auction companies are not “employees”. They are on retainer to those companies. Selling horses is not their “core” business per-say. They are the auctioneers for LOTs of different auction companies around the country. Selling livestock, sheep, cattle pigs, etc to what ever.
The Caldwell’s I believe are from Washington State. They are the “voice” of Keeneland. As was the late Laddie Dance, Ralph Rettler who were from Maryland were to Fasig Tipton for many decades. Laddie’s brother Steve still work for Fasig. He has his own auction business in Maryland.
Yes the tobacco chant style can be a little difficult to follow for those who’s ear has not been trained. But after a number of years of attending auctions it becomes easily understandable. We also know how to “listen” to the “tricks” of their trade. One is being able to know if a horse sold or not. The bid board always says “sold” whether it did sell or was an RNA. The auctioneer “hammers” the horse down to a bid spotter who’s “clients” were seated in their area of the sales pavilion. So the person with the purchase agreement, sales slips know where to go to have the buyer sign.
Before the auction starts the auctioneers decide on a “fictitious” bid spotter’s name to “hammer down” RNA’s to. So those in the know don’t have to wait for an updated results sheet. This can help buyers at times to figure out the “mood” of the auction at that time. And plan their bidding “strategy” accordingly. Even people who think they are “veteran” horse auction buyers fail to understand, know that the auctioneers work for the seller, It is their job to extract as much money out of a buyer as possible. A LOT of horses are sold at times for a LOT more money then was actually “in the ring”.
Those of us who know the “tricks of the trade” know when we or our clients are being run. My father was a principle with Fasig Tipton for over 30 years. I was pretty well schooled, lol. I worked many sales part time and then full time for a few year in just about every part of the company. When a person has spent years and years and more years going to lots of auctions every year. It becomes pretty easy to become fluent in what is going on with out having to pay close attention. You learn how to “filter out” the a lot of the “babble”. It also becomes easy to hang around the sale all day, day after day and not be driven nuts by the constant “drone”.
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There are some youtube videos on how to auctioneer. Mr KC came across one randomly one day and was driving me crazy with his “auctioning”. Lol!
They go to auctioneering school! My mother did this as she has been the emcee/host for quite a few different charity type auctions and became interested in auctioneering. She was one of very few women in her class group.
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I’m with the opinion that it’s purposeful in the intent to get people to bid more than they want to. I finally participated in my first auction in April, and the office staff just laughed and giggled when I tried to argue on some of the stuff, “Well yeah, it does get confusing.”
Have to tell you my story concerning a disputed bid. At the 2016 CTHS Yearling Sale, we were bidding on a Court Vision colt. I went out at 7k, but when the hammer dropped at 9k, the runner came to me to sign for the purchase.
My partners and I all said that the horse was not purchased by me, spotters said I had. They would not take no for an answer, and would not put horse back through the ring, so I signed. Two horses later though, there was the same problem involving a big name buyer. That horse went back through the ring.
Happily, this guy is showing ability. And his registered name? Disputed Bid.
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^^^ Fantastic name on your guy, MHT. Best of luck with him!
Oh Gum Tree (or anyone who may know) - how long does each auctioneer work for at a time, about? They can’t do a whole day, right? It must be exhausting. Do they have a few for the day and they switch off? Thanks!
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Both the auctioneers and the bid spotters switch in and out every half hour.
