The tactics of a combination of buyers at a sale of household goods, with an arrangement for one man to buy everything they want, so as to avoid competition, is well known as “the knock out.”  I saw a most flagrant case at a sale of valuable books at an old Cotswold Manor House.  The books were tied up, quite promiscuously, in parcels of half a dozen or more, and although the room was crowded with dealers who had been examining them with interest beforehand, practically only one bidder appeared, and nearly every lot was sold to him for a few shillings.  I noticed several men taking notes of the prices made, and, immediately the book sale was finished, they removed them to the lawn, where they were resold by one of the gang at greatly enhanced prices.  They would, of course, eventually deduct the original cost from the amount now realized and divide the difference amongst the buyers at the second sale, pro rata, according to the amount of each man’s total purchases.

Cattle-dealers, with a reputation as judges of fat stock at auctions, have to be very careful not to let inexperienced butchers see them bidding, because the latter will bid on the strength of the dealer’s estimate of value, arguing that the animal must be worth more to himself as a butcher, than to the dealer who has to sell again.  I have often watched the crafty ways of such dealers not to give themselves away in this manner, and their methods of concealing their bids.  One I particularly noticed, whose habit was to stand just below the auctioneer’s rostrum, facing the animal in the ring, with his back to the auctioneer.  When he wished to bid he raised his head very slightly, making a nod backwards to the auctioneer, who, knowing his man, was looking out for this method of attracting his attention.

Though the ordinary farm sale is by far the most amusing and picturesque, the sale of pedigree stock is much more sensational.  When the shorthorn mania was at its height, and the merits of Bates and Booth blood were hotly debated, when such phrases as “the sea-otter touch,” referring to the mossy coat of the red, white, or roan shorthorn, were heard, and the Americans were competing with our own breeders in purchasing the best stock they could find—­prices were hoisted to an extravagant height.  There is no forming a “knock-out” at a pedigree sale; sturdy competition is the only recognized method of purchase, and the sporting spirit is a strong incentive, especially when the vendor is known as a courageous buyer at the sales of the leading breeders.

I attended the dispersal of a herd where the owner had been for years one of these sporting buyers; he had, however, gone more for catalogue blue-blood than perceptible excellence, and the stock were brought into the ring scarcely up to the exhibition form which a pedigree sale demands.  The American buyers were well represented, and the popularity of the vendor brought a great crowd of home buyers, so that the sale