Our Summer Auction will be held as part of our "Orchids for Everyone" full day session on Saturday, July 27th at our Cole Court venue; put the date in your diaries!
It is an all-day session – doors open 09:30, meeting starts at 10:00 and closes at 17:00. More details about the day can be found here.
The Auction is a very entertaining meeting with lots of banter, enjoyed by all. For those who are new to this, here are a few notes on how the Auction works:
13:15 Doors open, following on from our ‘Orchids for Everyone’ morning session.
Plants arriving for auctioning will be registered and allocated a number.
Members can bring up to 8 lots, and joint members up to 12. The plants are then placed on the auction tables for prospective purchasers to view before the bidding gets underway. We suggest making a note of any lots you like the look of
Members who come to buy, rather than to sell, will register and be handed a personal number; any plants they buy will be assigned to that number.
14:00 Auction starts!
Plants are auctioned in a random order Each plant will be held up for all to see and have a little information given about it; Bidding starts with a reasonable starting price suggested by your auctioneer.
After the sale of the final plant, a lot of arithmetic will be carried out (by the auctioneer) to total up each purchaser’s spend and to ascertain each seller’s takings, not forgetting that 10% of each plant sale goes to the O.S.G.B. Everyone else gets to enjoy much needed tea break at this point!
The sellers expect to go home with their takings, so we try to run a cash auction as far as possible; please visit a cash point if you can before you come to the Auction. However, we will also be able to take credit/debit card payments by Zettle if you treat yourself and snap up one too many bargains!
The Auction is a fantastic means for O.S.G.B. members to ‘swap’ plants. If you can’t grow an orchid
as well as it should be grown, bring it to the Auction; you can bet that someone else would like to
give it a go.
You might also be surprised at how much your plant is sold for; the average sale price
per lot is usually about £15. However, if you come to the Auction, there are also plenty of bargains to be had; starting prices can be as little as £2. Most of the plants auctioned in recent years would have cost
over £20 to purchase commercially, and several of the orchids auctioned each year are no longer commercially available. Buying at the Auction gives you the chance to enjoy owning a rare specimen, only available to true Orchid enthusiasts like you.
Refreshments will be available to purchase at the venue bar.
Looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday 27th July, and happy bidding!
