The annual Auction will be held on Saturday, January 6th at our Cole Court venue; put the date in

your diaries and help us make this a highlight of the year! The Auction is a very entertaining meeting

with lots of banter, enjoyed by all. It is also a good reason for getting out on, what can be a cold and,

otherwise, uninspiring day. For those who are new to this, here are a few notes on how the Auction

works:

The doors will open for the meeting at 1:00 pm; 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. 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.

The Auction will start at 2.00 pm with the plants being auctioned at random. Each plant will be held

up for all to see and have a little information given about it; also, a very reasonable starting price

suggested. Sellers can request a minimum starting bid or a reserve price. 

After the sale of the final plant, a lot of arithmetic will be carried out (by myself) 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 a 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 have been unable to get hold of any cash, or have brought insufficient with

you!

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 at the last auction was £18. If you come to the Auction, you are sure to pick up a bargain or

two; lot prices can start as low as £2. Most of the plants auctioned in 2023 would have cost over £20

to purchase commercially, many of them much more. Also, several of the orchids seen in the 2023

Auctions are now not commercially available; so, coming to the Auction gives you the chance to pick

up a rarity that you may not otherwise be able to obtain.