Article: Auctions as multifunctional systems in the Rhine Valley, Germany, in the nineteenth century.

Introduction

In investigating a social phenomenon of recent centuries it is often worthwhile to glance at today's version of the same event. In relation to auctions, taking stock of North American and Canadian public sales in rural areas may provide a starting point for such an examination:

 
   In the predominantly rural area of Pennsylvania, the public sale is 
   one of the few regularly attended traditional social events. It is 
   an event of economic and cultural value: economically it provides an 
   opportunity for purchasing cheap, used household and farm items; it 
   also serves a similar function of social interaction, as do the 
   Grange, camp ...

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