On Sunday, 10th August at 3pm Eastern, the shard will be holding another auction to help raise money for our town treasuries (aka the Governor Slush Fund [GSF]). Sixty lots will be sold at the live event, which should take two hours, with the remaining items being sold in a separate forum auction.

Venue & auctioneer 

The auction will take place at Gilfane Arena and I will be acting as auctioneer again. The arena is located a little east of the Skara ferry in the central Gilfane area (see map). You can also get there via teleporters: the “Gilfane” teleporter in the Hub Pub east of Umbra will bring you to the Citadel next door, and one directly to the Arena will be available from New Magincia Town Hall (the building closest to the bank). And, barring unforeseen circumstances, EM Troubadour should have gates to the event from key locations.

The auction will be held on the top floor: follow the stairs up to the second floor then use one of the teleporters south of the fountain. Auction staff will be wearing the Gilfane black and/or blood-red colours.

Commission & donations

The auctioneer will levy a charge of 5% on all lots sold and the money so raised (the “Town Fund”) will be split equally between the nine towns that make up the King’s Council. In addition, many lots have been donated entirely for the benefit of the Town Fund (100% of sale price to fund) or to an individual town (5% to Town Fund, 95% to nominated town).

The public is also welcome to make a cash donation directly to the auctioneer, in favour of either the Town Fund or a specific town. This is no different than giving cash directly to the town heralds except that your donation will appear in the official accounts and will therefore be recorded for posterity.

Supporting activities

The following promotions will be in place at the event, with all monies raised going to the Town Fund:

a) Priority seating: With lot #101 in the forum auction, there is the opportunity to bid for the best seats in the house at Gilfane Arena.

b) Raffle draw: Raffle tickets will be on sale again for 100k each, and the prize this time is a pillory deed. This is an extremely rare drop from the Primeval Lich and only around a half dozen are known to exist here.

d) Food concessions: Commemorative cakes will be on sale again and we are delighted to announce that this batch will be baked by none other than Sosaria’s most famous cook, Queen Mum!

Auction house rules

All those attending the sale are asked to be considerate to other participants and not do anything to disrupt or unnecessarily delay proceedings, especially pointless spamming of text and/or spells. Those engaging in aggressive, disorderly or suspicious behaviour are liable to be removed from the building by officials. In addition, the following prohibitions are in effect:

a) No hiding or stealthing within the arena building, unless authorized to do so or in self-defence.

b) No casting of spells in the arena building unless authorized to do so or in self-defence. Exceptions are minor beneficial spells such as night sight, provided these are not spammed. The opening of gates is specifically banned; please go outside to do this.

c) No sitting in the priority seating (the thrones) without authorization.

d) No entering the secure area (grassy part of the arena) without authorization (such as when purchasing winning bids).

Bidding

Bids can be made at the live event by calling out the amount that you wish to bid. In the case of two identical bids, the one accepted will be the first that appears in the auctioneer’s journal.

The auctioneer will try and keep bidding at set levels in relation to the current bid price, but this is not set in stone. However, bids of odd amounts or only marginally above the current high bid may either be rejected or rounded down. The general bid levels are as follows:

up to 200k: increments of 10k
200k – 500k: increments of 25k
500k – 1 million: increments of 50k
1 – 2 million: increments of 100k
2 – 5 million: increments of 250k
5 – 10 million: increments of 500k
over 10 million: increments of 1 million

Winning bidders

Although encouraged to stay until the end of the auction, winning bidders may claim their items at any time by approaching an assistant cashier (not the auctioneer, please). You should then follow their instructions to get to the secure checkout area. Sales will be made via a vendor.

If you have to leave the auction unexpectedly and do not have time to claim your items, please at least inform an official. Failure to claim items or give notice may lead to them being offered to the underbidder instead.

Reserve Price

Many items in the sale will carry a reserve price. If bids do not meet or exceed this reserve price, the lot will go unsold. Even if no reserve has been specified, the auctioneer may, at his discretion, decline to sell a lot if he does not believe that a reasonable bid has been offered.

Commission bids

We encourage as many people as possible to try and attend the auction, but if you are unable to do so, and do not have anyone who can act on your behalf, then it is possible to send in a bid in advance of the sale, known as a commission bid. A commission bid represents the maximum amount your are prepared to pay for the item, and the auctioneer will bid on your behalf up to this amount.

The following rules apply to commission bids:

a) To make a commission bid, PM me with “Commission bid” as the title. Include the lot number and description of the item(s) you wish to bid on, together with the maximum amount you are prepared to pay. Bids should be in line with the amounts shown in the “Bidding” section above. Do not post your commission bids in this thread!

b) If I do not know you, and it is not obvious from your Stratics name, then please tell me who you are in-game. Commission bids may be limited or even rejected from complete strangers without some sort of security.

c) In the event of identical commission bids, the one received first will take priority.

d) Commission bids must reach me by the end of Saturday (9th August) to be guaranteed for inclusion.

e) Commission bids are held in strict confidence and will not be revealed to anyone other than the auctioneer. However, the identity of any winning bidders will be entered into the public record.

f) Successful bidders will be notified of any items that they win. Please try and make arrangements to collect the items within forty-eight hours of the end of the sale. Failure to make adequate communications with the auctioneer may result in the items being withdrawn and offered instead to the underbidder.

Official accounts & settlement

A record of sale prices and all monies raised will be published after the auction. The auctioneer will deposit the money raised for each town directly.

Settlement with those who have submitted items for sale will be made as soon as practicable.

Confidentiality & liability

All reserve prices, commission bids and other privileged information from buyers & sellers will be kept in confidence by the auctioneer except in the event of a new auctioneer having to be appointed due to illness or force majeure.

Final responsibility for items being sold, monies raised thereon, and the conduct of the auction, lies with the auctioneer and not the members of the King’s Council.

Live sale listing

Unless otherwise stated, lots give 5% of sale price to Town Fund, 95% to seller.
Lots marked [Town Fund] indicate that 100% of sale price goes to the Town Fund.
Lots marked [individual town] give 5% of sale price to Town Fund, 95% to specified town.
Names shown are the person that donated the item.

#1 Tome of Lost Knowledge (blessed) [Town Fund – Becca]
#2 Yellow polkadot bikini top (rare MiB loot) [Town Fund – Sam]
#3 A blessed lucky necklace (200 luck) [Town Fund – Kelmo]
#4 A gilded statue from the personal collection of the king [Yew – York]

#5 Trammel Moonstone (light brown) [Town Fund – Fogsbane]
#6 Bloody sash (transforms wearer into werewolf at night)
#7 Five Halloween costumes (bloodworm/gazer/giant toad/skeleton/terathan warrior)
#8 Legacy token [New Magincia – Morgan Ironfist]
#9 Staff of Pyros [Town Fund – Shakespeare]
#10 Demon Bridle ring [Town Fund – Victim]
#11 Haochi’s Pigments token (good for one bottle) [Town Fund – Victim]
#12 120 Focus scroll [Town Fund – Gilfane Treasury]
#13 Blessed event spellbook (DCI-2, SDI-21, FCR-2, LMC-3) [Yew – Gilfane Treasury]
#14 A kitten raised by Mesanna (blue/grey) [Town Fund – Fogsbane]
#15 2 x Race Change token [Town Fund – Becca]
#16 Five Primeval Lich gravestone sets (five stones, ten grave dirt)

#17 A Primeval Lich small banana tree

#18 Eight Primeval Lich stone spikes (Four small, four large)

#19 Primeval Lich six-piece vat set

#20 Three Primeval Lich Lava tiles (image shows CC on left, EC on right)

#21 Slither
#22 Ethereal Beetle [5th year veteran reward]
#23 Two complete sets of ten grapevines (20 items) [Town Fund – Sam]

#24 2 x Academic bookcase
#25 2 x +25 Stat scroll [Town Fund – Gilfane Treasury]
#26 10000 Barbed leather
#27 A Deed for a cannon [7th year veteran reward]
#28 200 Seeds of renewal [Town Fund – Kelmo]
#29 A bucket (semi-rare; no longer spawns; no water version) [Town Fund – Kelmo]
#30 Blessed Captain Crunch AoS thigh boots

#31 Nexus deed
#32 Orc Ship
#33 Forged Metal of Artifacts (5 uses) [Town Fund – Victim]
#34 Swordsmanship 5.0 SoT [Town Fund – Gilfane Treasury]
#35 2 x Soulstone fragment token [Britain – Gilfane Treasury]
#36 Advanced Character token [Town Fund – Becca]
#37 Charger of the Fallen statuette [Trinsic – Kelmo]
#38 Lava tile (Semidar special drop) [This version does not display properly in the EC] [Town Fund – Morgan Ironfist]

#39 +5 Exodus scroll [New Magincia – Morgan Ironfist]
#40 Undertaker’s Staff (not blessed on Siege)
#41 Smuggler’s Edge (not blessed on Siege) [Britain – Holden Caulfield]
#42 3 x Heritage token [Town Fund – Becca]
#43 Rechargeable House Teleporter set (fully charged) [Town Fund – Fogsbane]
#44 Lighthouse [5th year veteran reward] [Town Fund – Holden Caulfield]
#45 Raised Garden Bed
#46 115 fishing scroll
#47 Commodity Deed box [1st year veteran reward]
#48 Ankh of Sacrifice [10th year veteran reward] [Trinsic – Kelmo]
#49 Superior Mage suit [New Magincia – Morgan Ironfist]

#50 Richard Garriott’s bones

#51 Your choice of up to 13th Year Veteran reward [Town Fund – Baby Doll]
#52 120 magery scroll [Town Fund – Shakespeare]
#53 Etheral Tiger statuette [15th year veteran reward] [Skara Brae – Becca]
#54 Secluded keep SW of Trinsic (1688, 3143)
#55 Conjurer’s Garb (140 Luck version)
#56 Conjurer’s Grimoire
#57 2 x Legacy token
#58 Archdemon statue (Abyssal Infernal special)

#59 Britannian ship deed [Skara Brae – Frost]
#60 The Moonglow Mystery Box! (11 items collected by the Governor of Moonglow. Includes at least one 120 scroll)