Darrell & Kathy wrote:
> Galoots
> nothing to add except a digression, down memory lane...
>
> A fair number of years ago a few of us local Galoots were at a
> tool auction, and there were DOZENS of shoulder planes.
> One of them was skewed, and yeah, it was like 20-25 degrees.
> Really obvious.
> As the auctioneer worked his way through the shoulder planes
> he was going on choice in order.  So if you won lot X you had to
> say how many you wanted at that price, and then they would
> move on to the next unsold lot number.  A bit confusing for some
> but not for Craig.  He noted the lot# of the skewed plane, and
> bid on the one just before it.  The auctioneer says "How many?"
> and Craig says quite deliberately "Two please".  The handler
> picked up the pair of planes and everyone saw the very obvious
> skewed mouth.  A chorus of groans erupted from the bidders
> who had all been waiting on this lot.  We bin had.
>
> Nicely played, Craig.  Nicely played.

In fairness the auctioneer made a HUGE mistake. Craig merely
exploited it. The process the auctioneer invoked is called (in the UK)
selling "with the option".

It's often used when selling (say) 30 pieces of timber.

(It can be important to know this phrase, and what it means, when attending an
auction)

   BugBear