The firm, displaced after the storm, is back with a full slate of auctions for February thru April.

(LYNBROOK, N.Y.) – Philip Weiss Auctions – down but definitely not out following Hurricane Sandy – has a full slate of auctions planned for the rest of winter and early spring, in its new gallery at 74 Merrick Road in Lynbrook. The new facility is located not too far from its former building, in Oceanside, which was decimated by the storm that forced the firm to vacate.

“It was hard saying good-bye to our old home,” Philip Weiss said wistfully from his new digs in Lynbrook. “After all, we’d been there for over 25 years, holding consistent, monthly auctions. But life goes on, and we’re settling in nicely, looking forward to a series of sales that will let people know, in no uncertain terms, that we’re back. I think 2013 will be a great year.”

Actually, Philip Weiss Auctions has already conducted a few small, online-only auctions since the move to Lynbrook, but it is now ready to return to full-bore, live-audience bidding. First up will be a sale dedicated to rare books, historical memorabilia, autographs, stamps, coins and postcards scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 26, with a rare afternoon start time of 3 p.m. (EST).

Two auctions are planned for March. On Sunday, March 10, at 10 a.m., hundreds of lots of toys, trains and toy soldiers will cross the block. Then, on Saturday, March 30, also at 10 a.m., the focus will shift to comics, comic art, sports and non-sports cards and animation art. That will be followed by a massive vintage poster auction, to be held sometime in April (date still TBA).

The Feb. 26 sale will be packed with historical and presidential memorabilia, including a postcard handwritten by JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, some JFK material, a rare painting of Pres. James Madison attributed to Samuel Morse, a single-owner collection of political buttons, presidential and political documents and a super U.S. Supreme Court archive, with 42 signatures.

Other highlights will feature a $400,000 collection of U.S. entires and cut corner stamps, a single-owner Hong Kong stamp collection estimated at $25,000-$35,000 and many group stamp lots. Gold and silver coins and paper currency will also be sold. Items of interest will include an Apollo 11 autographed program and Cole Porter’s traveling gambling game set.

The rare books category will boast a collection of high-end color plate books, and many better volumes of Americana and literature, to include Oriental Field Sports by Capt. Thomas Williamson and Samuel Howitt; Martial Achievements by James Jenkins; Lives of the Queens of England by Agnes Strickland; an Ernest Hemingway archive and a Matthew Brady archive.

The day will also feature four or five original Charles Schulz Peanuts comic strips, some vintage photographs, thousands of postcards, a collection of Sinsabaugh signed photos and more.

The March 10 auction of toys, trains and toy soldiers will showcase a dazzling array of material, to include a 1954 Superman vs. the Robot metal lunch box, a Corgi Batman helicopter and Barboat and Corgi Batmobile and Batboat gift set, mint-on-card Star Wars action figures, a 1970s GI Joe doll, Britains toy soldiers, high-grade Dime Store figures and Marklin fire pieces.

The trains category will be highlighted by a Bing locomotive and Clockwork locomotive, and examples from makers such as American Flyer, Lionel, Ives and Marklin, plus some brass engines and early European train stations. Over 50 lots will be reserved for on-site bidding only.

The March 30 auction could very well end up being the best of the three. Sports items will feature a 1947 game scorecard signed by baseball legend Jackie Robinson, a super rare copy of the book History of Colored Baseball by Sol White, several single-owner card collections and other examples of rare vintage sports memorabilia, the demand for which continues to skyrocket.

Animation art will include a 200+-piece single owner animation collection and material from the estate of Hardie Gramatky, the noted American artist and writer and author of the Little Toot children’s books series. Items will feature a Little Toot original animation cel on a master background (signed and inscribed by Walt Disney) and complete Little Toot original book art.

The April poster auction (when a date is finalized for it) will feature a single-owner high-end collection of circus and Buffalo Bill posters, World Wars I and II posters (to include a rare and unique 1890s U.S. Navy recruiting poster), a collection of minstrel posters, and books and ephemera relating to L. Frank Baum, author of the world-renowned Wizard of Oz books series.

Internet bidding will be provided by Proxibid.com and Auctionzip.com, and phone and absentee bids will also be accepted. Philip Weiss Auctions is always accepting quality consignments for future sales. To consign a single item, an estate or a collection, you may call them at (516) 594-0731; or, you can send an e-mail to Philip Weiss at Phil@WeissAuctions.com.

For more information about Philip Weiss Auctions and the February and March multi-estate auctions, please log on to www.weissauctions.com

 

 Frederick Bodnarus says that he is fortunate to be able to live out his dreams.

Bodnarus started being an auctioneer when he was 21-years-old and in 2007 became the owner of his own mobile auctioneering company called Bodnarus Auctioneering.

“From going to farm sales and live stock markets as a kid I just got interested in it,” explained Bodnarus.

Bodnarus, who is originally from Komarno and now lives in Saskatoon, not only has a passion for his career path but is also an award-winning auctioneer. In 2004 he was named the Saskatchewan Cattle Feeder Auctioneering Championship, in 2006 he was deemed the Yorkton Harvest Showdown Auctioneering Champion and in 2007 he earned the title of Manitoba and Saskatchewan Livestock Auctioneering Champions.

“A goal of mine is to win a Canadian title and eventually down the road move on to the worlds,” explained Bodnarus.

Most recently Bodnarus won the Winners Circle Auctioneers Competition at the 2012 Western Canada Agribition in Regina Nov. 20 – something Bodnarus says is ‘a huge feather’ in his cap.

“Winning the 2012 Canadian Western Agribition auctioneering championship like I did, that’s a big feather in my hat so to speak,” said Bodnarus, “as far as credibility about being recognized as the best in the industry.”

To enter the contest, Bodnarus had to send in a two-minute video of his auctioneering skills. Only five videos were chosen to compete at Agribition, with Bodnarus’ being one of them.

“It was exciting. It was an honour just to be selected and it was a greater honour to win it,” said Bodnarus.

At the competition the selling order was selected and the five contestants went about their business selling horse pulls at Agribition. Bodnarus explained there was a panel of judges assessing the contestants, including last year’s winner Ward Cutler who is from Virden, Manitoba.

“I just felt very comfortable,” explained Bodnarus. “I sell to a wide variety of audiences on a weekly basis, so I just treated it like another auction sale and did my best and things worked out.”

The competition was a ‘winner take all’ format, with Bodnarus being declared the overall winner. This means next year he will be one of the judges for the competition, which will then be entering its third year.

“I was very happy,” said Bodnarus of what when through his mind when they called his name, “because I have a great passion for the industry and I believe in the auction method of marketing – and it was just nice to be recognized as one of the best.”

Winning the competition is not slowing Bodnarus down. He explained that he plans to enter the Canadian Championships but on by the Alberta… to be held in Calgary, Alberta this upcoming January.

“I feel that auctioneering is a great profession and it’s something that I’ve always enjoyed,” explained Bodnarus. “Basically I am fortunate to live out my dreams.”

From the Stonewall Argus and Teulon Times.

Think you can be the next Storage Warrior? You aren’t alone.

Attendance at auctions of items in storage units whose owners have failed to pay their bills has soared thanks to the popularity of “Storage Wars,”  “Auction Hunters” and shows like them, as have prices for the goods inside them. SquareFoot.com, which tracks the industry, reports that one of its clients has seen units that once fetched $75 to $125 command prices of as much as $500. The size of some crowds at sales has quintupled.

Not everyone associated with storage auctions is happy with how popular the auctions have become.

“The buyers that used to be the regulars … are long gone because they will not pay the prices that these new crop of buyers are willing to do,” said Colorado auctioneer Rich Schur,  adding that the values attributed to items discovered on TV shows are “highly optimistic.”’

Take the stash of newspapers announcing Elvis Presley’s death found by Dave Hester on “Storage Wars,” which the show said were valued at $90,000.  Newspapers from the 20^th century are generally not valuable because hundreds of thousands of copies of them are sold at a time, which means they are not scarce. Big stories, such as the death of the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll” were printed in millions of papers. The Elvis papers are still for sale and are occasionally given away as promotional items by Storage Treasurers.com, a site co-founded by Dan and Laura Dotson, the auctioneers featured on “Storage Wars.”

“Sometimes the guys evaluate their stuff by perceived value, or future value depending on the length of time it takes to sell it or them,” said Dan Dotson in an email.  “Dave sells those Elvis papers every day on eBay for $15 each; it may take him several lifetimes to get his 90K, but eventually the value will be recognized.”

Most stuff found in storage units is mundane household goods — furniture, kitchenware and clothes — that varies greatly in quality. Few people store their most prized possessions in a storage locker, and those that do probably have the sense to remove them before they become delinquent in their rent for the unit. Skilled buyers, nonetheless, can make a few bucks off many sales by unloading the contents at swap meets or through online sources such as craigslist, provided they can buy them at the right price.

Sometimes buyers are stuck holding items until the right buyer emerges. Indeed, the third-generation auctioneer, added in an interview that if someone told him that they quit their jobs and decided to become a storage buyer full-time without previous experience, he would advise them to try and get their old job back.

“I don’t want people to think that it’s easy because it’s not,” he said.

Many buyers, such as Allen Haff of “Storage Hunters,” wind up having to store their storage treasures in warehouses, the cost of which eats into profits.The shows also make it appear that experts will be willing to appraise their items for free, when often they demand a fee to render their opinion.

“The first season I took a pay cut to do the show,” he said, adding that he is doing better although he said that he is dependent on buying storage lockers to earn a living.  “The editors make our jobs look a lot easier than it is.”

Of course, some people make big scores. Last year, someone found real pirate’s gold at one of the auctions conducted by American Auctioneers, the auction company run by the Dotsons. The trove was valued at $500,000, well above the $1,000 the buyer spent on the unit.  A trove of items owned by Madonna was found at another American Auctioneers sale.

The crowds may start to pick up again.  A spokeswoman for A&E, which broadcasts “Storage Wars” and its sister show “Storage Wars Texas,” told NBC News that  “We are always exploring  (creating new shows in ) other cities but have nothing to report now.”

Jonathan Berr is a freelance writer. Follow him on Twitter @jdberr.

Auctioneer Jack Kiko said he really started noticing it this spring.

Bidders yelling, “Yuuup!”

Someone telling a winner to “Go pay the lady.”

The term “picker” dropped more frequently into conversations.

The jargon is one way Kiko can tell his industry is feeling the effect of numerous reality TV shows that deal with dusty treasures hidden in America’s attics, basements, garages and storage units.

Where viewers once had to settle for a weekly episode of Antiques Roadshow, they can now get their fill daily with the likes of American Pickers, Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, Auction Kings and Auction Hunters, to name only a few.

For those not content to just watch, there are several auctions a week in the Akron-Canton area.

“The TV shows have been good for business,” said Kiko, who works with his father and other family members at Canton-based Kiko Auctions.

You can probably thank the sour economy for the whole phenomenon.

People in need of cash are more willing to part with cherished items. That brings out the investors and collectors who want to add to their tangible assets at bargain-basement prices.

Meanwhile, websites like eBay and Craigslist and the popularity of flea markets make it easy for an average person to become a dealer, reselling their auction finds for some extra cash.

Picking through

“It takes all types of buyers to make an auction work,” Kiko said. “You have got to have the dealers and you’ve got to have the [consumers].”

Examples of both were gathered at a Kiko auction in Uniontown last month, where more than 400 people arrived to pick through the belongings of Linda Hanks, whose husband, Tom, passed away six years ago.

Tom became ill in 1993, Linda explained, and his way of coping with his medical limitations was to attend auctions and tag sales. Over the years, he filled the house, garage and three storage sheds with his discoveries.

“It took this long for me to be able to let some of this go,” Linda said as she sat on her porch while visitors strolled the grounds of her property, looking at tools, collectibles, houseware items, outdoor furniture and oddities of every theme.

Just curious

Picking through boxes of mismatched goods, Kevin Ulicky of Parma represented perhaps the largest demographic at any auction: those who are curious but not in the market for anything specific.

“I’m retired, so I like to go to auctions and look around and watch,” he said. “I go a lot and don’t buy anything.”

He warned that auctions can be contagious, and the bidding can turn into a spirited competition.

“Sometimes you can get caught up in it and end up buying a box of junk for $20 and you wonder what you were thinking,” he said.

It took more than four hours to sell the Hanks’ belongings. The first couple of hours took place in front of the garage, where the more valuable items were offered, while the crowd — including experienced bidders who knew to bring their own lawn chairs — flashed their bidding cards.

The pickings were diverse: a traffic signal controller, leather military aviator’s helmet, pay phone, papier-mache masks, coins, walking canes, battery-operated tools, beaded purses and firearms.

Then the auction turned into a “walk and talk,” with the auctioneer leading a mobile crowd to the outbuildings and around rows of boxes and items laid out on the lawn.

Steve Kelleher patiently was waiting for some of the last items to be bid. The president of the Barberton Historical Society picked up a handful of Halloween-related decorations to use in the society’s Barber Haunt haunted house. He determined a rubber cadaver he won for $50 was easily worth $200 or more.

Kelleher, also a personal collector, has been to “hundreds” of auctions in his lifetime, he said. The 128-year-old Victorian house he shares with his wife, Chris, is filled with collectibles and antique furniture.

‘Macho thing’

Like Ulicky, Kelleher admits to having bought things he really didn’t want.

“It’s a macho thing. Some people might as well be bidding with their middle finger,” Kelleher said.

He laughed recalling how he once bid $9,500 on an antique bookcase he and his wife agreed was worth $4,000.

He saw his wife’s horrified expression as he participated in the frenzied bidding, but said he was always confident the other bidder would stay in till the end. Sure enough, the other guy took the bookcase home for $10,000.

Kelleher said he’s much more disciplined now.

“When I leave an auction, I’m always happy,” he said. “I either got something for a good price, or I leave with all of my money. I win either way.”

Kevin Shahan of Kent had money to spend, but he wasn’t as interested in what the items were as what they could be.

At his artist’s studio in Garrettsville, Shahan turns junk into sculpture with practical uses, like lamps and tables.

He and his mom, Sara Richards, were roaming the rows in search of chunks of metal that could be repurposed.

“Things I want nobody else wants,” Shahan said, “so I usually get a good deal.”

After the Hanks auction, Jack Kiko was already looking forward to his next event.

Kiko Auctions (www.kikoauctions.com) held 1,050 auctions in 2011. Most were for real estate, but many were chattel, the term used for auctioning individual items.

Family members operate a weekly auction house in Alliance (the County Auction barn), where sales are held every Friday at 5 p.m.

Others collect consignment items and host an auction two or three times a month at the Champion Event Center on Mississippi Street in North Canton.

A year ago, Jack Kiko launched a new division: a quarterly auction for musical instruments, held at the Buckeye Event Center in Dalton. That’s where Kikos also hosts a classic cars auction every spring and fall.

All in the family

Kiko, 31, is following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Russ Kiko, who started the family auction business in 1945 in southern Stark County. He’s not the only one. In addition to his father, John Kiko, there are five uncles, 24 cousins and Jack’s three brothers involved in the business.

“When [grandpa] started, he had a weekly auction house. Then it grew and he would have it a couple of times a week,” Jack Kiko said. “It just kept growing from there. Now we’re doing 100 auctions a month during the busy season.”

And there is no doubt those TV shows are bringing in the bidders, he added.

“People watch those shows and they say, ‘Hey, I’ve got a truck. I could do that.’ ” Kiko said.

By Kim Bielenberg and Jim O’Brien in the Irish Independent

Friday September 21 2012

MICHAEL PARSONS

AFTER THE doldrums of January, the spring auction season is gradually recommencing at salerooms around the country next week.

In Co Cavan, auctioneer Victor Mee of Cloverhill Property & Antiques in Belturbet will sell some of the contents from a house on Shrewsbury Road, including a Portrait of William de Salis Filgate . The painting, circa 1910, shows the former British soldier (Crimean War and Indian Mutiny) who lived at Lisrenny House, Ardee, Co Louth dressed as Master of the Louth Hounds. The artist was Sarah Cecilia Harrison, a noted portrait painter, friend of Hugh Lane and the first woman councillor elected to Dublin Corporation (city council). The estimate is €2,000-€4,000. The auction is on Monday at 5.30pm.

On St Valentine’s Day, last-minute romantic gifts at Adams Blackrock auctioneers include: a mid-20th century diamond clip brooch €4,500-€5,000; a painting titled Valentine Roses by Thelma Mansfield €650-€750; a tortoiseshell and silver jewellery box €400-€600; and, for someone in the doghouse, a Victorian silver dog collar €200-€300.

Among other highlights are: Abstract Forms (oil-on-canvas) by Mainie Jellett €15,000-€18,000; Two Women by the Sea (oil-on-canvas) by Daniel O’Neill, €8,000-€10,000; and a George III mahogany serpentine hall table (purchased at the Kilkenny Castle sale in 1935) €1,000-€1,300. The auction is at 11am on Tuesday in Adams Blackrock, 38 Main Street, Blackrock, Co Dublin.

Next Saturday morning at 11am in John Street, Kells, Co Meath, auctioneer Oliver Usher will sell some 1,000 items from the private collection of the late William Battersby of Navan – a lifelong collector with a remarkably diverse range of interests.

The range of items includes vintage farm implements, such as wooden horse- and oxen-drawn ploughs and turf-cutting “sleáns”; old shop cash registers; biscuit and tobacco tins; tea chests and enamel advertising signs; vintage kitchen implements, including “antique washing machines, butter churns, early vacuum cleaners, griddles, smoothing irons and rush lights”; pottery and porcelain; gramophones and records; paintings and prints.

Murray Wise spent most of his day Monday trying to figure out how he’d handle it.

“I was stunned when I saw this,” he says.

The farm land broker and manager said it all started when he saw a copy of the sale bill from a series of farm land rent auctions held around Iowa between Thursday, February 2, and Saturday, February 4. It was the first time he’d seen such an auction, and the type of sale that could change the makeup of the farm land value spectrum from now on.

“It’s just a puzzling set of circumstances,” says Wise, president of Champaign, Illinois-based Murray Wise Associates, LLC. “The question I would now pose is are these rents economically feasible from the farmer’s point of view?”

The rents he’s talking about came from the 4 auctions — attended by hundreds of farmers — in Guthrie Center, Eldora, Osage and Mason City, Iowa, over the weekend. At stake were 2-year leases on around 3,300 acres of land owned by Charles Lakin of Milford, Iowa. The land, sold in 24 different tracts, was rented for anywhere between $325 and $530/acre………

Read theFull article and Video From Industry Leading Successful Farming and Agriculture.Com

Put cash rent on the auction block and normal, rational farmers act like they’re buying a Picasso, not the rights to farm a piece of flood-prone or sandy soil for only two years. That was DTN’s Elizabeth Williams’ impression after attending a weekend cash rent auction in Mason City, Iowa where many of the 300 people attending ignored blizzard warnings to observe a new phenomenon for Iowa: the public rental auction. (See her story today in Top News or on the Farm Business page).

As Elizabeth reported, several parcels brought $520 per tillable acre, but most of the winning bids ranged from $425 to $490. Several farms came with warnings that they were rated a crop insurance risk and paid surcharges for coverage. So by all accounts, that denotes a huge premium given that USDA surveys show farmers in Iowa’s most expensive cash rent county only paid an average of $235 an acre in 2011, according to USDA. (Keep in mind that “average” factors in below-market rates charged by elderly grandparents and other blood relatives.)

A handful of landlords also solicited renters this winter by posting newspaper ads asking for bids on their Iowa farms. One of my Iowa friends–a loser at $465 an acre in the newspaper auction battle–thinks they can make high rents pay if they have long-term leases and reap the benefits of being able to spread hog manure (a potential $75 value versus the commercial stuff). Cash grain operators have trouble competing.

Those rents are too rich for Adam Erwin, DTN’s in-house columnist and a 10,000-acre, all crops Midwest farmer. If soybeans only average $11.50 this year, he’d barely make enough money to cover rent and input costs–leaving no margin for error on yields, he argues. If he grows corn, he’d have to consider what happens if a trendline yield and the largest planted acres since World War II conspire to produce a 13.8 billion bu. corn crop come fall.

Convulsive commodity prices bear a lot of the blame for this new landlord romance with cash auctions. Cash rent landlords felt left in the dust if they negotiated their 2011 rents too early in the summer of 2010. Between July 2010 and July 2011, potential revenue per acre on a typical Illinois corn farm swung at least $600 an acre. The land contracts of yesterday weren’t meant for that volatility.

Adam authored a pair of persuasive articles this week condemning flex leases for actually raising his risks, not sharing them (see “Bent Out of Shape by Flex Leases” in Farm Business). I’m sympathetic given that some leases carry unnecessary complexity, but that’s not the case with every formula. You can use an FSA posted county price, which is posted online daily and needs no calculation. You can use your crop insurance yields, which you have to report anyway. Most landlords want a bonus in a great year, not to lick up all the crumbs. To me, a fair flex lease is far preferable to a renter promising $500 up front at auction and paying the consequences later. Any dissenters want to comment?

Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter/MarciaZTaylor

Read More at DTN and The Progressive Farmer

Forget the lottery, instant millionaires are made in Nebraska’s fertile soil.

While the nation recovers from the collapse of the housing market, farm land is about as sure a bet as there is.

An auctioneer’s voice is the sound of prosperity in Nebraska, as farm land soars past $10,000 an acre.

“It’s been a good upwards market for sellers,” auctioneer Randy Ruhter said.

It’s a great time to sell, but it’s not easy for a beginning farmer like John Williamson. He attended this auction in Hastings with his step dad.

John said, “I’m trying to get started with the help of my dad here,”

“My stepson is located right beside the farm. Come into the farm operation and we had hopes
he could have the farm beside him,” Richard Heftie explained.

This auction progressed quickly. The number of potential buyers narrowed to two, as bidding climbed higher and higher. John and Richard never had a chance.

John said, “It takes a lot of capital to get in and that’s what kept us out of this I guess.”

Randy Ruhter stopped the auction not once but twice, giving bidders a chance to work the phones.

An acre of irrigated land went for less than a thousand dollars when Ruhter got in the business. Now it trades for ten times that.

“Land is just a good investment,” Ruhter explained. “It was residual income, unlike something you might buy, stocks and bonds. While you’re holding the property and possibly getting an upturn in value, you’re also getting annual income off it as well, so it’s very desirable, ag real estate right now seems to be the choice.”

The statistics back up that assertion. University of Nebraska economists say 2011 brought record incomes on the farm.

The latest study of agricultural real estate by the University of Nebraska shows farm land jumped 22% from 2010 to 2011. Not only is that an all-time high, it’s still the record once inflation is factored in.

University research shows central and south central Nebraska farms rose in value by 25% in a single year.

In south central Nebraska, land prices rose 103% in five years. Statewide, land with center pivot irrigation showed the greatest gains.

Randy Ruhter expects a market correction, but doesn’t think it’s necessarily a bubble that will burst. And as long as it lasts, corn belt states like Nebraska enjoy good times.

Ruhter said, “As agriculture goes, so goes central Nebraska’s economy. It’s all based on what farmers make and farmers, historically, if they’re making money, they’re spending money.”

Ruhter was auctioning 160 acres of gravity irrigated crop land near Harvard in Clay County. The final price came to $12,000 an acre.

John Williamson calculated the prices on his phone, which ended up at $1.9 million.

The landowner became an instant millionaire, while most farmers like Williamson were outbid
before they started.

“It passed us faster than we thought,” he said with a laugh.

Based on high crop prices, farm income is at an all time high in Nebraska. But there’s a downside for the men and women feeding the world.

Williamson, the young farmer said, “It might be tough to own for a while. Might have to rent until things change.”

His step dad Richard Heftie said, “It’s unbelievable and the next thin is what will taxes do?”

NTV will examine the issue of property taxes Tuesday as our week-long special report continues.

Read More at  Nebraska TV

MASON CITY – Most high bidders at land auctions will come out the door with acreage to call their own.

But successful bidders at a land auction Saturday in Mason City left with a lease.

The Charles E. Lakin Cash Rent Auction at the Clarion Inn in Mason City provided 15 parcels totaling just over 2,200 acres upon which the highest-bidding tenants won the right to farm the land.

There was plenty of interest. Some 300 bidders were registered, with more attending who were curious about the relatively new type of auction.

Successful bidders paid some hefty per-acre rents. The average lease price per acre was about $460. The range for the day was $325 to $520 per acre. All leases were for two years.

At auction’s end, more than $1 million had been bid in rents.

And that was pretty much in line with what earlier auctions were getting, said Korrina Hughes, who clerks for her husband’s auction business. Al Hughes Auction of Glenwood was the service conducting Saturday’s sale.

Earlier in the week, the Lakin family held similar sales in Hardin, Guthrie and Mitchell counties.

“The market is changing so fast; we didn’t feel the leases were keeping up,” said Charles Lakin Jr.

Lakin’s father, Charles E., owns the parcels. Charles Jr. represents his father’s interests.

“He is going to be very interested in how his went today,” he said.

The market volatility prompted the family to put the cash rents to auction – a first for his father, Lakin said.

It took about two hours to establish rents for the parcels, located in Butler, Cerro Gordo, Franklin and Hancock counties.

A descriptions of inputs was given for each tract before the bids. Inputs are things like manure and fertilizer that have been worked into the ground – and which increases its value.

Then, one round of non-binding bidding takes place. In that preliminary round, everyone gets a feel for where a lease will be set. The highest bid becomes the starting price for the second round that establishes the real rent.

More often the bid climbs in the second round but in two instances on Saturday it stayed where it was.

“Most (leases per acre) were a good $200 higher than what I pay in Cerro Gordo County,” said one farmer, who declined to give his name.

There is a fear, he said, that other rents will be forced upwards.

“With these numbers I don’t know how those farmers are going to make it, paying those kinds of prices.”

But others said increased rents are probably more in line with the rising value of land.

“I come from a family of farmers and I am kind of torn sometimes,” said Hughes, adding that she can understand being both owner and tenant.

“But we also haven’t seen land selling for $16,000, $17,000 per acre like we’ve seen recently, either,” she said.

She added while the auction company has not done many cash rent auctions, the number was growing.

She said farmers attending the auction were well-versed on each farm. She believed farms acreages that rented high did so for a reason – and the lesser quality land resulted in cheaper leases.

“They were very much in line” with what they should have commanded, she said.

Well, to a point, said another farmer – who also declined to given his name – who said everything depended on which side of the dollar you stood on: The one paying the dollar, or the one getting the dollar.

“I know this,” he said. “I am going to have a long, long talk with my tenants.”