WHAT AM I BID?
AN AUCTION SALE OF FUNERAL AND WEDDING
TRAPPINGS
“What am I offered?”
“Oh, don’t sell that!” said one or two bidders.
The auctioneer held up a large walnut case. It contained a funeral wreath of preserved flowers.
“Well, I’ve sold coffins at auction in my time, so I guess I can stand this,” replied the auctioneer. “What am I offered?”
He disposed of it, with three other funeral mementos, very cheap, for the bidding was dispirited. It was at the sale yesterday, in a Montgomery Street auction-room, of the personal effects, jewelry, silverware, and household bric-a-brac of a once very wealthy San Francisco family. The head of the family was a pioneer, a citizen of wealth and high social and commercial standing. It was he who, in early days, projected South Park. There was no family in the city whose society was more sought after, or which entertained better, than that of James Randolph.
“What am I offered for this lot?”
He referred to the lot catalogued as “No. 107,” and described as “Wedding-dress, shoes, etc.”
“Don’t sell that!” The very old-clo’ man remonstrated this time.