This is the slang term for an arrangement between certain dealers for purchasing goods at public auction upon terms advantageous to themselves. Instances every now and then are made public in which articles of considerable value are sold under the hammer for a third or half the price which with ordinary and unrestricted competition they would realize, and when it becomes known that a sum of money representing part of the unrealized value, has been divided amongst a syndicate of dealers, there is much public indignation. Very few people, however, know anything of the details of the operation, and an explanation may be of interest here, as the system is greatly in force at sales of furniture, where, as occasionally happens, some rare and valuable article is catalogued in a country sale with a lot of very ordinary household furniture. That is the great opportunity of the "knock out."

The dealers present at the sale who intend to put in their claim for the lot or lots in question, abstain from bidding against each other. The first bidder of the syndicate is therefore unopposed by them, and buys the lot at the highest bid against the rest of the "company" in the room. If some one is present who has a knowledge of the value of the article in question, he may of course either outbid the "knock out" representative, or he may bid so high that this purchaser will have to hold the lot if he has bought it dearly, because his confederate dealers will not care to claim it. If, however, he purchases the lot at considerably less than what is considered to be a fair market price, there will be an adjournment after the sale to some convenient place, where the lot or lots purchased by all those in the "knock out" must be put up. This is done in the following manner. We will suppose that A has bought Lot 100 for, say, £20, and the market value is generally considered to be at least double that sum. The dealers sit round a table, choose a chairman, and then begin to bid, commencing on the left of the holder, i.e. the buyer of the lot B offers an advance of from 1s. to 5s., or if he prefers to do so, makes a much higher bid. The next man advances (in no case less than 1s.), until one of the number says, "That's enough for me." He and any others sitting on his left may also retire, being entitled under the rules to their share of extra money. Thus, if they retire when £5 has been advanced, and ten men are present, each one would be entitled to his one-tenth, namely, 10s. After these men have retired, the bidding again commences until others retire, when the shares are again calculated, only, for the purpose of convenience, instead of settling after each division, an account is kept by the chairman, and the "paying out" made afterwards. In many cases two or three only will be left in at the finish, when of course the last who retires will gain a much greater share, because the advance money is divided between the two or three left in, and the ultimate holder pays out everyone, saving of course his own share, so that, although the lot in question as a final result may cost him .£35, instead of the £20 he pays to the auctioneer, his own share will be perhaps as much as £5 or £6, so that the net cost is only £29 or £30.

Sometimes the gain is considerable, because, owing to the paucity of bidding, the lot falls at a much lower price than it would do if the bidding were spirited and more general. On the other hand, there are many quarrels among members of the trade over these "knock outs," and ill-feeling thus engendered is displayed by violent and persistent opposition. The property, under these conditions, realizes even more than it would do were it not for this personal feeling which is the cause of the contest.

It not infrequently happens that a small dealer is refused permission to "join" the "bigger" men, or his claim as an "art" man is not allowed; sometimes it may be that in the settlement he is aggrieved, but at the next auction sale where he meets those against whom he has a grievance, he will bid every lot of value up to the maximum price, and so "throw away money," to use the "knock out" expression, which would otherwise be available for division.

It is evident that in some cases combinations of this kind must cause serious loss to the vendors of property, but it must be borne in mind that this is generally the fault of employing an auctioneer who does not understand his business, and numerous cases have been known where, for example, in the case of a silver article being sold, some one has challenged the fact of its being silver, and the auctioneer has allowed it to be sold as plated, in which case those in the "knock out" would divide the difference in value between that of a silver and a plated article.

There are many instances in which an auctioneer who may be accustomed to selling leases or land properties, undertakes the sale of household effects, and such a man probably has but little knowledge of really valuable furniture, and is inexperienced in the ways of dealers. It is, however, quite competent for the vendors of the property, through their solicitors or through the auctioneer himself, to employ a dealer or valuer of repute, who will protect the property to some extent. In many cases the writer has acted in this way, putting a mark upon certain articles which would be the subject of a "knock out" raid, and thereby insuring that at least something near the value will be obtained.

In the case of articles only understood by the few, and of great value, very considerable sums have been knocked out, and there is a well-known instance of a Louis XV table sold at a public sale at Exeter for £32, and the ultimate holder, a French dealer, paying £ 1,000, the difference being divided between himself and those who "shared" in the way I have endeavoured to explain. And yet I have no doubt that the good people of Exeter stood round the rostrum, and were quite satisfied that £32 fully represented the value of this shabby old piece of furniture.

As to the legality of the proceedings I am not competent to give an opinion, but it appears to me that, within certain bounds, the members of any trade have the right to combine for their own protection, and to gain any legitimate advantage from their special knowledge and experience. The dealers have the right to buy as cheaply as they can, and as many of them know that amateurs follow their lead, bidding as it were on their judgement, they employ means to defeat these ends and get all the advantage that they can from the sale.

Legitimate means are often, however, exceeded, and there are many "scenes" arising out of the "knocking out" system which renders it too disagreeable for respectable men to join. There are, however, not a few very amusing incidents which result from the "knock out," and such a one happened to a former client of my own, a member of one of our oldest and most aristocratic families, who, while paying a country visit, went to view a sale in the neighbourhood, when his notice was attracted by an equestrian figure described in the catalogue as of "bronze," but which he rather suspected to be of silver. He was examining it a little more closely, when a dealer, who had been watching him narrowly, said to him in a whisper, "Don't say a word; you can go in with us." My readers would be highly amused if I were at liberty to give the name of my friend to whom this happened, and who told me the story at the time.