01/04/2017
In some parts of England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, auction by candle began to be used for the sale of goods. In a candle auction, the end of the auction was signaled by the expiration of a candle flame, which was intended to ensure that no one could know exactly when the auction would end and make a last-second bid. Early auction strategy! Losing bidders literally “flamed out.” The practice rapidly became popular, and in 1660 Samuel Pepys's diary recorded two occasions when the Admiralty sold surplus ships "by an inch of candle". Pepys also relates a hint from a highly successful bidder, who had observed that, just before expiring, a candle-wick always flares up slightly: on seeing this, he would shout his final - and winning - bid. Once Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb, though, candle auctions became far less popular.
