By MOLLIE BROWN / Community Columnist

“I’ve got 225. Who’ll go 275? What’d you say? $500! Whoo, I love a woman who loves to bid. You can tell her husband isn’t here,” auctioneer Tommy Lynn Cadle Morrison of Cadle Auctions yelled out as she waved a Cracker Barrel gift card. “Now I’ve got $3,000. Who’ll give me $5,000? Last call, sold for $5,000!”

Morrison joined the seniors group at Concord Baptist Church to appraise some treasures and teach them to bid through a mock auction.

“I’m a retired teacher, so I’ve always been paid to talk,” Morrison joked. “I attended Missouri Auction School to learn the ins and outs about the auction business, but the one person who really taught me about the business is Col. Gordon Headley of Central Alabama Auction. Every profession has someone who people try to mimic, for me it’s Gordon Headley.”

Cadle Auctions conducts business throughout Alabama, but is licensed to auction in 17 states. Morrison holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Montevallo, a real estate license, an auctioneer license, an appraisal license for personal property and is certified to appraise residential and commercial property.

The company liquidates assets, e.g., estates, business, real estate, equipment and private collections. Auctions are held onsite or at one of its locations — downtown Calera and south Calera on U.S. 31.

Morrison described a typical auction. “We recently liquidated an 100-year-old farm in Chilton County. I call it a picker’s paradise because we cleaned out the barn, the smoke house, the outhouse, the residence, chicken house — I mean we cleaned it out. This is where you find the goodies, the really good unique things.”

Morrison said the first thing to do at an auction is register with the cashier. You are assigned a bid number and a bid card to raise. Items are recorded on a clerking sheet and at the end of the auction the cashier tallies the items you bought. General merchandise auctions are held Saturdays at 7 p.m. at Cadle Auctions downtown store. Morrison collects a reasonable 20 percent fee on items that sell.

Visit Cadle-auctions.com for more information or call 668-0204.

 

Mollie Brown can be reached at dmjhb1@bellsouth.net.