An auctioneer is described as an agent who accepts bids and sells goods at auction. The profession goes back thousands of years. In ancient Babylon, for instance, they used to hold auctions of women for marriage, indeed it was considered illegal to allow a daughter to be sold outside the auction process. In ancient Rome, they regularly held slave auctions. The idea of auctions as we know them today began in England in the late 17th century. They were referred to as English auctions where bids came in an ascending order.
In 1825 there were three auctioneers listed in Galway — James Clinch, High Street; Andrew McHugh, Lombard Street; and Michael Martin, Shop Street. Some 30 years later, that number had grown to five — Thomas Connell, Churchyard Street; Michael Mannion, Abbeygate Street; Jim Nevin, Middle Street; Thomas O’Connell, High Street; and Edward Staunton, Lombard Street.
Some of the auctioneers working in old Galway in the middle of the last century were Ambrose Roche; Joyce Mackie & Lougheed; RG Browne, the bishop’s brother who sometimes classified himself as ‘the diocesan auctioneer’; Toby Joyce, who ran Western Properties; Ray Rooney; Joe Heskin; Terry Cunningham; Jim Maxwell; Danno Heaslip; and Tim Colleran.
In 1982, two young friends got together to set up their own business. Tony Joyce, a grandson of Toby Joyce who had done an ‘apprenticeship’ with Danno Heaslip. Colm O’Donnellan had also worked with Danno Heaslip and later with Tim Colleran. They started together, operating out of a small office in Francis Street with a lot of help from Veronica Joyce. Michael Ellwood offered them newly refurbished office space in Mary Street. They had no money but he told them that they could pay him when they would make money, and so they moved into the bigger premises. Michael Ellwood kept sending them new clients in the hope that they would be in a position to pay him quicker. Our main photograph shows their Mary Street office with the new sign hand-painted by John Herrick just after they moved in in 1982. There was a vacant house next door on the left and beside that was Cullinane’s pub. On the right, out of picture, was the old GBC bakery.
Their first auction was held on the Aran Islands when they sold Joe Watty’s pub, and it is the subject of our second photograph which shows the two young auctioneers sitting at a table in front of the pub. In those early days most of their sales were done by private treaty. Their big break came when O’Malley Construction approached them to sell 16 houses it had just built. Having achieved this, they were then offered all of the newly built estate of Laurel Park to sell, and as a result of their success, other builders set up partnerships with them, people like Chris Crehan, Leo Maher, and Gerry Purcell.
The idea of selling houses by auction really took hold in the nineties and today, this way of dealing forms an important part of their business. Their auctions take place in a city centre hotel, often with some 200 people attending and as many more watching online and bidding on the phone, a far cry from sitting outside a pub on Inis Mór. So on this notable 40th anniversary of their business, we wish Colm and Tony well and they and their staff many more years wielding the gavel. Our thanks to Chloe Neary for her help with the above.
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