Businessman puts roof over items up for auction
Rick Danzl photos/The News-Gazette Don Crist, left, and Paul Sermersheim show off their new in-house auction area Monday at Crist & Associates Action and Realty in Danville. ________________ CRIST & ASSOCIATES By PAT PHILLIPS pphillip@news-gazette.com
DANVILLE -- A local businessman will expand his auctioneering business this weekend with his first in-house auction, featuring a 2003 Harley Davidson motorcycle and three partial estates. Don Crist of Crist & Associates Auction & Realty will open the auction floor at 8:00am Saturday for customers to register and get their bid numbers, then begin the auction at 10am. The indoor auction site is at the southeast corner of Harrison and Walnut streets, which formerly housed the Butternut Bread Store. Crist's office, also apart of the building, is at 147 N. Walnut St. Parking is available on the street or in the city parking garage across from the auction house.	A sterling silver gravy boat, a jack-in-the-box, glasses, a razor, and opera glasses are just some of the items from three partial estates to be auctioned Saturday at Crist & Associates' first in-house auction at 147 N. Walnut St. in Danville.
"I've been an auctioneer for more than 15 years," said Crist, who is also the Vermilion County supervisor of assessments and a real estate broker and appraiser. "I've had to turn down a lot of personal property sales late in the year because of iffy weather, so having a place to hold in-house auctions has been an idea for a long time." Crist has installed rows of theater-style seating for the comfort of bidders in a portion of his warehouse. A concession stand is also available in an adjacent room. "I wanted a place where we could hold an indoor auction once a month, and this is the best place because we can prepare for sale or store them until an appropriate sale," Crist said, "I think the seating will be a little nostalgic as well as comfortable. The auctioneer considers his client base to be family members, estate executors, attorneys, banks and collectors who want to turn property into cash. His staff will go through an estate determining what will sell and what needs to be disposed of. "We sort it between the trailer and a dumpster, sometimes," he said. The business has a Website to help the auction beginner with information on the origins of the auction, a glossary of terms and what an auctioneer does. Assisting Crist with the auctions is Paul Sermersheim. Both graduated from the Missouri Auction School in Kansas City, Mo. in 1991. "We will switch off as the auctioneer," Sermersheim said. "I'm working mostly as an assistant." Saturday's auction will include furniture, household items and a lawn mower, as well as items like a partial set of sterling silverware, phonograph needles and a jack-in-the-box. Crist will continue to offer on-site auctions as well as property auctions as a part of his business in additions to organizing a monthly in-house auction. "We haven't set a date for these auctions, but as we receive more of this type of consignments, we hope to have a regular schedule," Crist said. For information on the auction, call 446-5220.