Ki ad többet érte? Használt tárgyak hálójában: árverések mikrovilága Kiskunhalason (1780–1850)
Who’s the highest bidder? The Network of Second-Hand Goods: The Micro World of Kiskunhalas Auctions (1780–1850)

Summary/Abstract: The study is an analysis of the complex micro world of fifty-six estate sales that took place in Kiskunhalas, a market town on the Great Hungarian Plain, between 1780 and 1850. It begins with the description of the auction process and goes on to reconstruct the composition of bidders at each auction and, finally, examines the individual bidders’ buying strategies and motivations. Another aim of the study is to reveal social relationships and networks through the persons present at auctions as socially and culturally defined events. In conclusion, the microlevel analysis of Kiskunhalas auctions suggest that items originally owned by tradesmen, merchants or the Catholic parish priest very seldom ended up with poorer farmers. On the social level, buyers at auctions formed strongly guarded networks: members of well-defined social groups, such as tradesmen or the urban elite, were more likely to attend auctions of their own peers. The social layer of the town’s affluent landed gentry constituted another clearly identifiable network of buyers, who attended a large number of auctions. Middle- and smallholders, however, replenished their tools and equipment at auctions of farmers of similar means, or wealthier on occasion. Second-hand items purchased at auctions and elsewhere played an important role in the sparsely furnished world of traditional peasant communities. While for poorer layers of society auctions were the only affordable means to replace tools and objects, even wealthier people considered them a good opportunity to make purchases.

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