Emma Bailey ( née Parascandola; March 6, 1910 – September 3, 1999) was an American
auctioneer
An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition exi ...
and author, credited with being the first American woman auctioneer. She held her first auction in
Brattleboro, Vermont
Brattleboro (), originally Brattleborough, is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The most populous municipality abutting Vermont's eastern border with New Hampshire, which is the Connecticut River, Brattleboro is located about ...
, on May 12, 1950 as a way to supplement her family's income. In 1952 she became the first woman admitted to the
National Auctioneers Association The National Auctioneers Association (NAA), founded in 1949, is an advocacy group representing auctioneers, auction
An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then se ...
. She continued auctioneering for nearly 20 years and wrote a book about her experiences, entitled ''Sold to the Lady in the Green Hat'' (1962), before retiring in the late 1960s.
Early life
Emma Parascandola was born March 6, 1910 in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. She had two brothers and two sisters, and completed her schooling in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.
Career
In 1945, Emma Bailey moved to
Brattleboro, Vermont
Brattleboro (), originally Brattleborough, is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The most populous municipality abutting Vermont's eastern border with New Hampshire, which is the Connecticut River, Brattleboro is located about ...
, with her husband and two children. Eli worked as a substitute teacher at the local high school. Since their new home was an old house in need of repair, and the family was having difficulty paying bills, Bailey decided to start an auction business to supplement her husband's income. In April 1950, Bailey placed the following advertisement in the local newspaper:
The Bailey Auction Barn on Black Mountain Road is prepared to handle auction sales. Courteous and efficient handling of all consignments, large or small. We will sell anything—from a plate to an estate, signed: Emma Bailey, Brattleboro's Woman Auctioneer.
On May 12, 1950, Bailey sold her first item, a 50-year-old rocking chair, for a price of $2.50. Her Saturday auctions soon became a regular local event, and her family helped out: Bailey's husband organized the sale items, and her daughters did the record-keeping and sold concessions. Bailey sold a wide range of items, including antiques, farm tools, books and household furniture, and was known for her "poetic" promotional descriptions of wares. She developed a reputation for fairness and "scrupulous honesty," once putting police onto a group of antiques thieves who had approached Bailey under false pretenses for help selling their goods.
In 1952, after applying to the
National Auctioneers Association The National Auctioneers Association (NAA), founded in 1949, is an advocacy group representing auctioneers, auction
An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then se ...
, Bailey was accepted as the first female member of the Association. She wrote a book about her experiences, titled ''Sold to the Lady in the Green Hat'' (1962). She continued her auction sales for almost 20 years before retiring "at the peak of her career" in the late 1960s.
During her time as auctioneer, Bailey encountered opposition based on her gender: her first auction was postponed for several weeks after a male competitor accused her of breaking a zoning law. Her early sales were sometimes disrupted by men who "gathered in front of the podium and heckled." Later, when Bailey and a rival male auctioneer both expressed interest in the same sale, the man proposed that he should get the sale because "he had a family to support", whereas Bailey already had a working husband. Bailey lost the sale. Despite her induction to the National Auctioneer's Association, Bailey was not always well supported by her peers: in 1960, when a reporter inquired about women auctioneers, the Association's response was that "although a woman had tried auctioneering in Vermont, she had found it too hard and quit."
Death and legacy
Bailey died on September 3, 1999. The Wisconsin auction house Bailey’s Honor Auction, LLC, owned by auctioneer Carol Miller, is named after Emma Bailey.