Broekerveiling museum: modern clock sale in a historical setting

Established in 1887, the Broekerveiling in the Netherlands was the first auction in the world in which agricultural products were sold by using the falling price (Dutch auction) method. Since 1973, it has become a do-and-experience museum in which small portions of seasonal vegetables are still auctioned among the visitors. Aucxis renewed the auction application so that the museum is ready again to auction recreationally in the coming years.  

Until the 1970s, Broekerveiling formed the heart of North Holland’s horticultural sector along with some other fruit and vegetable auctions. The auction building was constructed on wooden poles above the water, allowing farmers to pass their boats with vegetables through the auction hall. They sold their products by defining a starting price, from which the price on the auction clock started to move down. The buyer who first pushed his buy button closed the transaction. 

Unique auctioning experience 

In 1973, the auction was closed and bought by the Langedijk municipality, which turned it into a museum. Today, museum visitors experience how the sale took place back in the day by making bids for small portions of fruit and vegetables that they can take home afterwards.  

As a specialist in developing electronic sales systems, Aucxis has supplied the auction application that has been running on the original 1903 auction clock since 2011. “As the old software was end of life, we executed an update of the control system”, says Patrick Bauwens, Business Unit Manager ETrade. “Thanks to this intervention, Broekerveiling is ready again to welcome visitors in the coming years and to explain them how fruit and vegetables are traded by using the clock: the instrument that guarantees transparent and fair market prices up until this very day.”