Historical society silent auction item ideas that sell

For the general list, see our 100+ silent auction item ideas. A society's catalogue is unusual: the best lots cost volunteer time and raise no ownership question at all.

Research and knowledge

• A researched history of the winner's own house, bound and illustrated
• A genealogy session on their family in this county
• A researched history of a local business, for its owner
• A cemetery research session — where a family is buried and what is recorded
• Identification of an unlabelled photograph the winner owns
• A written history of a farm, a church or a school for its anniversary

The house history is the headline lot in most society auctions. It sells to people who have never joined, it costs a volunteer a weekend, and the winner shows it to everyone who visits.

Reproductions and prints

• An archival print of a specific street, farm, mill or building, framed
• A reproduction of an original deed, map or plat
• A facsimile of a front page from the day the winner was born
• A composite of a street then and now
• A calendar or book the society produces

Reproductions are the society's most repeatable revenue. They cost printing, they raise no ownership question, and the same image sells again next year to a different family.

Access and experiences

• A private walking tour for a group
• Behind-the-scenes in the archive with whoever knows it
• A building the society owns, for an evening event
• A talk delivered to the winner's club, workplace or family reunion
• A day helping catalogue, for someone who would love it

More on these: heritage tour packages.

Local goods

• Work by local artists and makers, especially depicting the town
• Restaurant and retail certificates from the county seat
• Antiques donated specifically for the auction by dealers or estates
• Handmade items from members

Collection material, carefully

Where ownership is clear, conditions are absent and the board's policy permits, a society may sell duplicates and out-of-scope material. Keep it small, keep it documented, and keep local history and archival material out of it entirely.

The process: antique and estate item rules. Valuation, and where a society must not go: valuing historic items.

General information, not legal advice for your society. Ownership, donor conditions and deaccessioning are fact-specific and depend on your own records and governing documents — your board and, where the society holds public collections, the municipality decide how any of this applies.