TUNBRIDGE — In the 1860s, 100 like-minded people and families were asked to support a new endeavor.
For $5 in 1867, they could own a piece of the Tunbridge World’s Fair and have a say in how it was managed. That $500 provided the seed money for the Union Agricultural Society, the nonprofit organization that runs the fair.
“Most of them stay within families … so it’s kind of hard to get a hand on one usually,” said Gordon Barnaby, a director of the fair who owns a share through his wife, whose family — the Cilleys — was one of the founding families.
So the auction for a share of the Tunbridge fair, orchestrated on behalf of an estate by Thomas Hirchak Co. in Morrisville, Vt., is a rarity.
The share, made out to David and Annie Laber, was originally listed at $10 when the auction began on Jan. 14, said Toby Hirchak, co-owner of the auction house. That would have been a bargain in inflation-adjusted dollars, as $5 in 1867 is worth about $143 now, according to a mix of federal price index data and a historical study.
After about two weeks, the high bid had climbed to $10,000, where it remained as of Friday afternoon.
“We started the thing at no reserve at $10 and we’re going to see how it ends up,” Hirchak said in a phone interview last week. “There seems to be great interest in it.”
Twenty-four people had contributed 93 bids. Most were from Vermont.
Hirchak, who has been in the auction business full time since 1985, said it was the first time he’s put a share of a fair on the block.
“It’s a very unusual opportunity to acquire a very interesting, practical historical thing,” he said.
And that historical value likely outstrips the monetary value, according to Barnaby. Bidders looking for a return in their investment might be disappointed.
“The shareholder basically gets a meal and a couple tickets for the fair,” he said. “They’re not a gold mine to make money off. It’s more the fact to say that you own a piece of the Tunbridge fair I think.”
Then again, a $10,000 sale would be a 2,000-times multiple on the original post-bellum fiver. While Barnaby said he’s heard of shares exchanging hands for $5,000, $10,000 is a new high. Over the last couple years, three or four shares have become available, but it’s not unusual to go a decade without any movement.
“You don’t change a lot of hands by sale,” said Barnaby, who has been a director for 35 years. “There will be a few name changes, a family name … if you get one every couple years you’re doing pretty good and it’s usually something like this where it’s someone who’s deceased and there’s no one to pass it on to.”
The Essex Junction, Vt.-based Champlain Valley Exposition was also funded by shareholders. Beginning in 1922, shares were sold for $50 to fund the annual fair, said Tim Shea, executive director of the nonprofit organization. There are roughly 1,000 shareholders who get to vote at the annual meeting and, if they fill out an annual survey, receive two free 10-day passes. While all shareholders are invited to the meeting, usually 30 to 40 attend.
“They’re cherished,” Shea said of the shares in a phone interview. “It’s kind of neat when someone comes in and says, ‘Hey my grandfather willed this to me,’ and we transfer the share. It’s special to keep it in the family.”
Shea said he’s unaware of any shares of the Champlain Valley Exposition going up for auction and, if someone sold a share privately, the nonprofit organization wouldn’t be made aware of it.
“The Tunbridge Fair is a special event and Tunbridge is a special place in Vermont, so I can see why there’s so much interest in a share to that wonderful event,” Shea said.
While many Tunbridge fair stakeholders live in the region, “as time goes everyone expands a little further out,” Barnaby said. Some live as far as California. The annual meeting requires a majority of shareholders to be present, and those who are unable to attend can send proxy voters in their places.
“The Tunbridge Fair has been there for quite a while, so there’s a lot of people that want to say they own something of the fair. People have had shares for years and years and they say they don’t understand how they can be worth that much. But those same people wouldn’t sell their shares,” Barnaby said. “If somebody offered us $10,000 for it, we probably wouldn’t sell either.”
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
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