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First Steiger Auctioned For $140,000
An anonymous buyer paid $140,000 at an auction in June to become part of tractor history. He placed the highest bid of 17 bidders on the first Steiger ever sold to the public.
  "This is such an extraordinary piece of history," auctioneer Kurt Aumann of Aumann Auctions said. "For collectors who really like to know the story behind a tractor, this is the one for them."
  Douglas and Maurice Steiger of Thief River Falls, Minn., built the tractor for sale after first building a tractor for themselves with truck components and a 238 hp Detroit diesel engine. The Steigers sold their second tractor to their neighbor, Lloyd Pierce, for $5,000 in 1963.
  The 4-WD tractor remained in the Pierce family and was upgraded by the Steiger brothers over the years. In 1967, Pierce bought a new Steiger tractor and parked the '63 model in the shed. The family restored it in 1998 and took it to shows and parades.
  A tractor-collecting group from Europe once stopped in at the Pierce farm and "played with the Steiger for over two hours," recalled Lloyd's son, Jeff.
  After Lloyd died five years ago, the family decided it was time to let it go and chose to sell it via an online auction.
  "Although online auctions are new, they're convenient, easy and efficient for both the buyer and seller," says Jane Aumann, marketing manager for Aumann Auctions, Inc.
  Aumann Auctions was the first to offer live internet bidding for farm toys in 1999. Since then they've added absentee bidding to sell antique tractors, farm literature, memorabilia and real estate, including agricultural businesses.
  "Internet bidding has allowed us to reach more and more collectors in more and more places," Aumann says. "Recently we were able to sell Deere tractors to a bidder in Australia from an auction held in a small, rural town in Wisconsin."
  There was speculation the Steiger might end up overseas, but someone in the U.S purchased it.
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Aumann Auctions, Inc., 20114 IL Rt. 16, Nokomis, Ill. 62075 (ph 888 282-8648; www.aumannauctions.com).


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2008 - Volume #32, Issue #4