I believe they call that little handleless chunk of wood the auctioneer bangs a hammer, don’t they? Regardless, fellow blogger Jeremy Wright’s eBay auction closed with an impressive total of US $3,350.00 after 30 bids. Things heated up in the last fifteen minutes, jumping US $1100. Nice work, Jeremy.
Conversely, I’m currently going for the more humble US $685 with three plus days to go. I’ll be happy enough with that total, because the experiment has brought me some additional non-auction work and sparked an idea for a new project. I’ll probably be announcing more details on that later in the day.
Jeremy and I did an interview with Blogosphere Radio about the auctions. They put together a nice piece which includes some commentary from others in the Blogosphere. I’ve just started listening to it, so I don’t know if anybody calls us ‘mercantile asshats’ or anything.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Oh, there’s your business name. “Mercantile Asshats”.
It’s got a ring. It appeals to the sardonic and cynical. I’d get blogging help from the asshats! I’d put their logo on the corner of my blog.
C’mon, wouldn’t you?
Donna: Think of the merchandising opportunities…’Mercantile Asshat’ mugs, t-shirts, thongs, asshats, etc.
Arwen-Arwen, not Arwen-Donna. 😉
A.
Heh. Sorry about that. Too many Arwens.
As someone with a “Say-Wha?” name, I kind of like being in a situation with Too Many Arwens.
I think asshats are an underfilled market niche. Also, think of the possibilities at trade shows: “Hey, I’m Darren, with the Asshat Delegation.” Nice.
The more correct term for it is a gavel, rather than a hammer (though you hear of things going “under the hammer”, but never “under the gavel”).
(My dad is a retired auctioneer.)
I’ve always called it a Woody.