Licensed Pennsylvania Auctioneer since 1979
Going once.
Going twice.
Sold, statewide.
Charlene A. Caple has called estate, tool, business, and benefit auctions across Pennsylvania for more than four decades, and now trains the auctioneers who come next.
Class of the late 1970s
Services
Five ways to put 45 years on the block to work.
Whether you are settling an estate, planning a benefit night, or sitting for the Pennsylvania auctioneer exam, start with an inquiry. Charlene replies personally.
-
Lot1
Educational Program
For new and aspiring auctioneersClassroom and hands-on instruction in bid calling, auction law, appraisal, marketing, and sale management, built on the curriculum Charlene wrote and teaches.
Inquire -
Lot2
Exam Tutoring
Pennsylvania auctioneer licensing examOne-on-one preparation for the state exam: statutes, contracts, escrow rules, and the number and word drills that make the chant second nature.
Inquire -
Lot3
Auctioneer of Record
For apprentices, firms, and online sellersA licensed Pennsylvania auctioneer of record for your sale or your apprentice hours, with the paperwork and oversight the Board expects.
Inquire -
Lot4
Industry Consulting
For auction houses and businessesPractical guidance on running a sale, moving from live to online bidding, pricing services, licensing questions, and building an auction business that lasts.
Inquire -
Lot5
Auctioneering
Estates · Businesses · Charity eventsFull-service estate and business liquidations, on site or online through HiBid, and live bid calling that keeps a benefit crowd raising paddles.
Inquire
and All
The Book
Bid One and All
The textbook Charlene wrote for her own students, self-published and used in the auctioneering certification program she leads.
It covers what a working auctioneer actually needs: how a sale is organized from consignment to settlement, the Pennsylvania law and ethics behind the license, appraising personal property, marketing a sale, and the rhythm of the chant itself. It is written for the classroom, but it reads like advice from someone who has stood at the podium since 1979.
Ask about the bookAbout Charlene
Licensed when few women held the gavel. Still calling.
A Maryland native and longtime Pennsylvanian, Charlene trained at the Missouri Auction School in the late 1970s and earned her Pennsylvania license in 1979, entering a profession that had very few women in it and still has fewer than it should. From her office on Broadway in Hanover she has run estate, tool, and general liquidations across the state ever since, adding personal property appraisal along the way.
She has served the Pennsylvania Auctioneers Association as president, vice president, and director of its Central Chapter, and she watched the trade change more in the last five years than in the previous forty.
"The biggest change in the auction world has been the growth of digital auctions." Charlene Caple, Lancaster Farming, July 2025
Her answer was not to retire the live chant but to teach both: the online catalog and the podium, the statute book and the number drill.
Credentials
- 1979Pennsylvania auctioneer licenseGraduate, Missouri Auction School
- SinceLicensed personal property appraiserEstates, tools, furniture, general merchandise
- PAAPennsylvania Auctioneers AssociationPast president, vice president, and director, Central Chapter
- 10 yrsInstructor, RACC Auctioneering Certification ProgramWrote the curriculum and the textbook
- HanoverCharlene A. Caple Auction School213 Broadway, Hanover, PA 17331
Teaching
Instructor, Reading Area Community College
For a decade Charlene has taught the Auctioneering Certification Program at Reading Area Community College in Berks County. She developed and wrote its curriculum, which meets the education requirement to sit for the Pennsylvania auctioneer license exam. The program reports that its graduates pass that exam at a 99 percent rate.
Her method pairs theory with repetition. Students drill bid increments by the number and speech by the word until the chant comes out rhythmic and fast. Most hit a moment where it suddenly clicks, and a few of them cry.
5 · 10 · 15 · 20 · 25 · 30 · 35 · 40 · 45 · 50 · now 55, would you give 55?
Coming soon
Charlene's own curriculum, taught directly.
In the near future Charlene will offer instruction and exam preparation under her own curriculum, independent of the college calendar, from the Charlene A. Caple Auction School in Hanover. Get on the list and you will hear first.
- Bid-calling clinics and number drills
- Pennsylvania exam preparation and tutoring
- Apprentice guidance and auctioneer-of-record hours
Where to bid
Find her sales online.
Current catalogs run on HiBid under the Bid One and All banner. Past estate, tool, and furniture sales are archived on the aggregators below.
Inquire
Tell Charlene what you need.
Estate to settle, sale to run, exam to pass, or a question about the book. Send the details and she will call or write back.
- Phone717-521-9534
- Emailcacaple@comcast.net
- Office213 Broadway, Hanover, PA 17331
Your inquiry is ready to send.
Your email app should have opened with the message below. If it did not, copy it and send it to cacaple@comcast.net, or call 717-521-9534.