Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers announced its recent unreserved public auction, which sold over 2,000 items, generated gross auction sales in excess of $43 million, the largest two-day auction in company history.

"Our 50-acre yard here in Phoenix was packed with a great selection of trucks and equipment for our record-breaking auction," said Dan White, Ritchie Bros. Regional Manager. Over 2,000 registered bidders from 19 countries, 46 states and 10 Canadian provinces participated in the May 25 and 26, 2006 auction.

Seven hundred and fifteen registered Internet bidders, used the company's rbauctionBid-Live real-time bidding service to purchase over $9 million worth of trucks and equipment items. Internet participants were buyers or runner-up bidders on 25% of the lots available for online bidding.

Highlights of the auction included a 1978 Beech/Raytheon Baron 58P Airplane, which sold for $175,000 to a buyer from New Mexico. Two-year-old Caterpillar 966G Series II Wheel loaders were sold for $250,000 - close to a new purchase price. Unused 2007 Kenworth truck tractors sold for $86,000.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers sells, through unreserved public auctions, a broad range of used and unused industrial equipment including equipment utilized in the construction, transportation, material handling, mining, forestry, petroleum, marine, real estate, and agricultural industries. It operates through over 110 locations in more than 25 countries around the world.

http://www.rbauction.com