{ "model": { "rank": 4065, "code": "thing-q177923", "model_id": "vr.tr.auction", "name": "auction", "purpose": "Let an agent explain auctions and their formats, relay auction theory and practice from economics and market sources, describe major auction markets and rules, and distinguish auctions from fixed-price sales, tenders and negotiated sales.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.MED", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q177923/", "tier": 2, "score": 78, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "Calcutta auction", "book auction", "Swiss auction", "Simultaneous multi round auction", "silent auction", "auction of misattributed copy", "knapsack auction", "dollar auction", "player auction", "philatelic auction", "First-price auction", "open auction", "opening auction", "Walrasian auction", "English auction", "Eauction", "Camden auction", "closed auction", "court auction", "foreclosure", "Vickrey auction", "government auction", "police auction", "Wine auction", "reverse auction", "candle auction", "spectrum auction", "estate sale", "common-value auction", "Generalized second-price auction", "Auctions in ancient Greece", "Japanese auction", "all-pay auction", "energy auction", "Dutch auction", "scramble", "art auction", "smart market", "Vickrey–Clarke–Groves auction", "charity auction" ], "aliasCount": 41, "merged": 41, "knownIn": 78, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q177923", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q177923", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T05:02:28Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 3, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q177923", "registryId": "vr.tr.auction", "name": "auction", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.MED" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q177923/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.auction", "name": "auction", "purpose": "Let an agent explain auctions and their formats, relay auction theory and practice from economics and market sources, describe major auction markets and rules, and distinguish auctions from fixed-price sales, tenders and negotiated sales.", "definition": "A process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them for bids, taking bids and selling to the highest bidder or, in some formats, the lowest offer, in forms such as English ascending, Dutch descending, sealed-bid, Vickrey, silent, Calcutta and simultaneous multi-round auctions used for spectrum, together with specialised markets such as book auctions and the Swiss auction with no reserve; auctions are studied in game theory and used for art, property, commodities, spectrum, advertising and public procurement.", "what_it_is_for": "Allocating goods by competitive bidding.", "affordances": [ "explain formats", "relay theory", "describe markets and rules", "distinguish from other sales" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Competitive bidding", "Many formats", "Price discovery", "Game-theoretic design" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; a bidding process in a room or online.", "visual_identification": [ "Sale by competitive bidding", "English, Dutch, sealed-bid, Vickrey, silent, Calcutta, simultaneous multi-round, book and Swiss auctions", "A tender is a formal bid process; a fixed-price sale has no bidding" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "major art auction houses", "typical_range": "Christie s, Sotheby s, Phillips", "unit": "list", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "FCC spectrum auctions began", "typical_range": "1994", "unit": "year", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "Nobel Prize for auction theory", "typical_range": "2020", "unit": "year", "note": "Milgrom and Wilson" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "English ascending auctions", "Dutch descending auctions", "sealed-bid first-price and Vickrey auctions", "silent auctions for charity", "Calcutta auctions in sports pools", "simultaneous multi-round and combinatorial auctions for spectrum", "specialised markets such as book, art, livestock and online auctions" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "sale", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "strategic game", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "variable pricing", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is studied in", "target": "auction theory", "why": "in economics" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Auction and consumer law including auctioneer licensing", "Competition law against bid rigging", "Spectrum auction regulations", "Online marketplace rules" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Bid rigging and shill bidding", "Winner s curse", "Confusing auction formats" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What an auction is.", "rationale": "Definition.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition and formats.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is an auction, and how do English, Dutch, sealed-bid, Vickrey and silent auctions differ?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about auctions in general, a format, a market or a specific sale?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "special", "name": "Special", "description": "Special formats.", "findings": [ { "id": "special-finding", "name": "Special", "description": "Special.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are Calcutta, Swiss, book and simultaneous multi-round auctions?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific format?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "theory", "name": "Theory", "description": "Auction theory.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "economics", "name": "Economics", "description": "Economics.", "findings": [ { "id": "economics-finding", "name": "Economics", "description": "Economics.", "questions": [ { "text": "What does auction theory say about bidding strategies, revenue equivalence and the winner s curse?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "design", "name": "Design", "description": "Market design.", "findings": [ { "id": "design-finding", "name": "Design", "description": "Design.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are spectrum and procurement auctions designed, as economists such as Milgrom and Wilson describe?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "take_part", "name": "Take part", "description": "Taking part.", "rationale": "Practice.", "layers": [ { "id": "buyers", "name": "Buyers", "description": "Bidding.", "findings": [ { "id": "buyers-finding", "name": "Buyers", "description": "Buyers.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do buyers register, bid and pay, and what are premiums and reserves?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Is the user asking for personal financial advice, which the model does not give?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "sellers", "name": "Sellers", "description": "Selling.", "findings": [ { "id": "sellers-finding", "name": "Sellers", "description": "Sellers.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do sellers consign items and set reserves?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific auction house?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Markets and history.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "markets", "name": "Markets", "description": "Markets.", "findings": [ { "id": "markets-finding", "name": "Markets", "description": "Markets.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do art, property, livestock, online and advertising auctions differ?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific market?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did auctions develop from antiquity to online platforms?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the history of auctions?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should auction theory and art auction be separate primary entries?", "How should economics sources be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming formats and niche markets; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "work, medium or creative form", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a auction, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain auctions and their formats, relay auction theory and practice from economics and market sources, describe major auction markets and rules, and distinguish auctions from fixed-price sales, tenders and negotiated sales.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted", "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: Calcutta auction, book auction, Swiss auction, Simultaneous multi round auction, silent auction, auction of misattributed copy, knapsack auction, dollar auction, player auction, philatelic auction, First-price auction, open auction.", "41 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 78 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a auction, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "content that has to be carried by something else", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "read it and act on what it says", "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "What is seen is a copy or a performance, not the work. Recognising the work means recognising the content through whatever is carrying it." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "Calcutta auction", "book auction", "Swiss auction", "Simultaneous multi round auction", "silent auction", "auction of misattributed copy", "knapsack auction", "dollar auction", "player auction", "philatelic auction", "First-price auction", "open auction" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 78 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 41 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one auction from another, and a auction from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a auction, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a auction, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a auction is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a auction, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a auction, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a auction is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a auction sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a auction, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a auction, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a auction is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a auction from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a auction, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a auction, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a auction is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a auction passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a auction between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a auction, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a auction, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a auction is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a auction, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a auction is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a auction, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a auction, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a auction is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "content-and-access", "name": "Content, encoding and access", "description": "What a auction says, how it is encoded and who may read it.", "rationale": "An informational thing carries content that can be copied, versioned and withheld, none of which its physical carrier explains.", "layers": [ { "id": "content-and-encoding", "name": "Content and encoding", "description": "The content itself, its format and its language.", "findings": [ { "id": "content-and-format", "name": "Content, format and language", "description": "What a auction contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a auction, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the content of a auction, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the content of a auction is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "access-and-rights", "name": "Access, rights and retention", "description": "Who may read, copy or change it, and for how long it is kept.", "findings": [ { "id": "access-rules", "name": "Access rules and retention", "description": "The permissions attached to a auction and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a auction, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about access to a auction, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once access to a auction is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "work-and-manifestation", "name": "Work, version and copy", "description": "Which level of auction a statement is about.", "rationale": "The work, the edition, the file and the copy in hand are four things; rights and content attach to different ones.", "layers": [ { "id": "levels", "name": "Levels of the thing", "description": "Work, expression, manifestation and item, in plain terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "level-rules", "name": "What belongs at each level", "description": "Which facts hold for the work and which only for one copy.", "questions": [ { "id": "level-rules-q01", "text": "For auction, which facts belong to the work itself, which to a version, and which to a single copy?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "level-rules-q02", "text": "What identifier exists at each level, and which one is being cited?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "versions", "name": "Versions, editions and variants", "description": "How versions differ and which is canonical to whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "version-record", "name": "Versions and canonicity", "description": "Differences that matter and who calls one authoritative.", "questions": [ { "id": "version-record-q01", "text": "Which versions or editions of auction exist, and how do they differ substantively?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "version-record-q02", "text": "Who treats which version as authoritative, and for what purpose?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "authorship-and-rights", "name": "Authorship, rights and permitted use", "description": "Who made auction and what may be done with it.", "rationale": "Rights are jurisdictional, time-limited and attached to a level, and an agent that ignores that will copy what it may not.", "layers": [ { "id": "authorship", "name": "Authorship and contribution", "description": "Who contributed what, and in what capacity.", "findings": [ { "id": "contribution-record", "name": "Contributors and roles", "description": "The people and bodies behind it, with their roles.", "questions": [ { "id": "contribution-record-q01", "text": "Who authored or contributed to auction, in what roles, and how is that attested?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "contribution-record-q02", "text": "Where authorship is disputed or anonymous, what is recorded instead?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "rights", "name": "Rights and permissions", "description": "Which rights subsist, where, until when, and what they permit.", "findings": [ { "id": "rights-record", "name": "Rights, term and permitted acts", "description": "The regime in force and what it allows.", "questions": [ { "id": "rights-record-q01", "text": "What rights subsist in auction, in which jurisdictions, and until when?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "rights-record-q02", "text": "Which acts are permitted without further permission, and which must an agent refuse?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a auction came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a auction and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a auction, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a auction, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a auction is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a auction is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a auction, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a auction, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a auction is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }