[Adopted 6-10-1952 by G.O. No. 17-1952; amended in its entirety 7-2-1991 by G.O. No.
15-1991]
Unless otherwise expressly stated, whenever used in this article,
the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively
ascribed to them in this section:
Any person who, at public outcry, offers for sale to the highest bidder any goods, wares, merchandise or property and who is licensed to act as such within the City of Yonkers pursuant to the provisions of § 25-2.
The Commissioner of Police of the City of Yonkers.
The Director of the Office of Licensing, who is also referred to as the Consumer Protection Officer in Article IIIA of the Charter, and shall include the designee of the Director, unless otherwise provided.
[Amended 7-18-1996 by L.L. No. 5-1996]
A sale or offering for sale at public auction in the City
of Yonkers to the highest bidder of any gold, silver, plated ware,
precious or semiprecious stones, watches, clocks and goods, wares
or merchandise commonly classified as "jewelry" and of any kind or
character whatsoever.
Includes one or more natural persons of either sex, corporations,
partnerships, associations, joint-stock companies, societies and all
other entities of any kind capable of being used.
Such gold, silver, plated ware, precious or semiprecious
stones, watches, clocks and goods, wares or merchandise commonly classified
as "jewelry" and of any kind or character whatsoever, which the merchant
holding or conducting a jewelry auction sale carries and deals in
the usual and customary course of business, and shall not include
any of said items of merchandise which are purchased or otherwise
acquired especially and purposely for sale at public auction.
A.
No person shall hold or conduct a jewelry auction sale in the City of Yonkers unless the goods, wares or merchandise offered or to be offered therein constitute the whole or part of stock on hand as defined in § 25-5 of this article; nor shall such auction sale be held or conducted except through the medium of an auctioneer as defined in § 25-5 of this article and unless such person shall have been licensed so to do as hereinafter provided.
B.
Nothing herein contained shall be deemed to apply to judicial sales or sales by executors or administrators, by trustees under deed or assignment, by lienors or by public officers in the manner prescribed by law or to licensed pawnbrokers or loan companies selling or offering for sale unredeemed pledges or chattels in the manner provided by law or to sales at public auction of articles described in the definition of "jewelry auction sale" in § 25-5 hereof if the same have been used or constitute part of household effects.
An application for the license required by § 25-6 hereof shall be filed with the Director not less than 30 days prior to the jewelry auction sale sought to be licensed, upon forms prescribed by the Director. Said application, verified by the applicant, shall set forth the following:
A.
The name, residence address and business address of the applicant.
B.
The character of the applicant's regularly established business,
the address thereof and the length of time it has been operated prior
to the application.
C.
The location and dates of the proposed jewelry auction sale.
D.
Whether the applicant has conducted or caused to be conducted a jewelry
auction sale or sales within a period of two years prior to the application
and, if so, a statement of the character of such auction sales, the
dates thereof and the place or places where held.
E.
The name of the owner or owners of the merchandise to be auctioned.
F.
The name and address of the auctioneer who will conduct the auction
and the license number and date of issuance thereof by the City of
Yonkers.
Said application shall be accompanied by a full and complete
inventory of the stock on hand to be offered at auction; the quality,
quantity, kind or grade of each such article; and the wholesale market
value thereof. The articles enumerated in said inventory shall be
numbered, and tags corresponding to the number so shown in the inventory
shall be placed on each article when offered for sale.
The Director is hereby empowered and authorized, upon determining
that the applicant is entitled to a license hereunder, to issue and
grant, under his hand and the Corporate Seal of the City of Yonkers,
the jewelry auction sale license for which application has been made,
subject to the provisions of this article. Prior to receiving said
license, the applicant shall pay to the Comptroller a license fee
of $50 for a period of 30 days or less. Said license may be renewed
for an additional period of 30 days or less upon payment of a renewal
fee of $25.
A.
No person shall be licensed hereunder to hold or conduct a jewelry
auction sale who shall not, for a period of at least one year next
preceding such auction sale, have been continuously engaged in the
City of Yonkers in the business of selling such merchandise at wholesale
or retail at the same location at which said auction is to be conducted.
B.
No person shall be licensed hereunder to hold or conduct a jewelry
auction sale within a period of one year after the termination of
such an auction sale by such person held or conducted hereunder.
C.
No person who has been convicted of violating any provision of this
article shall be granted a license hereunder or shall act as auctioneer
or be employed in any manner at or in connection with any such auction
sale licensed hereunder for a period of five years after such conviction.
D.
No such auction sale shall be licensed or permitted at any location
other than at the applicant's existing regularly established
place of business at the time of the application for such license
hereunder.
E.
No such auction sale shall be licensed or held or conducted for a period of more than 30 days, Sundays and legal holidays excepted, except that, upon application to the Director, said period may be extended by him or her, in his or her discretion, for good cause, for an additional period of 30 days, upon payment of the renewal fee as provided in § 25-9 hereof.
F.
No such auction sale shall be held or conducted between the hours
of 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. the following morning.
Each and every article offered at an auction sale licensed hereunder
shall have securely attached thereto a ticket or label containing
a true statement, plainly written or printed in English, specifying
the information appropriate in each of the following instances: if
the article is of metal, the kind and quality of or the percentage
of karat or purity of such metal; if the article is plated or overlaid,
the kind and quality of plate; if a precious stone, offered as such
or as part of an article of jewelry, the true name, weight and quality
of such stone or stones; if a semiprecious stone, offered as such
or as part of an article of jewelry, the true name of such stone or
stones; if an imitation of a precious or semiprecious stone, offered
as such or as part of an article of jewelry, said imitation shall
be stated to be synthetic or an imitation of such stone as it purports
to represent; if the article is a watch or clock, the name of the
manufacturer, and no parts of the movement or mechanism thereof shall
be substituted either by those of another manufacturer or by secondhand
or old movements or mechanisms without a true statement that such
substitution has been made. Such tickets or labels shall remain securely
attached to each and every article and shall be delivered to the purchaser
as a true and correct description and representation of the article
sold and delivered.
During any jewelry auction sale licensed hereunder, no additions
of merchandise whatsoever shall be made to the stock on hand set forth
in the inventory attached to the application for license, nor shall
any merchandise be offered for sale or sold at such auction sale which
is in addition to the stock on hand described in said inventory or
which has been added to the applicant's stock within 30 days
prior to the date the applicant filed an application for a license.
No person licensed hereunder nor his or its agents or employees
shall make any statement which is false in any particular or which
may tend to mislead a prospective bidder or purchaser in respect of
any article offered for sale or sold during such auction sale.
No person licensed hereunder shall employ or cause or permit
to be employed at or during such auction sale any individual to act
as what is commonly known as a "capper," "booster" or "shiller" or
to offer to make any false bid or to offer any false bid to buy or
pretend to buy any article offered for sale or sold at such auction
sale.[1]
