AUCTIONS
A 3,000-year-old invention that is just getting started
The auction also goes back far further in history than the joint stock company- likely to Babylonian times. And like the stock exchanges and limited liability structures of today, the auction is going strong.
AUCTIONS
A 3,000-year-old invention that is just getting started
Peruse a list of the greatest inventions of all time, and you’ ll find an array of fantastic physical items. From the internal combustion engine and the sail to dynamite and the smartphone. Few would deny these are incredible and impactful things. However, it would be unwise to ignore inventions that are not things.
The limited liability company is an excellent example. Whilst we can point to physical manifestations of this invention, the thing itself is a legal and social construct without tangible presence.
There is evidence of a share certificate issued in 1288, but most date the invention of the limited liability firm- or“ Ltd”- to 1602, when the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie( VOC), better known as the Dutch East India Company was founded. The VOC’ s charter stipulated that“ all the residents of these lands may buy shares in this Company”.
Raising a large sum of capital from many individual investors unleashed a new era of trade at unprecedented scale and scope. For the VOC, the company structure translated into ownership of more than 20,000 ships and a company value that translates to a whopping US $ 7,9 trillion in today’ s prices- the equivalent of Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, ExxonMobil, Berkshire Hathaway, Tencent, and Wells Fargo put together. Modern commerce confirms that we haven’ t looked back.
The auction is another commercial invention that lacks an identifiable“ thing” we can touch. That may obscure its importance, but it doesn’ t change it.
The auction also goes back far further in history than the joint stock company- likely to Babylonian times. And like the stock exchanges and limited liability structures of today, the auction is going strong.
26 REI MAGAZINE DEC / JAN 2026