inch of candle

The length of time required for a candle to burn down one inch. Similiar units are found in many cultures. In English commerce, however, the phrase had a special meaning: it referred to a type of auction. Worlidge's description [1704] is worth quoting in full (spelling and punctuation have been slightly modernized):

Goods are sold by inch of candle when a merchant or company of merchants, as the East India Company or the like, having a cargo of foreign goods arrived, are minded to make a speedy sale thereof, in which case notice is usually given upon Exchange by writing, and elsewhere, when the sale thereof begins; against which time the goods are divided into several parcels, called lots, and papers printed of the quantity of each and of the conditions of sale, as that none shall bid less than a certain sum, more than another has bid before, etc. During which time of bidding a small piece, about an inch, of wax candle is burning, and the last bidder when the candle goes out has the lot or parcel exposed to sale, and if any difference arise, as it often happens in a good lot that four, five or more bid together, in such case the lot is put up again, until the true buyer can be discovered by the judgment of standers by appointed for that purpose, which buyer is bound to stand to the bargain and to take the lot whether good or bad, at the rate he bought it, being the last bidder.

An eBay of the 1600's.

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