The girls are generally kept, prior to their sale, in holding cells, lit by energy bulbs, beneath the ground level; soon, however, I was passing by the exposition cages, which are accessible to the public; these cages were now empty; they are used, from the tenth to the fourteenth Ahn of a given day, to display the goods that will be sold that evening; access to the exposition cage area is free to the public prior to the sale, but, after the fourteenth Ahn, the Curulean is cleared and made ready for the evening's work; after that time a citizen must pay to enter the market; the cells themselves, and the corridors on each side surrounding them, are carpeted; the bars are set rather widely; inside the cells there are cushions and silks; on each cell there is a lot number and its date of sale; in the cells the girls are exhibited unclothed; moreover, they must be shown precisely as they are, absolutely without makeup; the only exception to this, interestingly, is that perfume is permitted; even the slave collars are removed, lest they be used to conceal a scar or blemish; the girl is simply washed, brushed and combed, and perfumed, and turned into the cage where, at the prospective bidder's pleasure, she may be examined; she is also expected, upon command, to walk, to assume postures, or otherwise to present the properties of her beauty for discernment and comparison.

 

QUOTES

 

The last bid he had received had , been an astounding fifteen hundred pieces of gold. To my knowledge never in the Curulean had a set of three gifts brought such a price. The investment of Cernus had been, it seemed, a good one.

The auctioneer called out to the crowd, now silent. "I will close my fist!"

"Do not close your fist," Said Samos, First Slaver of Port Kar.

Deferentially the auctioneer regarded the Slaver of squalid, malignant Port Kar, mistress and scourge of gleaming Thassa.

"Does Samos, First Slaver of Port Kar, mistress and jewel of gleaming Thassa, now care to express interest?"

"He does," said Samos, dispassionately.

"What is the Curulean bid?" inquired the auctioneer.

"It is bid," said the man, "by Samos, First Slaver of Port Kar, for the wenches now on the block three thousand pieces of gold."

 

~Assassins of Gor, chapter 19~

 

 

=========================================================

 

 

"Verbina, she is," called he, "who so fears a man that she would flee him, at the risk of death and torture, White Silk and never before owned, yet certified ready for the chain of a master who would use her as she so richly deserves!" The crowd roared with amusement, enjoying the sport of the auctioneer. The first bid was some four gold pieces, which was good, and suggested that the night might go well. Prices of girls vary considerably with her caste, the supply of her general type and the trends of the market. A girl in the Curulean is seldom sold for less than two gold pieces. This is largely, doubtless, because the Curulean refuses to accept women for sale who are not genuinely attractive. In a rather brief amount of time Verbina was auctioned to a young Warrior for seven gold pieces. An extremely good price, under relatively normal market conditions, for a truly beautiful woman of High Caste tends to be about thirty pieces of gold, though some go as high as forty, and fifty is not unknown; these prices, for women of low caste, may be approximately halved.

 

 

~Assassins of Gor, chapter 19~

 

 

=========================================================

 

 

To the amusement of the crowd it took the whip slave, and two others, to strip the biting, scratching forest beauties. The pair was eventually sold to a collector for ten gold pieces; I trust the security of his Pleasure Gardens is superb, else he might waken to a knife at his throat and the demand for a tarn, and, perhaps eventually, in the rags of a slave, a seat on the bench of a cargo galley.

 

 

~Assassins of Gor, chapter 19~

 

 

=========================================================

 

 

The third lot was a High Caste girl of Cos who stood before us clad in the complete robes of Concealment, which, piece by piece, were removed from her. She was beautiful, and had been free; she was not trained; she was of the Scribes, and had been picked up by pirates from Port Kar. She did nothing to move the buyers but stood, head down, numb on the block until she was completely revealed. Her movements were wooden. The crowd was not pleased. Them was only a two gold piece bid. Then taking the whip from the whip slave the auctioneer stepped to the disconsolate girl; suddenly, without warning, he administered to her the Slayer's caress, the whip caress, and her response was utter-

ly, and uncontrollably, wild, helpless. She regarded him with horror. The crowd howled with delight. Suddenly she threw herself, screaming hysterically, on the auctioneer, but he cuffed her to one side and she fell to her knees weeping. She was sold for twenty-five gold pieces.

 

 

~Assassins of Gor, chapter 19~

 

 

=========================================================

 

 

"Since we are friends, and have known one another for many years, Rim," began Arn, affably, "I am willing to let these two beauties go for ten pieces of gold apiece, nineteen if you take the pair, as they are."

Rim stood up. "There is no trading to be done here," he said.

"Nine pieces of gold apiece," said Arn.

"You insult me," said Rim. "These are untrained girls, not yet even branded, raw from the forest."

"They are beauties," said Arn.

"Common stock," said Rim.

"What do you conjecture they are worth?" asked Arn.

"We shall pay you," said Rim, "four copper tarsks per wench."

"Sleen!" cried Arn. "Sleen!"

The girls cried out with fury.

"Five for each," said Rim.

"These women could be sold in Ar," cried Arn, "for ten gold pieces

each!"

"Perhaps," said Rim, "but we are not in Ar."

"I refuse to sell for less than eight gold pieces each," said Arn.

"Perhaps you could take them to Lydius, and sell them there," suggested Rim.

I smiled.

"Or perhaps to Laura?"

Rim was shrewd. There would be much danger in taking such women to these places. Arn, outlaw, well knew this. We might easily sell such women in Laura, or, more likely, in Lydius, bit it would not be an easy matter for an outlaw to do so. Rim, followed by Cara, and myself, began to walk back down the beach, toward the Tesephone. Arn, angrily, followed him.

"Five each!" exploded Arn. "It is my lowest price!"

"I trust," said Rim, "that many ships will pass the exchange point, and that you will find your buyer."

This time of year, Rim had told me, not too many ships pass the exchange point. The early spring is the favored time, in order to have the girls partially trained and to market prior to the spring and summer festivals in many cities. It was already the middle of summer.

"Two pieces of gold each!" cried Arn.

Rim turned in the water. "Five copper tarn disks each," he said.

"I have much gold!" cried Arn. "You insult me!"

"Your purse was stolen in Lydius," Rim reminded him, "by a little notch-eared wench named Tina."

Arn's men laughed uproariously on the beach. He turned to glare at them. They struggled to contain their mirth. Then Arn turned to face Rim, and laughed. "What then do you truly offer?" he demanded. Rim grinned.

"A silver tarsk each," said he.

"The females are yours," laughed Arn.

 

 

~Hunters of Gor, chapter 2~

 

=========================================================

 

 

Male slaves, on Gor, are not particularly valuable, and do not command high prices. Most labor is performed by free men. Most commonly, male slaves are utilized on the cargo galleys, and in the mines, and on the great farms. They also serve, frequently, as porters at the wharves. Still, perhaps they are fortunate to have their lives, even at such a price. Males captured in war, or in the seizure of cylinders or villages, or in the pillaging of caravans, are commonly slain. The female is the prize commodity in the Gorean slave market. A high price for a male is a silver tarsk, but even a plain wench, of low caste, provided she moves well to the touch of the auctioneer's coiled whip, will bring as much, or more. An exception to the low prices for males generally is that paid for a certified woman's slave, a handsome male, silken clad, who has been trained to tend a woman's compartments. Some of such bring a price comparable to that brought by a girl, of average loveliness. Prices, of course, tend to fluctuate with given markets and seasons. Of there are few such on the market at a given time, their prices will tend to be proportionately higher. Such men tend to be sold in women's auctions, closed to free men, with the exception, of course, of the auctioneer and such personnel.

 

 

~Hunters of Gor, chapter 2~

 

 

=========================================================

 

 

There was little sugar in the forest, save naturally in certain berries, and simple hard candies, such as a child might buy in shops in Ar, of Ko-ro-ba, were, among the panther girls in the remote forests, prized. It was not unknown that among the bands in the forests, a male might be sold for as little as a handful of such candies.

 

 

~Hunters of Gor, chapter 2~