A young auctioneer has had a social media surprise, after he woke up to his mum telling him he had gone viral on a popular social media platform for auctioning off merchandise.
Elders Albury stock and station agent and auctioneer Harry Cozens said viral TikTok videos - of him auctioning off a hat after a concert - happened after a stranger overheard a phone call and realised he was an Albury auctioneer.
Mr Cozens attended a Melbourne-based Zach Bryan concert, an American singer songwriter, and was on his way home in a congested train at Flinders Street station.
He said he had a work-related phone call to a trucking company, which some friendly rural strangers overheard.
"From that conversation someone identified who I was from Elders Albury and he asked me to auction off a hat for the train," he said.
"After asking a couple of times, he eventually twisted my arm and one thing led to another."
Mr Cozens said the train - packed with Zach Bryan fans and Melbourne commuters - got on board with the idea and starting placing bids on the hat.
The hat started at an opening bid of $5, and eventually crept up to $74.50, with total clearance of one lot selling to $74.50, and an average price of $74.50.
The interaction was filmed by several onlookers and posted to popular social media website, TikTok.
On Tuesday at about 3pm, the three videos had respectively earnt about 1.3-million views, with a part one video by @elsapattullo earning more than 994,000 views, their part two video reaching 128,000 views, and a @bayden_neame video making more than 172,000 views.
Mr Cozens said he didn't have a TikTok account himself, but had several calls and messages the following morning.
"Mum woke me up and said I've gone viral on Tiktok, and I said 'you're joking'," he said.
"I've got no idea who filmed any of it.
"It's unbelievable the amount of people who have sent me messages."
Mr Cozens said he was reeling after an interesting year, having won the Victorian Young Auctioneers competition in September.
He said he had been genuinely surprised by the reaction.
"It's just something I do day to day as my job as a stock agent and auctioneer, and I'm full of surprise and overwhelmed," he said.
Mr Cozens said alongside the excitement on his commute home, Zach Bryan was an "unbelievable" performer.
"We had a blast, he did a very good job," he said.
"It was just a funny train ride the whole way home."
Rachel Simmonds
Rachel is an agricultural journalist for Australian Community Media's Stock & Land. She covers all aspects of Victoria's farming community and industry. To get in contact, email rachel.simmonds@stockandland.com.au
Rachel is an agricultural journalist for Australian Community Media's Stock & Land. She covers all aspects of Victoria's farming community and industry. To get in contact, email rachel.simmonds@stockandland.com.au
