auction block

noun

Also called block. a platform from which an auctioneer sells:

the old courthouse where slaves were sold from the auction block.

Idioms

put on the auction block, to offer for sale at auction; offer to sell to the highest bidder.

Also, put on the block.

Origin

1840-50, Americanism

Examples from the web for auction block

Small firms, meanwhile, are eager to step up to the auction block.
The wood products company put itself on the auction block last winter, and the proposed sales were announced earlier this month.
His race cars and aircraft are headed to the auction block, with proceeds going to a trust he created.
Almost everybody thinks some things ought not go on the auction block.
Soon marginal farmers were bankrupt and farms went on the auction block.