Jason Hahn, left; Brian Wuthrich, center; both auctioneers with Hahn Auctioneers Inc., will become new owners of Polk Auction Company, New Paris, May 1. Jeff Polk, right, will partner with the two other auctioneers in the business. (Photo courtesy of the Farmer’s Exchange)

NEW PARIS — In what amounts to a mega-merger of local auction talent, a new partnership has been formed to lead Polk Auction Company, US 6 and SR 15, New Paris.

Jason Hahn, Nappanee, and Brian Wuthrich, Milford, both auctioneers with Hahn Auctioneers Inc., are joining longtime owner Jeff Polk to manage the operations at the popular antique tractor marketplace. For Hahn, Wuthrich and Polk, each has carved their own niche in this corner of the auctioneering world, and they say the partnership will combine the best of all three.

Though the business is changing hands effective May 1, it will continue to be known as Polk Auction Company. According to all three auctioneers, the partnership will enhance Polk’s annual schedule of antique tractor sales and combining all of these years of auction and business experience will be a great fit for all.

As the new owners, Hahn and Wuthrich say nothing will change (at either Polk Auction or Hahn Auctioneers Inc.) as a result of the transaction. They will manage the day-to-day operations, while Polk will continue booking sales, handling his share of the auctioneering duties and serving customers as he has in the past. One difference, though, is some of Hahn Auction’s larger events will be staged at the spacious, 38-acre facility south of New Paris.

Wuthrich and Hahn, who have a combined 57 years of auctioneering experience between them, have spent their entire careers with Nappanee-based Hahn Auctioneers Inc. Wuthrich has been around farm equipment his entire life and obtained his auctioneer’s license at age 18. Hahn is a third-generation auctioneer whose father, Phil, and late grandfather, Roger, were both inducted into the Indiana Auctioneer’s Hall of Fame.

Polk Auction was originally known as Dennis Polk and Associates from 1987 until 2008. In 2008, Jeff Polk purchased the family business from his father and turned it into a state-of-the-art auction facility, complete with online bidding and a drive-through arena that houses hundreds of spectators.

Jeff Polk has spent his lifetime around farm machinery and tractors and has been an auctioneer for more than 25 years. Polk Auction has developed a reputation as the antique tractor capital of the world. The business hosts an annual Labor day weekend event, a spring collector tractor auction and also a sale for late model farm and construction equipment. Last year, the New Paris-based auction firm hosted the National IH Collectors Auction.

The live auctions draw thousands of antique tractor collectors and enthusiasts and have even been featured on RFD-TV. Some of the equipment auctioned at Polk sales have been sold and shipped to international destinations like Australia, Belgium, South Africa and Ireland to name a few.