By Dan McCue

NORTH CHARLESTON -- The doors of Exhibition Hall B at the Charleston Area Convention Center opened Thursday afternoon for a public preview of what at least one of the participants described as the largest auction of a single person’s property in memory.

“We’ve had large auctions in Charleston before, but in all my years in the business, going all the way back to 1972, this is by far the largest I have ever seen,” said auctioneer Ed Roumillat as workers continued to open crates and position items throughout the hall on Wednesday afternoon.

“When you look at all this,” he said, motioning to tables filled with gnomes, collector plates and scores of other items ranging from the bizarre to the mundane. “The scale of Al Parish’s acquisitions was amazing. And this still isn’t everything.

“Some of the more high-end items, like the silver, have been sent off to Sotheby’s, while much of the cartoon art is being sold through other parties in order to secure the best price for the receivership.”

About 4,500 items will be sold in about 2,000 lots during the two-day auction today and Saturday, with many of the pricier items, namely watches and pens, being put on auction block first.

Parish has been charged by federal prosecutors with defrauding more than 500 investors of about $55 million in connection with a series of investment pools he operated as a sideline to his job as an economics professor at Charleston Southern University.

While Parish’s criminal trial is still several months away, his assets are being sold by order of the U.S. District Court in Charleston in connection with five additional civil charges filed against him in connection with the same investment pools.

Thursday afternoon curious members of the public and those interested in registering to participate in the auction will also be able to purchase significantly discounted men’s and ladies’ wear in a tag sale of the remaining goods from the now defunct A.J. Davis Clothing store on King Street.

Everything from the store is being sold at 10% of its original retail value.