Ritchie Bros founder Dave Ritchie talking to a customer.

Over 400 equipment items including forklifts will be on offer at Ritchie Bros' 50th anniversary auction next month.

The 3 June unreserved public auction will be held in Kelowna, British Columbia (BC), where the company was founded 50 years ago. Co-founder David Ritchie, Kelowna mayor Sharon Shepherd, former Ritchie Bros president Randy Wall, and most of the 15 partners who owned the company before it went public in 1998, will attend.

Peter Blake, company CEO, says: "We're proud to be the world's largest industrial auctioneer, and we're even prouder that we are a BC success story. And it all started here in Kelowna, with a small unreserved auction in 1958."

Kim Schulz, corporate communications manager, says over 440 equipment items and a waterfront property on Okanagan Lake in Westbank, BC will go under the hammer in the one-day auction.

"Real estate is typically sold by photo during our large equipment auctions. We attract an average 1,300 bidders to our industrial auctions, both on site and over the internet. The target market for the properties we sell typically aligns with the audience we attract."

Ritchie Bros conducted its first unreserved public industrial equipment auction in 1963.

Over 45,000 forklifts and 11,000 telehandlers have been sold in its worldwide auctions since 1998. A buyer from Canada paid USD270,000 for a Kalmar DCD300 30 ton forklift in a June 2007 auction in Sacramento, California, the highest ever for a forklift.

Other special events to commemorate Ritchie Bros' 50th anniversary include parties for customers during auctions, USD50,000 in charitable donations, commemorative "then and now" posters for the 38 auction sites and online profiles of 50 special customers.