The Auctioneers

The Auctioneers were a number of human shareholders who sold alien artefacts.

History
Although the Auctioneers did not have an official leader, Julia Hartley-Price was the largest shareholder. (AUDIO: Game Theory) Her identity was a secret even to those who worked for her, who knew her only as the Overseer. (AUDIO: The Sontaran Project) Sam Bishop became aware of the organisation and investigated them, (AUDIO: The Dalek Transaction) eventually being captured at a warehouse in the Mendips. (AUDIO: Game Theory)

The Auctioneers came into possession of a Dalek that fell to Earth and sent it to Captain Maria Gonsalves, who ran a research base for them in Monte Bosque. Its weapons were taken away and the Dalek mutant sold to the undercover Kate Stewart whose team caused the destruction of the Monte Bosque armoury. (AUDIO: The Dalek Transaction)

The Auctioneers captured Commander Merx in the Ardennes Forest and, rather than selling him on his own, they planned to clone him and make a business of selling Sontarans as mercenaries, soldiers and assassins. They moved him to Brussels, Leipzig and Vienna before tasking John Torrance and Christine Colley at the Torrance Research Foundation near Sevenoaks with cloning him. Thanks to Petronella Osgood, the project was exposed and stopped, but the Auctioneers abandoned each of their bases as soon as Colley was captured. (AUDIO: The Sontaran Project)

UNIT searched the Auctioneers' bases and recovered a transport capsule which sent Osgood and Josh Carter to a parallel universe. (AUDIO: False Negative) With UNIT having proven a consistent nuisance, the Auctioneers moved to the Whitehouse Gallery across the Thames from UNIT HQ. (AUDIO: Master of Worlds)

Using virtual reality technology from another universe, Julia made a video game using the captive Sam. She used him to blackmail Kate and Osgood into performing a series of tasks in virtual reality as a display of power and to prove that the Auctioneers had no interest in the Black Archive. Once the video game was complete, she left Sam in a container at Windsor Castle as a sign of good faith and released the game as a free app, earning her a round of applause from her fellow shareholders. (AUDIO: Game Theory)

Julia held UNIT responsible for the Cyberman invasion and had drones bring Kate, Josh and to the Whitehouse Gallery. The Master converted her soldiers and killed her with his laser screwdriver, after which UNIT used the Auctioneers' resources to defeat the Cybermen. The artefacts were confiscated and due to be disassembled and catalogued by Malcolm Taylor, (AUDIO: Master of Worlds) but the Master took a Wirrn egg from their collection and left it for UNIT as a parting gift. (AUDIO: Hosts of the Wirrn)

Legacy
Following the fall of the Auctioneers, other parties picked up the trade of alien materials. (AUDIO: Portrait of a Lady)