It wasn't Sotheby's, but the bidding in Cabot House was no less impassioned at last night's Dutch Auction.

Instead of Rembrandts, the items were of a slightly lower value: "a powderpuff doll named buttercup," "a date with Dave Mantilla," and a "crappy but functional bike"--and the most valued of all, the traditional "lambing."

The yearly event typically raises around $3,000 for the House committee.

Around 180 House members packed the junior common room and were entertained by auctioneers Billy Weitzel, long time Cabot resident and History and Literature tutor, and his sidekick Gerard P. Hammond '02

On the block first was a batch of fresh baked cookies.

Weitzel cracked his first joke of the night about the cookies, which sold for $9.

"It's the same people making the cookies and brownies and buying the cookies and brownies each year," Weitzel said.

Residents see the annual event, at which audience members race to outbid each other for items donated by their classmates, as a sign of a tight-knit community.

"It's hard to get it if you're not in the house, the riffs and the inside jokes," said Marty R. Thiry '00, who himself had donated a "Dinner at the Lampoon Castle (no underclassmen)."

Indeed, few in the audience were not members of the House.

Many Cabot seniors who attended the auction opted to miss a popular Senior Bar event known as the "senior stumble"--a moniker for the traditional pub crawl that tours nine Cambridge and Boston drinking establishments.

"I had two options tonight, the stumble or this," said Carlos A. Monje '00, who is also a Crimson editor.

The most anticipated moment of the night was the so-called "lambing." For new members of the House, the event remained a mystery until the event itself at last occurred.

"I don't know if they hit them with [the lamb] or rub it all over them," one audience member admitted.

But audience members were enlightened when House Committee Chair Mellissa M. Mueller '00--chosen to participate in the event at last year's auction--appeared on stage and stripped down to her two-piece lycra sports suit. Her three roommates, who had paid for the privilege, then massaged Mueller with the hallowed lamb, which was marinated in a mysterious dark sauce.

Mueller was unavailable for comment after the event.

The House also auctioned of the rights to lamb a resident next year. Though the bidding started at $50, it soon escalated into a battle between two warring factions.

Eventually a group of women dropped $266 for the privilege of wiping down a half-naked Wei Zhou '01 with strips of raw lamb at next year's event.

"They'll look back on [the amount] and shoot themselves," Weitzel taunted through the mike. "It's like a tattoo."

Last year's lambing has become part of House legend. Residents recalled that lambing victim Mike Bush '99 wore only a jockstrap while receiving a treatment that he apparently enjoyed.

"It is the meaning of Cabot house, the coolest house, second only to sports," said Azunna E. O. Anyanwu '00-01. A date with Anyanwu was sold for $35.

Even House Master James H. Ware got into the action, bidding $11 for a belly dance to great applause.

A man billed simply as "Steve the Chem Tutor," apparently well-known in Cabot for his Chemistry tutoring, donated a liquid nitrogen demonstration had been donated by And not to be ignored was a "Billy Weitzel game-worn Cabot Strauss Cup jersey."

The well-liked tutor will depart from the House at the end of the year. Over the years Weitzel has created quite a reputation for himself in the intramural sports arena.

Weitzel said he had enjoyed his term as auctioneer.

"I like making public humiliation a positive spectacle," he said.

Kate A. Agresta '02 was there to watch her roommate Becca P. Mercer '02 auction off a "singing, tap dancing telegram" from their third roommate Heather G. Childs '02.

"I felt lucky that I wasn't chosen," she said.