The countdown is under the 24-hour mark for the public auction of the M.E. Black Farms, expected by some to draw more than $50 million.
But attendance at the public auction is restricted to members of the public who met the auction criteria and made the qualified bidders list.
Prospective bidders were required to provide a certified check or wire transfer with verified and notarized proof of funds available to complete the purchase within 30 days.
Those financial antes for prospective bidders ranged from $380,528 for the 80-acre Murphy Farm north of DeWitt to $75 million for the entire package.
The sale is the culmination of a long-running sibling dispute between Deborah Tipton of Memphis and her younger brother, George Dunklin Jr., who is the national president of Ducks Unlimited and was a member of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission from 2005-12.
The 15,881-acre holdings in Arkansas and Jefferson counties are divided into three categories: 9,450 acres of farmland, 5,058 acres of timberland and 1,373 acres of recreational land plus Five Oaks hunting lodge.
For the auction, the property is divided into seven pieces that are available for individual bidding or combinations, whatever generates the most money. The division of property into seven tracts for bidding purposes:
- 1,000 acres cropland in Arkansas County
- 280 acres cropland in Arkansas County
- 160 acres cropland/timber in Arkansas County
- 80 acres cropland/timber in Arkansas County
- 350 acres cropland/timber in Arkansas County
- 2,875 acres of timber in Arkansas County
- 11,022 acres in Arkansas & Jefferson counties with hunting lodge, shops & sheds. Acreage includes of green timber reservoir, woods, zero grade cropland, irrigation system, & reservoirs.
The location of the 10 a.m. auction tomorrow has moved from a farm workshop off Hwy. 11 to the Five Oaks Duck Lodge at 1895 Arkansas 152. The lodge is about 15 miles southwest of Stuttgart, east of the 33,832-acre Bayou Meto Wildlife Management Area.
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