Hm you know that's a really interesting idea and its true back then I'm sure they had auctions however ol west isn't perfect when it comes to historical accuracy. As far as alphos system is concerned I have no knowledge of it but if it did exist I'm sure there where reasons why it weren't completed or finished.

As far as my personal opinion goes I feel like I have to agree with eugeen. auctioning really only benefits the rich, its true tomato that ol west is easy to get money on so on average players of west have more money than the other servers. BUTTTT that also is the same reason why some players are extremely rich and when it comes to money it feels like they have infinite amounts like kawu or evan. obviously some players spend more time than others collecting and earning money and although everyone on west may be rich there will always be the "big fish" that are on top of that list who you cant ever beat in an auction.

This is just my opinion though