Husbola and I get anxious to attend auctions in early spring. Our show schedule is starting and I am always worried that we will not have enough fresh to market merchandise to tantalize customers into buying from us. So we need to comb the auction newsletters and on line listings and get out there buying.
So--a recent spring morning--we headed out VERY early to travel about 100 miles to an itty bitty Illinois town to attend the creme de la creme of the auction calendar--a farm estate auction. Not a consignment auction full of stale merchandise dumped by antiques dealers--but an honest to goodness real dead person estate sale--and on an old farm no less.
Auctions can be all about the setting. There is nothing like a crisp dry spring or summer day--pawing through neat old stuff on flat bed wagons--and uncovering treasures to bring home. Invariably the auction bill of sale cannot list all the items that will be auctioned--so you never know what you will uncover--and just have to have. And hope that none of the 200 other people present finds it or has a clue what it is.
So Husbola and I arrive in plenty of time to have about an hour to look over the goods before the auction starts. I KNEW we were going to hit pay dirt as the roads we took off the interstate got narrower and narrower and finally ended up as wide as our home driveway. We pulled into a field to park--another good sign. In addition--there were no nearby farms--just good Illinois fresh plowed feels, fresh wind and fresh manure smell.
OOOH--this one promised to be a good ‘un. Ramshackle buildings (see photo) and ramshackle outbuildings and hayrack upon hayrack of goods. And about 500 other people who thought it was going to be a good day. Not a good sign.
You see--in April--everybody who likes neat old stuff has cabin fever and wants to go to an auction. Presumably you have been selling over the winter--and new money is burning a hole in your pocket--and you are ready to bid! And bid! And bid! Not good for getting a bargain.
On first pass--what did we see--? A fabulous late 19th century adult tricycle, two 1900s wicker and leather suitcases, old globe with wooden stand (the country of Persia was shown) a brass 1900 tuba, hump backed 1900s stuffed bear, and on and on and on. Wahoo--Spend the day.
Another good sign that the day was promising--the variety of goods available. There was everything from dishtowels to books to farm antiques. The auction company was going to run two rings--this means two auctioneers simultaneously auction at opposite ends of the lot. This is fine if there are two of you--but if there is one of you--and you want to bid on several things--you have to pick which auctioneer you will stick with--or continually jump back and forth. In this case--the normal household was going with one auctioneer- and the items we were interested in with the other. So no darting back and forth with us. We went back to car--brought out the folding chairs and thermos of strong coffee and we were ready for action.
Adventures to be continued in next post.
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