A Good Day at Auction

I can never have a bad time at an auction. Even if a bunch of the stuff I want goes for far more than I am willing to bid, I thoroughly enjoy watching the action and am entertained by what some people are willing to pay for things I deem truly JUNK. I may be a pack rat, but I am a discerning pack rat.

Last Friday I went to a rare weekday auction (most are on Saturdays when I work at the post office).

This table of books caught my eye immediately, not to mention the ugly rooster lamp. The lamp barely got a bid, then shot up to 3 whole dollars (or maybe the winning bid was $2.50?) Anyway, the whole room chuckled when the item sold. The winning lady looked a little embarrassed but put a brave face on it. Who wants their taste in decor to be scoffed at? I might have bid if the base was anything other than a chicken-- too main stream for me!

The books ended up going for $5.00 "choice" then later $10.00 for the whole lot that remained. Since I have more books than I need right now (many I get very cheap, or free), I did not join in the bidding. The telephones were very tempting- especially since some were wired as lamps, but again, were too rich for me. Did I mention that I was cheap, er painfully frugal?

All of these items were sold in lots- a bunch of items were arbitrarily assembled (by the auction house staff) on a tray and sold as a group. The Coke collectibles went on forever. Eventually 6 lots of Coke stuff was sold, for pennies on the dollar. Many items were still in their original packaging. Hint to collectors: if it says, "collectible" on the packaging, don't buy it. Everybody and their brother will keep it "mint in the package" and it will NEVER have any resale value. Prime example. ANYTHING advertised by the Franklin Mint or those other clearing houses for painted plates, china dolls, thimbles, shot glasses and etc. Yeeesh! AccckkKKK!

You pay $65 per plate, but when you're hard up for money, you will be dang lucky to find a buyer who will give you $12.00.

Moving on....

This auction seemed to reveal that even small town auction goers had gotten savvy in their buying. This box of hardware went for over $18.00. That's a bargain in California, but not in Missouri. At least, not in my part of Missouri. :)

The one book I would have liked to have gotten, if I could have remembered who won the lot. It's okay to approach someone and say, "can I buy [such and such] from you?" I bought one item this way at the auction without buying the rest of the junk in the lot. And I only spent 50 cents.

The one that got away. I stopped bidding at $17.00 and should have bid higher. It sold for $18.00. A beautiful antique quilt with great resale potential. The quilt collectors hadn't shown up to this auction so all of the quilts went cheap.

Three and a half hours into the auction, I was starting to think about the pre-school party I needed to attend soon and was losing my focus. Many of these items sold while I only gave them a passing glance. I had also already spent over $35 on other stuff and was needing to haul it out to my car.

A unique lemon squeezer. Don't know what it sold for.

I left a proxy bid for this huge safety pin of keys, because I had to leave before the auction was done. Another example of what I used to get for cheap, selling for a lot of money (to me, anyway). The lot of keys and other dangly things sold for $13.00. Yikes! That means the skeleton keys I already own are worth more than I thought!

I will never know what the plastic container of gumball prizes went for. If it went for cheap, I don't want to know!

This lovely whisk broom also went for more than my proxy bid. Final price, $8.00. Oh well, I have plenty of treasures I did win. I'll share them in future posts (they are still hiding in the trunk of my car until I can slowly sneak them into the house!)