The auctioneer grabs the microphone and he is ready to go. This is how this auction works. People offer to bring their stuff to be auctioned off. It is set up ahead of time. They agree to give the auction house a percentage of their earnings. This particular night there were 3 different people showing their stuff. The auctioneer did the typical auction banter. I thought that was pretty cool. The first guys didn't really have anything all that great. It was mostly stuff you could buy at the flea market for $1. I did bid on this cast iron butterfly candle holder thing. I bid $1. It went up to $3 - out of my price range for something that would probably end up in my next garage sale. My Dad did get some hack saw blades. He said it was a good deal. The second guy came up and he was something else. He had tattoo's all over his arms. His arms, down to his second knuckles were black. You really couldn't tell where one tattoo stopped and the others started. He was a BIG man and had his eyebrow pierced. He had a woman helping him, who was wearing camouflage pants, work boots and was pregnant. He had some serious junk. I think he had cleaned out an old garage or something. I bid on a boomerang and won! Yeah...only $1. I don't know if it works yet or not. I did let a few things go that I should have snatched up but by time Jake and I discussed it- well, it was too late. Jake is far to contemplative for the auction scene. The third guy had more junk. Old, old stuff that no one would possibly want. He had three ironing boards. No one was even bidding on them. He was frustrated so he put a dollar bill on the ironing boards. Someone did bid on them. They went for $1! I saw him pulling stuff out of a junk box and there were 3 telephone books it the box! Who would want that. Believe it or not people were snatching stuff up like crazy. I asked my dad why and he said they take the stuff and sell it at the flea market or at other auctions. Crazy! Remember the little boy, who won the money? He left with 4 trash bags full of stuffed animals and 2 boxes of toys. He was in heaven. He also had a pair of old army boots that were way too big. He was wearing them.
Here are some things that sold at the auction.....
- Norman Rockwell collector plate (sold for $4.50)
- Military Stretcher (sold for $1) - I wanted to bid on it...Jake said no.
- Numb Chucks
- Food Processor from the 80's.
- Toilet Auger & Drain Snake ($1.50 for the pair)
- old love seat
- a glider
- lamps
- old dishes
- box of religious books
- Bible on tape, KJV, missing two tapes
2 comments:
I was talking with some Amish relatives about the auctions they have when someone dies. They said to never consider anything junk until the auction is over! Example: they were carting stuff away they considered junk. A rusty lantern fell off the wagon and broke on the way. So they thought, well, if it won't cooperate in going to the junk pile, we'll take it back for auction. It sold for a little under $100. Garden art, or some such thing.
Aunt Nancy
I love auctions - but I tend to get carried away. Once I decide to start bidding on something my competitive side kicks in and I don't want to stop!! There is an auction close to our house - every Friday night. And on Monday's they auction off groceries - I haven't gone on Monday's but Friday's have been interesting. My favorite though are estate auctions.
Mamaw
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