first auction

I met Sarah in Vanceburg, Kentucky this morning to attend an auction.  It was the first auction I’ve ever been to in my life and it was FUN!!  They were auctioning very old quilts, baskets, knives, guns, toys, tools, glassware, and furniture like you wouldn’t believe.  Really OLD stuff, hundreds  of years old and some of it in very good condition.

 

They had so much stuff they couldn’t fit it all inside the building, so they had two long rows of stuff piled up outside. This is where they started the auction and I took a very short video clip because I was completely enthralled with how the man could talk so fast for so long.  Sarah made me stop because she was embarrassed by me.  A man holds the items up for people to see and watches for bidders while the auctioneer does his thing.  Totally fascinating!! (Turn up sound if you want to hear it).

We walked around looking at everything and I made notes of a few things I wanted to bid on...a quilt, a dish cabinet, and some crystal.  Sarah and I were both going to bid on a lion thing we both liked – I can’t imagine us bidding against each other.  The lion thing was an oak cabinet with a mirrored shelf on top – very unique and ornate with lions carved on the shelves and on the front legs.  I loved the drawer pulls.    I almost bid on a Kentucky long rifle just for the novelty of having it hang over our fireplace, but when the price went above $250 I lost interest.  Sarah said the dish cabinet sold for $3,800 and the lion cabinet sold for $2,100.  Just as well I left before they were auctioned.

light oak on the right was my favorite

lion cabinet was awesome

delightful drawer pulls

So, what I realized today is that I’m not an impulse shopper.  I didn’t go there to buy anything in particular and I have a hard time parting with my money for something I don’t really need.  Also, you need to really look things over and know they are in acceptable condition before they start the auction on them because it all goes very quickly.  You also need to decide up front how much you are willing to pay.  And most important lesson of all, pay attention to the bidding on items you want because it’s really hard to understand the auctioneer if your attention drifts off.  There was a beautiful mahogany game table I considered bidding on because I thought it was about to go for $50.  In fact he sold it for $400 while trying to get someone to bid $450...and I thought he was saying “for $50”.  Duh!  Thank God I was too late!