One of the perks of giving up my day job is being able to go to sales & auctions early in the week. Last week on Tuesday there was an auction just a mile from my house at an old farm estate. It was billed as a 'country auction' and was heavy on tools, guns, farm equipment and horse stuff (not really my thing).
I went anyway -- because I could -- and because a lot of the things I like aren't likely to make it into the promotional pictures.
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| A gorgeous day for an outdoor auction! |
It was so much fun and turned into a most-of-the-day event. Because of the tools and farm equipment, men outnumbered women by 2-1.
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| Most of the auction looked like this... |
That made me feel pretty confident about the household items coming later. There were a few things that were really interesting. They had a penny candy or peanut dispenser (like you used to see in stores) that dated back to the 1910s. There were two phone buyers from across the country for that and it went for about $1,000! There were also several saddles signed by the saddlemaker and some beautiful woven native american and mexican textiles -- all from the early 1900s. I was just a spectator for all of that, but it was fun just to watch!
I blew a big amount of money (for me, anyway) pretty early on this great wooden card table with a map of Great Britain on it. I just
had to have it and went over the limit I'd set for myself. I immediately texted Mr. KV and told him I'd just bought my birthday present. The couple who's farm it was were at the sale -- they're moving to a smaller place -- and the man told me that the table had been in his family as long as he could remember, and he's 81. He said his mom and dad had glued a National Geographic map to a plain wood card table. I love it!
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| Sweet wood card table with map of the British Isles |
By the time the auctioneer got to the box lots and household stuff, he'd already spent 3 hours on horse riding things, furniture, guns and all the farm implements & tools. Most of the men had loaded up their trucks and there wasn't much competition for what was left (that made me happy). I spent just $1 - $5 a box for the rest, except for the box that held this quilt, which was a little higher.
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| The quilt box lot (there wasn't really anything else of value in it) |
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| The quilt 'after' -- I soaked it in Biz, then rinsed it well and laid it out on the grass in the sun to dry. It's lovely! |
Then I had the fun of bringing all the stuff home -- this is just a little of my 'pile' (I forgot to take a picture before I had loaded about half of it up).
My car was packed!
Sorting through the box lots was fun! A lot of times they make you take stuff at auctions that you don't want in order to get the stuff you do. Most of what was in the boxes will be donated or sold at a yard sale, but some of it was really nice and those nuggets were well worth the price of the box. Here are just general pics of the box lots (unsorted, so you can see them in all their 'glory'...)
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| A wooden farrier's box |
Some other fun stuff I got at the auction:
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| A clothespin bag |
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| This cool horse lamp (it cleaned up well) I think it would be cute with books in the middle |
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| Each side of the lamp has this cast iron horse & horseshoe. |
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| A big paper roll holder & cutter -- probably from a store |
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| A little paper trimmer |
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| This cool mid-century picture was FREE! The guy who was forced to take it didn't want it and gave it to me. It's really big, maybe 24 x 36 |
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| A monogrammed art deco hamper and waste can from the 1920s or 30s. It turns out that I know the man whose grandmother it belonged to (how weird is that? |
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| A cool two piece metal utility cabinet. It has great bakelite pulls |
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| I even like the old red linoleum that lines the drawer! |
Now that I've bought all that (for surprising little money) and hauled it all home and sorted it, I feel like it's time to slow down on the shopping for a while...
...BUT there's always another great sale...and another...and another!
