The Auction Block

In August, we experienced our first auction. It was held at a beautiful estate called White Farm. Bill and I visited the preview and met the auctioneer-he advised us to know the items we were interested in and what we want to spend on them-and everything will be fine...and not to get emotional-there is no crying at auctions. (I am paraphrasing here).

There were three auction “areas”; under the white tent (fine antiques and collector’s items; in the barn (small wares and accessories, mostly boxed); and along the left side of the driveway (larger household items and lawn and outdoor equipment).

We walked around an enormous barn and looked at over-filled boxes of stuff. I kept our shopping list for the Little Brick House in mind. I saw a couple of small, metal, decoupage lamps and an interesting teal blue crackle-glazed vase. Bill liked the box of old brass hooks, and another filled with miscellaneous copper wares.

The tent display was more refined, and had rows of folding wood chairs-some were reserved with the next day attendees. There was great artwork, beautiful furniture,
quilts and blankets, and, if you can believe it, a dismantled paneled staircase. We liked a shaker bench, a painted blue blanket chest; a wrought iron garden bench and a couple of pieces of art. We didn’t have a lot of hope of bringing any of it home.

I arrived back the next day at 730am and signed in to get a number. The barn sale began at 8am. I was very excited, but, tried not to show it. I didn’t want to look like a novice- just like gamblers at a casino, you don’t see many smiling faces at an auction. I bid on more items than I ever expected to, and thankfully, I was out-bid many times. I did take home a lot of great items including the lamps, the copper stuff, the brass hooks, and an unframed painting from the under the white tent.

Box of dirty old brass hooks- 25 dollars; two decoupage lamps- 5 dollars; unframed painting of a European street scene- 45 dollars; experiencing my first auction-priceless!