I thought I better finish telling you about the auction, as some of you are expecting a grand finale...but this is not it. This is only part deux.....I mean, TWO.
Usually, if there is some decent stuff in the auction, and nothing else to drag me away to greener pastures, I will stick around until the very last item is sold.
This was the case with this sale. I stuck around only because it was the first sale of the year I had attended, and there were some interesting bits I wanted to get, or at least chase.
The sale was jammed with tables and tables of smalls, maybe 40, 8 foot long banquet tables....and there was a fair bit under many of the tables as well.
Usually that means a LONG day with these particular auctioneers, and some fantastic bargains to be had in the last hour of the sale. Crowd will start really thinning out, prices will drop, groups of items being offered by the auctioneer will be made much larger, hammer comes down faster, etc. The scenario of getting a whole table of items for a dollar, including many you would have bought individually for double and triple digit figures, becomes very feasible.
Today was not to be one of those sale, however.
Spring and late winter sales in this neck of the woods, especially when accompanied by clear, sunny weather, and good driving conditions, tend to do quite well. Winter on the Canadian prairies tends to narrow down the number of country auctions being held to maybe a couple a month.. I have seen many winters with zero sales being held on some months, especially December, January, and February.
Those are the months that I used to suffer with the shakes... from auction withdrawal! When I lived in the city, the 3 permanent flea markets and thrift stores, house calls and the occasional country picking trip, had to suffice in slaking my thirst for that "score".
Sale prices were high overall, with lots that would normally sell for a couple bucks hitting $10, $20, $30 and even a few topping out at $65+. A pre-teen girl locked her eyes and emptied her pocket book of $65+ for two home ceramics class figurines, one being a moose (or was it a bison?) that she was going to own no matter what. Apparently it was her first foray into the bidding world. The determination in her eyes was cool to see, but I shuddered to think that she paid that much for what I considered near valueless items....but, she was happy, and that is all that counts, I guess. She will hopefully enjoy the pieces...maybe a new collector has been born! Or, perhaps she knew something no one else in the crowd did.
Frankly, that is how I get my bargains at these sorts of sales.
Just because prices are going high on many things, does not mean EVERY good item you see will go high.
Why? Well, because the good items YOU see are not necessarily the same "good" items everyone else sees.
I bought a nice piece at that sale, and when another bidder started bidding, I expected I would not get it at all. Amazingly, I did buy it....and it is pictured below.
Measures over a foot high, and stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the jumble of more "man-ish" type stuff that it was surrounded by....tools, boxes of hardware, that sort of stuff.
I had looked it over fairly casually, and had not noted any chips or cracks. Plus, there were no makers marks or stickers, either.
I had overvalued it in my mind, though hadn't planned to bid more than $40 - $50, despite my feeling it was a $200 - $250 piece. I stray away from heavily chasing some breakable items when cash is low...one false move and your investment is GONE.
SO, bidding started..and, oddly, started quite low, at the $10 mark, I think. I let the auctioneer drop to $2 before putting my bid in.
Then another bidder upped it to a whole $4.00....and in the tone of the rest of the sale, watching pretty much every previous lot starting at a $2 bid turn into double and triple digits, I thought:
"Damn, this is going to get chased up to way past what I wanted to pay."
But I was not surprised, so I went with the bidding, might as well make the other bidder pay something for it.
And at $2 increments it went...$4....$6....$8...
and at that it oddly stalled....I was positive a more knowledgeable bidder would jump in...
In a couple seconds, to my surprise, it was mine.
The thought of :"I MUST have missed seeing/hearing a huge crack in it....or it is a repro I had never heard about....got to be something wrong with it......" went through my head.
Got it, checked it close, and it was still intact, no cracks, no chips. I can;t call it mint, as it had wear on the bottom....but that is a GOOD thing...honest wear on the bottom of a glass piece means the odds are very high that it certainly been around for quite some time.
After research at home, I discovered my on-site valuation was high. Made by Consolidated Lamp & Glass, the value was actually bout $125. I have it tagged it at $110, with room for negotiation.
Not bad. It is those "scores" that make up for the things you paid dear for, too much for, or should not have bought in the first place...which I managed to do at the same sale...but those are later blog postings.
Usually, if there is some decent stuff in the auction, and nothing else to drag me away to greener pastures, I will stick around until the very last item is sold.
This was the case with this sale. I stuck around only because it was the first sale of the year I had attended, and there were some interesting bits I wanted to get, or at least chase.
The sale was jammed with tables and tables of smalls, maybe 40, 8 foot long banquet tables....and there was a fair bit under many of the tables as well.
Usually that means a LONG day with these particular auctioneers, and some fantastic bargains to be had in the last hour of the sale. Crowd will start really thinning out, prices will drop, groups of items being offered by the auctioneer will be made much larger, hammer comes down faster, etc. The scenario of getting a whole table of items for a dollar, including many you would have bought individually for double and triple digit figures, becomes very feasible.
Today was not to be one of those sale, however.
Spring and late winter sales in this neck of the woods, especially when accompanied by clear, sunny weather, and good driving conditions, tend to do quite well. Winter on the Canadian prairies tends to narrow down the number of country auctions being held to maybe a couple a month.. I have seen many winters with zero sales being held on some months, especially December, January, and February.
Those are the months that I used to suffer with the shakes... from auction withdrawal! When I lived in the city, the 3 permanent flea markets and thrift stores, house calls and the occasional country picking trip, had to suffice in slaking my thirst for that "score".
Sale prices were high overall, with lots that would normally sell for a couple bucks hitting $10, $20, $30 and even a few topping out at $65+. A pre-teen girl locked her eyes and emptied her pocket book of $65+ for two home ceramics class figurines, one being a moose (or was it a bison?) that she was going to own no matter what. Apparently it was her first foray into the bidding world. The determination in her eyes was cool to see, but I shuddered to think that she paid that much for what I considered near valueless items....but, she was happy, and that is all that counts, I guess. She will hopefully enjoy the pieces...maybe a new collector has been born! Or, perhaps she knew something no one else in the crowd did.
Frankly, that is how I get my bargains at these sorts of sales.
Just because prices are going high on many things, does not mean EVERY good item you see will go high.
Why? Well, because the good items YOU see are not necessarily the same "good" items everyone else sees.
I bought a nice piece at that sale, and when another bidder started bidding, I expected I would not get it at all. Amazingly, I did buy it....and it is pictured below.
Measures over a foot high, and stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the jumble of more "man-ish" type stuff that it was surrounded by....tools, boxes of hardware, that sort of stuff.
I had looked it over fairly casually, and had not noted any chips or cracks. Plus, there were no makers marks or stickers, either.
I had overvalued it in my mind, though hadn't planned to bid more than $40 - $50, despite my feeling it was a $200 - $250 piece. I stray away from heavily chasing some breakable items when cash is low...one false move and your investment is GONE.
SO, bidding started..and, oddly, started quite low, at the $10 mark, I think. I let the auctioneer drop to $2 before putting my bid in.
Then another bidder upped it to a whole $4.00....and in the tone of the rest of the sale, watching pretty much every previous lot starting at a $2 bid turn into double and triple digits, I thought:
"Damn, this is going to get chased up to way past what I wanted to pay."
But I was not surprised, so I went with the bidding, might as well make the other bidder pay something for it.
And at $2 increments it went...$4....$6....$8...
and at that it oddly stalled....I was positive a more knowledgeable bidder would jump in...
In a couple seconds, to my surprise, it was mine.
The thought of :"I MUST have missed seeing/hearing a huge crack in it....or it is a repro I had never heard about....got to be something wrong with it......" went through my head.
Got it, checked it close, and it was still intact, no cracks, no chips. I can;t call it mint, as it had wear on the bottom....but that is a GOOD thing...honest wear on the bottom of a glass piece means the odds are very high that it certainly been around for quite some time.
After research at home, I discovered my on-site valuation was high. Made by Consolidated Lamp & Glass, the value was actually bout $125. I have it tagged it at $110, with room for negotiation.
Not bad. It is those "scores" that make up for the things you paid dear for, too much for, or should not have bought in the first place...which I managed to do at the same sale...but those are later blog postings.
That moment when you win big and you second guess why. LOL
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