Went to an auction this morning. (Sorry, it was too cold to even think about pictures. I’m a tropic weather lover.) I’ve been looking forward to this one for nearly three weeks. From the pictures, it looked like they had some good stuff. Ugh. They did have some pretty cool stuff and the potential was there for some deals as there were only a handful of bidders/buyers there. Maybe 40 people in all, but several were couples. And we were outside and it was freezing! But ….
1. The auctioneer is used to Atlanta buyers, not Middle-of-Nowhere, Alabama Buyers
2. If no one would start the bidding where he wanted it to start, he didn’t sell it
3. There was this male, dealer couple sitting on the front row in front of me who seemed to like a lot of the things I liked and had the money to pay for them and the market to sell them higher. They bought about 25 fabulous, large, porcelain/enamel/granitware letters that, when put together said GE APPLIANCES, for $200.00. Pooh. I wanted them and $200 might have been an OK price, but that was all I had to spend and really didn’t need to spend that. Why is it that men at auctions always seem to have money? They don’t mind parting with it, either.
4. There was a lady dealer in the back who really did like the same things I liked and apparently she has a shop or something in or around Atlanta. Or somewhere. I don’t know. She really *could* pay more for things than I could. And did.
The furniture, which is why I went because I need it so badly in the shop, looked a lot better in the pictures online than it did in person. Most of it was in dire need of repair and I do not need anything else to work on. Besides that, it sold for more than I’d have paid if it was in good condition. The pieces that were good went way higher than what I had to spend.
There were boxes full of junk. Very few even had one thing I was interested in. These were the type boxes that at my favorite auction, they pile it all on a table and when no one starts the bidding at $5, they add another box full and another until somebody bites. This guy would pull out one piece of crap and try to get $10 for it. When no one bid, he put it in the house. No sale. There was one box full of still wrapped figurines. They said there was probably a hundred in that box. I might have ventured $5.00, maybe even $10 if I was feeling “spendy”, just for the pig-in-a-poke, but he tried to start the bidding at $100.00!!! The few figurines they pulled out weren’t worth a dime each! I heard he’d almost canceled the auction because of the poor turnout.
About lunch the auctioneer sorta gave up and said we could pick what we wanted him to auction and the rest would be saved for a later date. Pick? I LOVE picks! Oh, boy! But there was a stipulation. We had to be willing to “pay” for it. We couldn’t get it for nothing. I left. Hey! I’m a bottom feeder, by necessity, not by choice, and there were no crumbs falling to the bottom. 🙁
So a wasted morning. Over two total hours driving time and 3 hours sitting in the biting wind and cold. What if somebody wanted to come to the shop and buy something and I was off at a fruitless auction? I’ll never know. Of course, if I was at the shop and nobody came in I’d wonder what I’d missed at the auction. The good thing is I still have my measly bit of money to apply to rent — or next week’s auction!
I love those auctions also. At the auctions I go to, they will go down to $1.00 and continue to pile until someone jumps. I’ve gotten more “junk” for a buck than you can shake a stick at. I’ve learned to edit and throw away the true junk and delight in the treasures.
There is always a better auction later. I never give in to temptation at those high priced ones either, and hate it whent they go that way. But I also save my money for better bargains another day. Bottom Feeders Unite!!