Auction finds

It's been busy around here the past week, & this week looks to be busier yet. I spent last Monday & Tuesday in the woods. Me & the Weedeater vs. Multiflora Rose. I won, but with a bit of a battle scar. Poison Ivy. So far just a spot or two. Hopefully it won't spread.

It was a busy week in the shop, and I was excited to get some old porch posts from a customer:

 

Another new item in the shop is the 4 old oak chairs that used to be Jessica's:

 

 

Two have already sold, which means of course that as of right now, there are still 2 left.

 

Continuing in the chair department, I also put these out last week:

 

 

One of these has already sold, and I may get more of these in this week.

 

I also put lots of smalls out on the floor from an auction we went to a couple weeks ago. Last Saturday, we decided to close the store and go south to Reno, OH. An auction was being held there to sell off the estate of a blacksmith/farrier/collector. I felt like crying when I was talking to one of the auctioneers. The auction was held on the farm, and the auctioneer told me that the man was over in the house, completely unaware of what was happening outside. He has Alzheimer's, and would be devastated if he knew his belongings were being sold.

 

You might ask, didn't his family want any of it? Believe me when I say, if he has kids, (I don't know), they could have each taken enough to fill their houses, and there still would have been enough to sell. A huge collection. The man had been following the auction circuit for 30+ years, and must have bought at every one he attended. Antiques hoarding.

 

Example:

 

 

Old insulators. They said there were 5000 of them! They sold them by the box, and most sold for $10 a box. A real bargain. But that was the only bargain of the day - prices were high!

 

George had hoped to buy several blacksmith tools. There were lots to bid on. The man had as many blacksmith tools as he did insulators, and then some. But they sold sky high.

 

It was a 2 ring auction: George and Kevin stayed with the blacksmith ring, while Katie and I stayed with the miscellaneous ring:

 

 

There was a little bit of everything. All old. All dirty. A day for old clothes and leather gloves. And patience! (If some of those people who wanted the same things I did would just give up and go home, it would make my job much easier! HA!)

 

 

Look, more insulators!

 

Every junkin' trip we have made lately is proving the same point: Prices are up. We are going to have to raise prices in our shop, or give up on antiques. We're not ready to give up, so...... prices are going to have to go up. We'll try to keep them as low as we can, but between us having to pay more, and high gas prices, we have no choice.

 

We blame the higher prices on TV shows like American Picker. Also Pinterest. More ideas readily available to everyone means higher demand. We see people at auctions paying more there for something than they would on the same thing in my shop. Example. There were lots of wood boxes. A box that I would sell for $25 was getting bids of $30 to $40! It's not just auction fever. We see the higher prices everywhere we go.

 

 

In the end, we managed to fill the trailer. But when the cashier told me the total, I about fell over. We try to keep track as we go, but there were times when the auction was moving too fast to keep it all written down.

 

It rained yesterday, so I just left everything on the trailer. But today, it all comes off and gets a good cleaning. Then it will all be loaded back up, taken to the store, put in inventory, priced, and then displayed.

 

Lots of work!!! But for those of us with a junking soul, it's worth it!