The unending row of tables of items on the auction house’s website told the story. Someone had overdone it in their purchase of Asian-themed items.
From what I saw, I knew that this auction would last for-e-v-e-r. Who I wondered had spent so much money on stuff they never got around to using, most of which was still in their brought-from-the-store boxes?
Too many of us, unfortunately. Why do we do it?
Once I arrived at the auction house, I sought out the items just to make sure the website photos were not tricking me. But there they were: about five long tables of them, laid out piece-by-piece together on some tables, interspersed among other non-related items on others. There were so many that the auctioneer suspended the regular auction and focused purely on them.
The pieces were both lovely and varied – in their cobalt blues and greens, stonewares and garden-wares, dragons and Buddha, and even erotica.
There was a new set of mugs with erotic drawings of men and women engaging in sex. (One of the regulars bought them, said he’d seen them sold individually at a store on a hip street in Philadelphia for much more than he paid for all of these.)
Each piece in this Asian lot came from one estate. “They all were in storage,” the auctioneer said. “This is expensive contemporary stuff.”
And it showed: Each piece appeared to be in impeccable condition. And most of it was new, not vintage.
I especially liked a grouping of eight small blue and white bowls, and another mixed-color set that were just beautiful to look at. One sold for $17.50 (the lot also included the items in the photo at top), the other for $20.
Most of the items were sold inexpensively, and that made me wonder how much money the previous owner had sunk into so much stuff that was never used. Going to auctions – and seeing what ended up on the tables – has taught me to not waste money on items that I’ll never use. I wish I could have learned that a lot earlier, would’ve save that money and invested it.
Here is a sampling of the items from the auction:
8 sashes (they could also be used as table runners, the auctioneer said. In fact, I thought they were table runners, hanging there on a stand away from the other Asian-related items). $140.
2 tabletop screens. $140 each.
2 large pot-bellied planter/vases (the two at right in the back). $30 each.
Medium planter/vases. $10 each.
2 cement lawn statues. $20 each.
A grouping of about a dozen paper fans. $20.
2 large light-wood carved dolls in boxes (in photo below in the back). The auctioneer called them “scroll dolls,” but he probably said that because each box contained a scroll. My auction buddy Janet bidded on these but lost out. She stopped bidding at $12.50. These sold for more, but I’m not sure how much, maybe $20.
Smaller wooden dolls (in photo above, middle of table). $10.
Pair hand-decorated carved dolls with paperwork (in photo above, to left). $12.50. Janet was able to get these. I think they may be Japanese kokeshi dolls, which according to a Collectors Weekly article, are now made primarily for Western tourists.
Long flowing yellow kimono. $50.
