I was about to pass right by a large box of flower pots when I did a double take. I stopped to make sure my eyes were not fooling me. But there it was, hard compacted lifeless…
Month: July 2011
The auctioneer held up the bi-folded photo frame containing a vintage photo of a man and woman. $5, he said to us auction-goers standing in the driveway of a brick home where a thicket of…
Old-time gospel music albums and more
Posted in Music
When I usually come across a stack of albums at auction, I bypass them. That’s what I had done with about six boxes on a table at the front of the auction house. They’re too…
1957 Chevy and the allure of vintage cars
Posted in collectibles, and Vehicles
When I saw the model 1957 Chevy and the other vintage cars on the auction table, a memory flashed through my mind. I was a child, sitting on the porch with my cousins in a…
Collecting shells and other sea life
Posted in collectibles, and Home
It was hard to miss that strange and scary-looking creature among the sea items scattered over the long auction table. It was a replica octopus modeled into a stool, its tentacles (with suckers exposed) forming…
I found one! I found one! I found one! I felt like shouting to the rafters when I came across a reproduction of a Cream of Wheat ad from 1919 at auction with a little…
A crop of tiki cups
Posted in Carvings, collectibles, and Music
The tiki image seemed to be here, there, everywhere on the auction tables, and the breadth of them sparked a memory for one auction-goer. Rich’s aunts and uncles had drank from tiki cups and danced to the music…
I know very little about stamps, and when they come up for auction I usually look the other way. Collecting them seems so complicated and insular. Those folks have a language, culture and knowledge base that’s…
A witch ball for capturing evil spirits
Posted in collectibles, and Home
The gold ball was colorful but un-enticing there among the cataloged items on the auction table, looking too much like an oversized Christmas ornament. Nothing interesting about something to hang on a tree for a…
A woman who cataloged her stuff
Posted in collectibles, and history
When I first saw the group of items on the table, I was drawn to the colored labels bearing numbers and id’s. They reminded me of deaccession tags that accompanied the stuff that museums consigned to auctions to raise…