I had almost passed by the military green industrial trash can when I did a double take. “Is this trash can for sale?” I incredulously asked my auction buddy Janet. “It can’t be.”
We were walking through a room full of high-end furniture at an auction house in a day-before-the-auction preview. I always take my time and comb the aisles at this particular location, because it always has unique styles and bold colors of furniture and accessories.
But this old-style metal trash can was confounding. On first glance, it didn’t seem unusual in so public a place, and I’m sure that most people just passed it by or dropped trash into it, thinking that it was there for that purpose. Not me, though. I’m the auction-goer who checks out everything and takes nothing for granted.
So, I stopped to investigate. I realized that it was not just sitting there waiting for refuse when I saw the auction number on top. I shouldn’t have been surprised, though, because all kinds of items end up at auction: planters still filled with dirt, a bag of trash, charcoals still in a grill. Click on the trash can photo for a full view.
This wasn’t even the first time I’d seen a trash can. Some months ago, a set of three new Witt Industries galvanized cans – which appeared to be more artistic than functional – were sold during a Decorative Arts sale. I wrote about them in a blog post, and got an email from a man who was looking for trash cans like them for a project.
This green trash can was much like the old heavy pay phones for sale at another auction house recently. They were anachronisms, replaced by lighter, better versions of themselves. The trusty old metal trash can has evolved into solar-powered trash compactors, some of which – dubbed BigBelly – I’ve seen around my city.
I wasn’t around when the green trash can sold, but I’m sure that it did. I wonder if someone would use it creatively as decoration or for its original mundane purpose.
