Friday at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources for them to determine the value of their items. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do some preliminary research to get them started. So, these are market values, not appraisal values for insurance purposes that I suggest for items that have been determined to be of great value.
This week’s questions are about a portable Catholic Church confessional and a GE Monitor Top refrigerator. In each case, the readers wanted to buy the items from me, but I don’t have them. I don’t buy most of the stuff I see at auction and write about. If I did, my house would be a junkyard, and my friends would be offering me up as a candidate for the A&E TV show “Hoarders.”
At auctions, I’ve talked to many sellers who have filled up their houses and garages with stuff. Some are even paying rent on storage units for the overflow. But they keep on buying, as they readily admit, because they have this addiction that they can’t shake. Buying is good, as long as you sell as you buy.
Question:
Please submit dimensions and price.
Answer:
This reader was asking me about a portable Catholic Church confessional that I blogged about two years ago. I usually get inquiries from people who come across my blog when they are looking for certain items, so I assumed that this person was in search of a portable confessional. I suppose he was so excited to have found one that he didn’t completely read or comprehend my blog post.
I didn’t buy the confessional. An auctioneer who knew I was always on the lookout for the unusual alerted me to it right after it had been sold at auction. I was watching a sale in another room and I followed him outside and we found it on a truck, where the buyer had already loaded it. The confessional, which folded like a room divider or Chinese screen, was indeed fascinating.
I have no need for a confessional at home. What would I do with it?
Question:
So lovely. … where can I buy it, or one like it. How much? Are ice trays included?
Answer:
This reader was referring to a 1935 GE Monitor Top refrigerator that I had blogged about last year. Again, this was one of those instances that I didn’t buy the item.
I wrote about it because – as she said – it was a lovely white refrigerator that looked like it had rarely been used. Someone had taped the original receipt on the door.
Interestingly, I had gotten an email from another reader last year who said she had a GE refrigerator just like it and wanted to sell it. I don’t put buyers and sellers together (for obvious liability reasons), so I didn’t pass along her offer.
As for this reader, I suggested that she try searching the web via Google or eBay. One was likely to turn up.
Her reply:
I’ve looked but can’t find one. I’m still very interested in this one but would like an answer to (my) questions.
Answer:
I had no other answer to her questions, but I went looking on the web for the refrigerator. I found several clean-looking appliances selling on eBay for $199 to $800. I’m sure they’d be tough and expensive to ship.
