When I saw notice of the hotel-liquidation sale on the auction-house website, I emailed several of my friends. I knew that most of them didn’t need furniture but maybe they knew someone who did.
There were tons of armchairs and sofas, bedroom sets, lamps, framed prints, bedding, bar stools, file cabinets, bathroom vanities, electric stoves and more, and most were in multiples. I knew that they all would go for very little money because there were so many of them.
The furniture was from a hotel-liquidation company, and it was being sold at the company’s expansive warehouse. The pieces were furniture that was replaced when hotels bought new furnishings. Most of it would be very familiar to anyone who’s ever stayed at a hotel like Days Inn (which I saw on the back of one item).
This wasn’t fancy furniture that you’d used to decorate a million-dollar home, but it would be good for a spare bedroom or rec room or man cave, a first apartment or even a child’s room (there were several bunk beds). Some of the stuff showed wear, but others were new in boxes (I saw “Made in China” on some). It was the type of furniture whose price would be very kind to the pocketbook and wallet – as I saw in the sale of armchairs with ottomans for $3 each and a sectional sofa for $495.
On auction day, only about 30 or more people showed up, including a few of us regulars and others who appeared to be newcomers who had smelled bargains. Buyers were picking up one item here, 10 of the same items there, and the entire lot of others (such as the man who bought 20 GE electric ranges for $37.50 each).
For the most part, the bidding was uneventful, although one buyer confessed that she was a little perturbed that another bidder had pushed up a bid (I told her I was not too sympathetic because that’s what happens at auctions), and another said she was berated by a woman whom she had bidded against and boosted the price of some bar stools from $5 to $9 each.
At one point, a bidder raised the ire of the auctioneer/owner of the auction house over the sale of framed prints. The auctioneer was so livid that he threatened to stop the sale. The whole situation was totally unnecessary because there were more than enough prints for everyone. In fact, most of the prints were duplicates.
People seemed to come to buy for all kind of reasons. Those buying multiples were obviously dealers with stores to fill. A firefighter had his eye on a large sectional sofa for the firehouse. Another woman and her mother came for dining benches for a room where folks can come to hear and share inspiring stories in a ministry called Lifetree Cafe. Another found a chair that her mother would love, and wondered if she should buy a bedroom set for her son.
As for me, I went looking for picture frames for a few prints I had bought and wanted to donate. I was going to buy the prints and remove them from the frames. I squashed that idea when the auctioneer set a requirement that buyers had to purchase five prints at a time and that you couldn’t choose which ones you wanted. Most of the frames were gold-leaf, and had scrapes and nicks. Waste of money to buy them.
I did get an “antique bamboo folding screen” with a $299 price tag that was neither antique nor worth $299, along with an interesting print of leafless trees. It’s a nice print, so I’m not sure if I’ll trash it for the frame.
Here are some of the items that were for sale:
