Not too long ago, a table at one of my favorite auction houses held one of the biggest stuffed peacocks I had ever seen. The bird was the talk among all who passed it because it’s not often that mounted animals come up for auction at this place.
A couple weeks before, another auction house had several mounted animals up for sale. And every one of them was sold (from $20 for a deer head to $120 for an armadillo).
Here, though, it was unusual. The big peacock (similar to this one) sparked an auctioneer – who was chatting with an auction-goer – to relate a story from her honeymoon: She watched as a peacock spread its beautiful tail, but by the time she got her film camera ready, the bird had closed it. A missed shot that she apparently still regretted.
At auction this week, there were two mounted fowls, and this auctioneer was conducting the sale. She had no story to tell about these; they “were not” your lovely peacocks.
“Pheasants,” she said. I don’t know enough about birds to know what they were but they could’ve been pheasants, although these did not have the long tails. I learned later that common pheasants are among the most hunted birds in the world, and some are now commercially raised. And people apparently readily mount them, as I found a ton of websites and videos on how to do it. Other sites offered info on hunting them and stuffing them (for eating, that is, with wild rice, nuts and other ingredients).
These were two ugly birds. They were a bit grimy and dusty, and looked to have been stored away for a long while. They were mounted on small black stands (also dusty), and lying just beneath one of them were some errant feathers.
I had come across them before the auction as I made my way among the tables. What struck me was a note tied around the neck of one of them:
“1 of 2 from Dr. F. Fatna’s dental office”
These fowls came from a dentist’s office! Where exactly did he keep them? In the waiting room? Storage room? Examining room? His office?
That was indeed unusual, as even the auctioneer joked about it. “Can you imagine seeing these in your dentist’s office?” she said. No, I could not.
The game birds were on the last auction table, and by then, the crowd had thinned. A handful of people had hung around to bid on some McCoy planters and pottery.
No one wanted the pitiful creatures; they got not a single bid. They’ll likely appear on the tables again, if not at the next auction but sometime beyond. Then, maybe the right buyer will be there.
