The auction started at 10 a.m., and it ended around 3 p.m. -- a very long auction. The items I wanted were -- you guessed it -- on the last table to be addressed! AND... worse yet (or so I thought) the "ringers" were hot and tired, and they grouped the items I wanted with a lot of "lesser" things they wanted to get rid of in the process. So, to get the items I wanted, I had to take some things I didn't. In all, I spent $18.
When I got home, I sorted my "loot" and started looking through things on eBay to see what I might be able to salvage from the "culls." It turns out that the things I "thought" weren't so valuable are probably worth more than what I bought intentionally! One item is what I thought was a whiskey bottle... it is actually a Berring's Apple Bitters bottle, pre-1900, and one just like it sold yesterday on eBay for over $13.50!!!
I also ended up with a couple of little pictures that were "made in Italy" that may be worth as much as $35, or maybe nothing, but similar ones are selling for between $10 and $35! The interesting thing about these pictures is that the "picture" is on fabric!Greg's mother got some good pieces, too. She has a new computer system, and we are teaching her to send/receive e-mail and watch her items on eBay.
One item I won that I really did want was this beautiful pink vase. I think it's fairly old, and probably worth around $20. The pattern is Heritage by the L.E. Smith Glass Company. Isn't it pretty?!Auctions in small towns are really interesting. Along with the bidding and hoped-for bargains, you get to visit with old friends (and new) from the community. It's as much a social event, in some ways, as it is an actual auction. And there are "regulars" and newbies and fierce "wars" over the good stuff, and a lot of nuances. I am learning a lot from Greg's mother, who is an auction veteran. She knows the auctioneer from all of her years of attending auctions, and she knows volumes about how to bid, what is good and what isn't, etc. Once, I chickened out on an item and stopped bidding. I looked over and SHE had picked up the bidding and won the item!
We came home hot, tired, and sunburned (me, anyway), and hopefully, in a week or so, we will be a few dollars richer for our day -- I will let you know!!!
