This last weekend we were off to attend a wedding in the Okanogan and decided to make a vacation of it as well. Typically the weather is hot and there are vacationers in abundance in BC's only "desert!" However this has been a cool and rainy spring so far....
.... which is perfect weather to attend an auction. Particularly an antique farm equipment estate sale auction. You know! ... the kind that my husband and his buddies frequent on a regular basis while their wives are at work! As a side note, I am discovering that there are all kinds of things going on while I have been working. Maybe this is the upside of being on a leave....
The collector had spent many years collecting a variety of tractors, farm implements, trucks and so forth. At age 82 he passed away and now his collection was to go home with the highest bidder.
It poured rain for the entire auction. Some of the items for auction were sitting outside on the property, however most of the items for sale were in a large riding arena.
As well, accommodations for the necessities of a long day were outside: porta-potties and the smoking barrel.....
I haven't actually been to this type of auction before and found the process quite interesting, as was the behavior of the crowd. There were about 300 men and 5 (???) women present. The auctioneer stays in his "cage on wheels" and a truck pulls this trailer around the site close to the item to be auctioned. Someone else puts a sign on each item as it is currently being bid on. I guess this is so that there is no mistaking what one is purchasing. And if you watch carefully there is a lot of winking, hand signals, rolling eyes of the potential buyers ...and big smiles and sighing!
The process is quick and efficient. If you aren't sure of what you want and how much money you are prepared to spend, you will miss an opportunity to take home the item of your dreams.
All you will have left is the story of how much you wanted the item and your money in your pocket.
Likely because of a number of factors, there were many "deals" to be made at this auction and items went for less money than expected.
If you listened carefully to the conversations taking place in the building, there were many conversations about the memories associated with the previous owner, the relationships with the family who had lived in the area for a long time, and the equipment items themselves.
- who will want our old stuff? Probably not the kids - they might just call an auctioneer and ask "How much for all this old junk?" (Answer: better train those grandkids to love antique farm equipment)
- who will know the stories of how each item was purchased, used, valued and so forth? Maybe we should be writing and cataloguing each item. (Answer: better train those grandkids to love antique farm equipment)
- where are we going to keep "the stuff"? We live in an agricultural area but do not have a public agricultural museum. There is a general museum and there are a number of collectors of history in the valley who have private museums, and about 100 km down the road there is a small farm museum ......mmmh!
Maybe we need to talk about this a bit more....over pie and coffee!
2 comments:
That's pretty devious way to get Frank to a wedding. But it works!
I've just discovered that you are blogging again. Great story! I've bid at many auctions for stuff that hubby wants/needs. Dairymary
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