The auction started at 9 am instead of 9:30 am like last year. If you remember my post's from last year (and if you do not, click on "Last of March" and "Creston Auction"), you know that the 2006 auction went until almost 10 pm. This was before Daylight Savings Time was moved earlier. Last year it got dark by 7 pm.
Also in 2006 a front came through and it rained and sleeted and the wind blew by the late afternoon. This year the sky was overcast and the mountain tops where in clouds. Occasionally it would sprinkle rain for a few minutes at a time. Fortunately not long enough to get the ground wet and muddy.
In addition to the earlier start, there were 5 auctioneers this year. Last year there were only four. And there may have been a little less stuff. I also noticed most auctioneers tried to keep going and not drag every sale out to the highest dollar.
Another difference this year is the "buyer's premium". This is an extra 10% added on to your winning bid. I don't care for this concept. The "buyer's premium" is like a sales tax, and like a sales tax a person can forget it when deciding whether to buy the item. Even more so in an auction when a person has to decide on the spot whether to bid higher. The "buyer's premium" is forgotten at that point.
I only bought a few items. One which I waited to buy and the other items because they together went for $1.
The item I waited hours for (actually I waited for a few items but did not get the other items) was a maul. My current maul has a fairly short handle now as I have broken the end numerous times over the past 5 years. This occurred when I split my firewood. I wanted this maul as it had an excellent handle. It is hard to buy replacement handles for tools, and when the stores sells them they are almost the cost of a new tool. I bought the maul for $10 ($11 counting the darn "buyer's premium").
I had started the bidding at $5, another guy bid $7.50, then I bid $10, then he dropped out. I can't buy a new handle for $10. So I am pleased - especially as I had waited hours.
The other items I got were a box of canning jars, rings, and lids and a small roll of used field fence. I don't need any more canning jars, but I can always use more fence. I hesitated on bidding because I had driven my car and it was iffy whether I could fit the fence in my car.
It was a sight watching me putting the fence in my car's trunk. Naturally it was nowhere close to fitting. Putting the fence in the backseat also was out. *sigh*
Then I got the idea to flatten the roll. In the parking lot I jumped up and down on the roll of fence to flatten it some.
Eventually I got it flat enough where I could wheedle one end into the car's trunk.Most of the fence stuck out. That won't do. Now duct tape is known as an essential item. I have another essential item: bungee cords. I hooked several over and through the fence and the fence stayed secure in my trunk - even at miles of highway speeds of 70 mph. *whew*
Several times snow fence were sold. A newer roll might have fit in my car's trunk (I hadn't bought the field fence yet), but I didn't bid $7.50 and the roll sold for $5. Later 6 large rolls of used snow fence sold. I didn't have my pickup so I didn't bid and they all sold for $10. That was a good deal. The winning bidder said he bought it to fence his kids in the yard.
A small box of comic books sold. It appeared there were several dozen comics in the box along with an old metal Cinderalla-style lunch box and some other item. I noticed a couple comic books that were worth money and decided to hang around to potentially buy the box. Who else would know what the comics are worth? Well... a couple of guys really wanted the box and kept bidding. The winning bidder won at $375 - and that is before the "buyer's premium". Immediately he checked the comics over. I hadn't looked at all the comic books earlier so I don't know if there were more than the few valuable ones I seen. Some of the others I seen were old, but not that valuable. I kinda of doubt they all were worth almost $400.
Later the losing comic book bidder bought an old very long wooden handle pole with a metal hook on the end. I am not sure what it is used for, but could see it being handy to pull down the top hay bales in a tall stack. The winning bid was $55. If they are still made, I am sure you could buy a new one for less money.
A number of cross-country skis were sold - all with the 3 pin binding style. Only one pair of skis had boots, and they were too small for me. I saw one person with a beautiful pair of the skis - the finish and color looked to be natural wood and not some painted color. I also saw what could be an antique pair of cross-country skis. The wood looked to be boards and the binding system was a metal spring contraption to hold the feet on the skis.
There was a nice pair of snowshoes. I also saw a number of other people carefully looking them over. In the past I have seen these old snowshoes sell for well over $100 so I didn't make an effort to keep track of when they sold and never saw what they sold for.
Several old-time cast iron stoves were sold. All needed work to clean up to look nice. I spoke with a woman who bought one for $350. She also bought an old wooden wheat mill that was weathered but still has the original red paint and all the pieces. The company name was still on the mill, and while I forget the company's name, I remember it was from St. Paul, Minnesota. Refurbished it could look nice, but where would one place it? The pieces stacked together were almost 5 ft tall and a yard long.
This woman moved from California to live closer to her sister who has lived here 8 years. The odd co-incidence is that she formerly worked as an accountant for a company that had an AS/400 and knew it well. In my IBM career that is the computer system I worked most on. This woman said their AS/400 was great and they had no problems.
Why we got on the topic of AS/400s is that a Sperry Unisys midrange computer was sold at the auction. I wasn't there to learn the winning bid, but as I spoke with the California woman the new owner was wheeling the computer to his pickup using two pieces of plywood laid over and over on the ground as other men pushed the tall rack over the boards. The computer stood almost 6 ft tall. This is not a computer for the home and I was curious why anyone bought it, much less why anyone would put it in an auction of mostly garage sale type of stuff. And it was a Sperry... ugh!
A kettlecorn stand was up wind and it smelled so good. Many people carried large plastic sacks of the kettlecorn. It was just me so I resisted buy any. The hamburger, sloppy joes, etc. grill was down wind so that was easier to resist.
I seen my neighbor Wyatt at the auction so we spent some time catching up since last year.
The auctioneer Bobby Roshon was auctioneering again this year. I wandered over to listen to him while I gave time for my item's sale tickets to reach the payment stand. Roshon is a very good auctioneer. I like his speaking rhythm and he is knowledgeable on a wide variety of items up for bid. I noticed he has grown a bushy mustache since last year.
I also noticed the woman (wife? girlfriend?) who clerked for Roshon in the past was absent. She is memorable as she has a blond crew cut with a long mullet. Unusual on a guy much less a woman. Maybe she changed her hairstyle and that is why I didn't notice her around.
While waiting for my items to come up for bid I people watched. I noticed people from last year's auction. I also watched a man and woman who looked to be in their late 30s. He wasn't dressed like a cowboy but he had that taciturn look. He didn't seem to be a guy who made much conversation. He was over 6 ft and was with a woman who looked to be 5 ft 5 in. She was the more interesting person to watch.
She wore a baseball style hat and her long brunette hair was in a ponytail out the hat's back opening. Her hands were in her coat's pockets with her arms by her side most of the time. She wore jeans and work boots. Nothing fancy. They looked to be practical typical clothing to her. She stood still much of the time, more than average for a woman, and seldom looked around as she focused on the auctioneer and what was being sold.
She was slim and attractive. But that was all that was feminine about her. Her clothing - while not a man's clothes - were practical and not feminine. The way she stood and moved was more masculine than feminine. But she didn't look like a lesbian. That was the odd thing about her. Now-a-days with lesbianism being "in vogue", any women with masculine traits can easily get a lesbian label attached. This woman was not feminine, but probably not a lesbian. Perhaps her father treated her like the son he may never have had. Maybe she was a cowgirl or horsewoman. I don't know as I never heard her speak. But she had a unique look.
Otherwise I noticed most people at the auction looked like they would have fit in at Deadwood, SD in 1876 when gold was discovered there. I have been watching on DVDs the first season of the HBO TV series "Deadwood". (Excellent show!!) The people in the show have a rough and unpolished look to them. That fit many of the people at the auction today.
It was almost 6 pm when I left the auction. I estimate the auction would have gotten over before 7 pm. I had arrived after 11 am. I was there over 6 hours. My legs are tired from all that standing - and they were still recovering from all that hiking yesterday! From time to time I would walk between the various auctioneers just to keep moving. Good thing I like auction sales!
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