Auction and dining room set

Monday afternoon Tammy and I went to an auction.  It was an estate and liquidation auction.  They had lots of stuff so the auction started at 2:30 pm rather than the usual 5:30 pm.

A quick look around and they didn't have anything of much interest to me.  No fencing stuff, gates, or stuff useful on a ranch.

But then Tammy noticed a wood dining room table with six chairs.  It was "farm style" of furniture.  Wood.  White legs.  Clean lines and a warm bright blonde color to the wood.

Oohhh....  ...said Tammy.

It is so cute and so perfect for the dining room.   ...said Tammy.

What about the current dining room table?  The one filled mainly with our computers and equipment?   ...said I.

We'll move the table and computers into the south part of the living room.   ...said Tammy.

Oh.

It is so cute and so perfect for the dining room.

Oh.

How much is our upper limit that we would bid?  Neither of us were sure what a similar dining room set costs.

It was 3:20 pm and the auctioneer had at least an hour or more of stuff before they got to where the table and chairs were located.   We left the auction and visited a few stores and looked at their furniture to get an idea of the price and availability.  No one had anything close to this style of dining room set.

We stopped by the library and searched online at Amazon.  We saw a similar dining room set (though with a larger center supporting leg instead of four legs) for $474.  Also the other dining room tables similar to this one were square and not round.

We got back to the auction by 5 pm.  Did they sell the table and chairs when were gone?  No.  They were at least a half hour away from it.  When we got a bidding number the clerk told us the order in which the auctioneer would sell stuff in the main room, which was different than what we predicted.  She estimated they wouldn't get to the table until 6:30 to 7 pm.

Should we wait?  Or leave and come back?   We decided to wait, and to sit on we found some chairs with backs. 

We also re-looked stuff over and found a few other items of interest.

For my cousin Jen - the sailor girl - we found this painting:

For my aunt Cathy and uncle Curt who collect roosters we found this in among the collectible items being sold:

Tammy sent Curt a text message with a photo asking if we should buy it for them.  We got no reply back.  You don't want another rooster in the house Curt?

It takes two people to get a bidding war going.  Some of the other furniture being sold went cheap, and others went much higher than I expected.  What would our table sell for?

The auctioneer started the bidding on our table at $200.  His starting prices that night were almost higher than what the final bid was.  He quickly dropped to $100.  When he then dropped to $50 someone else bid.  I bid the next call of $75 rather than waiting in hope he would cut his asking price to $60.  I wasn't taking a chance of him selling the table without cutting the asking bid.  He then asked the original bidder for $100.   No bid.  He cut his asking bid to $85. Tammy and I waited and hoped no one else would bid.  He called and called for another bid before finally selling the table and chairs to us.  Success!

The auction house charges the buyers a 10% premium so the final price was $82.50.   Still a very good price to buy the table and chairs.

The auction also sold two pairs of Whirlpool front load washer and dryers.  More people were interested in them and they sold for $500 each (pictured) and $350 each (same washer/dryers but without the bottom drawer).  I see Sears has these washers and dryers on sale for $999 this week.   Tammy was happy with the table and chairs so I didn't get pressure to upgrade my washer and dryer.

This ATV sold for $4,700.  With the buyers premium it cost $5,170.  A grandma wanted the ATV badly and got it.  I talked with her later and she was excited to get it so she could go riding with her husband.

This mower sold for $3000.  Only one person bid.  Apparently the mower had been repossessed and $10,000 was owned on it. It was a little fuzzy as to whether the auctioneer had to accept the $3,000 bid or if the owner had a right to reject the bid later.  I believe $3,000 is cheap for this machine.

Tammy and I didn't wait much longer before paying for our table and chair and loading it in my pickup.   The painting and chicken were a long time off from being sold.  Sorry Jen, and Curt and Cathy.  The Dancing with the Stars TV show was on and we were missing it.

Even though I had some rope to secure the table and chairs I drove home slowly on a longer less traveled route and went around corners even slower.

Now to find a place to put it in my house as I have boxes, a hutch and two sets of couches and loveseats in the living room already, and a full sized table and chairs in the dining room.

Tammy is happy.

Note, the table does have a leaf to make it bigger.