Boondox
Elite Member
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2000
- Messages
- 3,871
- Location
- Craftsbury Common, Vermont
- Tractor
- Deere 4044R cab, Kubota KX-121-3S
Tamara and I went to an auction Saturday in the little town of North Hyde Park, Vermont. She had been after a wood cookstove for several years, and this auction was selling two of them. One was huge, a gargantuan thing, but the other was a perfectly sized (for our house) Kalamazoo stove missing only the grate for the firebox. Usually these things go for a grand, and since so many people looked interested in it we weren't very hopeful.
There was also a 1903 Singer treadle sewing machine in a flawless oak cabinet -- the other thing my wife has long lusted after! Again, many interested parties, but Tamara decided she had $1k and was willing to fight for both of them. So we stayed.
I love the crowds at auctions! The bored kids sleeping under shade trees. The attentive young couples trying to fill their homes or apartments. The old farts commenting on things they remember from their youth. And the derisive critics in the back row. At this particular auction there were three white haired old women who had something to say about nearly every item...and about the sanity of any bidder willing to spend more than $5 on junk like that. They reminded me of those two old guys on the Muppets! They laughed all morning and cackled happily with every winning bid, most often out of happiness for the family selling the stuff. Several Tonka toys from the 60s went for well over $100. Some tired old childrens books, like a Little Black Sambo, went for small fortunes.
But few were bidding on the stove or the sewing machine. My wife and I won both items -- plus a working art deco 1953 front load washer -- for less than $400! The sewing machine and washer fit into the back of the Subaru, but we had no way of getting that cast iron cookstove home. Finally, out of desperation, we drove home and fired up Semper, our 57 Dodge with the tired flathead six engine. We'd never driven him that far before, but he hung in there like an old trooper making a steady 45mph all the way to the auction...where all the old timers practically swooned over it! As we loaded the stove into the bed, scores of new truck drivers were puzzled about why all those old timers were so uninterested in their shiny new rigs. It felt good to be driving something that old, especially using it to pick up an antique stove. Way cool!
On the way home a couple driving a Lexus SUV flagged us down and asked if the stove was for sale. It wasn't. Then they asked why it was in the back of the truck. "Don't you folks have tailgate parties down Boston way?" asked my wife with a twinkle in her eye.
Gawd, I love that woman! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Pete
There was also a 1903 Singer treadle sewing machine in a flawless oak cabinet -- the other thing my wife has long lusted after! Again, many interested parties, but Tamara decided she had $1k and was willing to fight for both of them. So we stayed.
I love the crowds at auctions! The bored kids sleeping under shade trees. The attentive young couples trying to fill their homes or apartments. The old farts commenting on things they remember from their youth. And the derisive critics in the back row. At this particular auction there were three white haired old women who had something to say about nearly every item...and about the sanity of any bidder willing to spend more than $5 on junk like that. They reminded me of those two old guys on the Muppets! They laughed all morning and cackled happily with every winning bid, most often out of happiness for the family selling the stuff. Several Tonka toys from the 60s went for well over $100. Some tired old childrens books, like a Little Black Sambo, went for small fortunes.
But few were bidding on the stove or the sewing machine. My wife and I won both items -- plus a working art deco 1953 front load washer -- for less than $400! The sewing machine and washer fit into the back of the Subaru, but we had no way of getting that cast iron cookstove home. Finally, out of desperation, we drove home and fired up Semper, our 57 Dodge with the tired flathead six engine. We'd never driven him that far before, but he hung in there like an old trooper making a steady 45mph all the way to the auction...where all the old timers practically swooned over it! As we loaded the stove into the bed, scores of new truck drivers were puzzled about why all those old timers were so uninterested in their shiny new rigs. It felt good to be driving something that old, especially using it to pick up an antique stove. Way cool!
On the way home a couple driving a Lexus SUV flagged us down and asked if the stove was for sale. It wasn't. Then they asked why it was in the back of the truck. "Don't you folks have tailgate parties down Boston way?" asked my wife with a twinkle in her eye.
Gawd, I love that woman! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Pete
