Of Tchotchkes and Tanning Beds

It was a beautiful day in Buckner, Missouri, a small town east of Kansas city. The weather was much warmer than it should have been for mid-November, so again I found myself at an auction where the sun was way hotter than the buying opportunities. It wasn’t a large auction, but it was interesting. Maybe I’m just overly curious, but auctions, like estate sales, make me think a lot about the people who acquired the stuff in the first place. This family, probably a couple, but maybe they had kids at some point, had a variety of interests to say the least. There was a a lot of Harley Davidson merchandise, although I didn’t see an actual motorcycle, a lot of World War II items–Nazi stuff, even–several beautiful guitars, Gibson and Fender, and then things like fussy painted Victorian vases and other fancy tchotchkes. There were Christmas decorations and the ubiquitous Tupperware in the back yard as well as tools and ordinary looking patio furniture. The house itself had been cleared of all the smalls and held only the furniture to be auctioned later in the day after the sun had set. The only thing that looked interesting to me was a primitive baby stroller, and how that fit in with Harley and Victoriana is anyone’s guess. Given the prices some of these things were going for, though, I knew it would be out of reach for me.

Maybe people just wanted to spend money, but I felt the bidding got pretty crazy pretty fast. There was an older men’s Lucien Piccard watch, not in perfect condition and not particularly beautiful, that went for $360. I looked on EBay and found one similar for comparison. The online bidding, with only a couple of hours to go, is around $189. I’ll follow it until its end, but I don’t think the guy’s going to make much if he was buying it for resale. There was a very pretty Czech malachite glass vase, maybe eight inches tall, with frolicking nudes on it that a local dealer bought for $120, so I know he’s looking for a profit. He might make something, but again on EBay I saw one similar for $199. Maybe these guys did some instant resale research with their smart phones before they started waving their hands around or maybe they were buying them for gifts or maybe they just got caught up in the energy of the sale. I’m still so price sensitive that I cringe at paying more than $20 or $30 for something, and yet I know I’ve overbid on items at auction in spite of myself. I’m getting better.

The only thing I bought was a box of geodes that will make nice little Christmas gifts. If I sell just a couple, I’ll make a profit. The indicator of a worthwhile sale sometimes is whether you can cover gas and I believe I did that at the very least. At this point in my operation, I still enjoy just learning about the myriad things out there. It’s fascinating to me.

But this tanning bed? Not so much.

Waste

I know my business depends on it, but honestly, I’m flabbergasted at some of the things people discard. I found this rug today abandoned on someone’s lawn. Kansas City has been very wet the past two days, so it was so heavy with rain it took quite a bit of effort for me to hoist it into the back of my car. I’m glad the house was abandoned and was on an empty side street–it was not a pretty or dignified sight, me grunting over a ton or so of wet wool. I could tell it was a beautiful rug, though–gorgeous colors and combination of patterns–so I had to have it despite the effort. After I got it home, draped it over my back fence and power-hosed it off, I did a little research. Safavieh rugs like this, from their Rodeo Drive Collection, all wool, hand-tufted and roughly 6 x 9, sell for upwards of $600. Some of the binding needs a bit of mending, but other than that the rug shows very little sign of wear.

I’m very happy to have saved this, but I just have to note how sad it is that we’ve become such a lazy and selfish and wasteful society. If the person who owned this treasure didn’t want it anymore, wouldn’t it have been just as easy to pick up the phone and have Goodwill or Salvation Army or Big Brothers and Big Sisters come and pick it up? There were other items in the pile by the curb that were unsalvageable because of the rain and will now add to the ever-growing pile of junk in the landfill. It truly makes me sick.

To end the rant, I offer you this documentary film recommendation, not quite on the same subject but close. It’s called Waste Land. The film follows Brazilian artist Vik Muniz and his crew around the world’s largest garbage dump in Rio de Janeiro, and in doing so ultimately encourages the establishment of a recycling program in Rio and offers newfound hope for the catadores working the dump. It’s a remarkable movie and it reminds us that this earth of ours deserves way more respect than we’re giving it. And so do it’s people.