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.

And Now a Word About Auctions

I’m an auction-going newby, so it’s hard for me to read a description for one and be able to decode it very well. I should have been suspicious when the ad stated clearly that the (gorgeous) German art deco mantle clock had been converted to use a battery-operated mechanism. Who would do such a thing?! And then there was the HUGE collection of Tom Clark gnome and Santa figurines. The above three-foot tall plastic lawn bunnies? There were dozens for each and every holiday. The stuff of nightmares, I tell you. There were a few, very few, kitchen items I was mildly interested in, but I couldn’t see standing in the hot sun waiting for hours until the auctioneer got to that section. I bought a pretty, gold-filled Elgin ladies’ watch with a cool chain, but left soon after that. Bent but not broken, I’m going to try again next weekend–I can only get better deciphering the advertising verbiage.