Some Auction Finds -

Face Jugs

Hand Carved Rabbit

Clocks

One of my all time favorite things to do is go to auctions. My love first developed when I was in college and living 

on a bare minimum. I had to find ways to make everything stretch. I bought dishes and glasses, linens and quilts, artwork and pottery all for pennies. Most of it I still have.

Auctions really speak about the people who live in the area. Each one is different. Each one is always filled 

with amazing things. They might not be something you want to take home with you but they are definitely worthy of your consideration.

I have seen so many different things at auctions. Whole houses broken down and sold in a weekend. Owners and relatives gathered round watching as their lives are scattered in moments. I have to tell myself that these things have found a new home, a new life. That is not something to be sad about. 

This is a place where deals are made and people get 

carried away. You always hope that you will witness a 

minor feud over something. One person always leaves with the spoils. You can spot the different people pretty quickly. 

The young couple looking for a few things to make their home theirs. They want a story to tell their friends. The dealers - the women who collect glass or dolls, the 

sisters or friends that run a very profitable shop, the older men who look at the tools, the clocks, the way a piece of furniture is made then swoop in and buy.

These people are great resources. They can help you with the lay of the land. They often know whose belongings are up for sale, who is interested in what. I try to get there early, look everything over, get a good seat, talk to as many people as possible. You can figure out who and what 

is going on pretty quickly. 

The food at these auctions is usually pretty good. I usually eat before and have dessert there. The desserts 

are usually homemade and delicious. Exclaim when you eat them. Let people know you enjoy the whole experience. Make some new friends. Even if it is for just a night. If you keep going you will run into a lot of the same people. 

Some auction advice -

Decide what you what to buy, how much you are willing to pay and stick with it. 

Do not go with any preconceived ideas about what you are looking for or want.

Yes, you can think I need a dresser, or a chest or maybe a table. Think vague. 

Don't let what you think you want get in the way of the possibilities. 

Sometimes auctions will be selling someone's collections 

or a antique shop, or a household. It is ever changing. 

The last auction I went to was selling a dealer's collection and shop of primitive antiques. The face jugs and hand carved rabbit were just a few of the things there. The prices were high. He was a well known collector and he had great taste. He bought authentic things and had been 

in the business long enough to have a reputation.

I was fortunate enough to buy two of those face jugs. (the three sided blue jug on the bottom left and the large 

brown and round face jug next to it)I also bought two beautiful paintings by an Atlanta artist I was familiar with and a Texas artist I was not. I had no expectations when I walked in.

The hand carved rabbit and several other hand carved pieces went for several hundred dollars. The clocks were sort of sad. They went below prices I had seen years ago. I bemoaned this with one of the gentlemen there. He told me he thought it was because there are no longer that many people who can fix clocks. The young people do not want clocks anymore. They all use their phones. True, I thought. It is an ever changing world. I hope you will get out and experience an auction or two. Let me know what you think. 

Burned Out

Last week one of my girlfriends gave me my five minutes of "Whine and Wine time". I told her I was feeling just really burned out with EVERYTHING. Nothing in particular, just everything. She told me I needed to get out more, do more, quite whining and just do it. She would be in charge of a weekend of things to do that I would not have to think about. I could do that.

It was a great plan. The best thing is I do feel more relaxed. Ready to start the week again. I thought I would share one of the things we did. We went to a very small city auction house and mingled, ate great home cooking, met all sorts of interesting people, took lots of pictures, bought some interesting things, saw some incredible and not so incredible things, laughed - A LOT, and forgot who we were for a few days. I feel like my muse has been renourished.

I am going to put some phot0s in the next post. They are mostly of small things. Although there was a lot of cabinets, tables, chairs, and other assorted furniture, nothing that took my breath away. Hope you enjoy.

p.s. The chimney is from a house that the city was going to tear down and the fire fighters got to practice on.

A Night at the Auction House

Someone's jewelry box right off there dresser. The dresser and bed set were sold, also. I always feel a little teary eyed when I see stuff like this. Knowing everyone in the family has pawed through it all and taken what they wanted and this is what is left. This person wore and probably loved this stuff. When my grandmother passed, my Mother and Sister and I went through her things. My Sister was a teenager at the time and nothing was cool to her, but I could remember most of it and had loved it when she wore it and was honored to have some. We ended up keeping it all. I come from a long line of hoarders and nick knackers. One of my husbands use to kid me about how we still had room on the ceiling.
No auction or antique store is complete without old bottles. Where I live they are everywhere. There is a place on the river called the "bottle dump". It is on River Road. Imaginative isn't it. You can go and dig. I was talking to one guy at the auction who told me of several other sites along the river to go to "find" things. He was a native and seemed to know all the "places". Another day.
There was a whole table of games and different soaps and old advertising type things. It was interesting to see how much they were appreciated. I have always loved the graphics and fonts on these products. Everything seemed to be made with a little extra put into it. I wish some of these companies would take the time to put more style into their things.
All the men folk gathered around the hunting and fishing items. These lures were interesting. I have been finding a lot of these on the beach in the mornings. They are pretty wicked with those hooks. I have been thinking of a couple of art projects to do with them. If any one else has done something with them besides fish let me know - please.

A nice transfer ware wash set - minus the pitcher. The large basin, potty, a cup and soap holder. I resisted. This cream with brown is one of my favorites. I decided - although it went for a song, to hold out for something else. I figure I will always have the picture.
A pair of Raggedy Ann dolls. They were very well loved. It tickled me to death to see all the women at the auction mosey over to check them out at some point during the evening. They were sold to a very sweet silver head lady with no grand children who just wanted the memories. How sweet is that?

A tray of flower frogs. These were really cool. I think they were some ones collection or else they did a lot of flower arrangements. I am fortunate to have quite a few of my grandmother's. She did the flowers for the church every Wednesday and Thursday. Some times it was the Baptist church sometimes it was the Methodist church. She didn't like to do the Catholic church. I think the candles and holy water made her nervous. She asked me why they had to have that poor suffering man upfront in their church. It just depended on who had sweet talked her for the year to do their flowers. She was always mad at one or the other. Most of her flowers came right out of her garden. She was known to do flowers for weddings and luncheons. I would sit in awe of her creations. I still am not very good at flower arranging. I love fresh flowers though.

Knitting needles and a old tobacco tin. Very North Carolina. We use to have so many mills and factories that produced yarn and lace, all types of material. Now slowly most of them have been closed and moved to other sites. The up side is that a lot of these mills have been turned into condos, lofts, and studios.

So these were just some of the sights and sounds of an evening at the auction house. i am told they have an auction every weekend in May. Hmm I love the pie at this place....

Auction Time

Toy trucks

Every weekend I try to take a little road trip to take photos, enjoy the scenery, try a new restaurant or shop, that type of thing. Sometimes I travel with friends sometimes alone. Just get out and venture. Saturday was one of those days.

The weather here has been ideal - around 65 up to 70 degrees during the daytime. It is so warm I found dandelions at the cemetery I was taking photos at. That is warm. The weather just makes you want to get out and do something. After reading about all the bad weather across the Midwest this weekend I am thanking my lucky stars.

Anyway, I went to some new thrift stores - more about those finds later. Then decided to travel down an untraveled road and ended up in a small tobacco town. North Carolina is a big producer of tobacco - think Duke, Reynolds tobacco company...There are lots of small towns that were built on tobacco here, now we have pig, chicken, turkey farms. Think Smithfields, Perdue. I can's say we are all thrilled but it has taken over when the tobacco people left.

Off topic again, sorry, anyhoo, I saw a bunch of trucks and cars outside this big old building in town after I was finished shooting some pictures. I decided to mosey over and see what was going on and it was an auction. I haven't been to a really honest to good auction house in ages. I decided I was spending Saturday night there at the auction house. Found me a pretty comfy chair and sat down to watch the action.

I found a box load of pictures and paper ephemera that makes my knees weak. Also, took a ton of photos of all the antiques. Met a couple of dealers who are going to be on the "lookout" for "stuff" for me, and ate some of the best pie I have had since my grandmother passed away. So the pictures included in this post are a small sample of things that caught my eye. How was your Saturday night?

A beautiful dress worn during the civil war. It was in great shape for being so old. They even had documentation for the dress. It had a reserve and did not sell. Lovely to look at though.

A pretty little wicker baby carriage that a doll collector snapped up.

An incredibly in bad taste bear head. If you think this is bad I spared you the shot with the two paws on either side of his head. Yes we have bears in North Carolina. Yes, we have bears in this area. Yes, I have, seen one or two. But they are Black bears. I have no idea where this bear came from. All the dudes seem to be impressed, I heard one lady tell her man "not in my house, you can just put that out in the barn." Hope their cows don't stop making milk.


The last thing I am sharing is a bunch of military stuff. They sold old military coats, jackets, hats, whole dress uniforms, and a couple of powder guns. This was a whole table with this guys military career on it. He had these incredible hats. [I will share them in another post] They probably spent an hour on frantic bidding on all of this. It was a fun evening, very colorful...