Wednesday, October 12, 2011

How This All Got Started in the First Place (Part I)

It wasn’t all that long ago it would have taken a team of wild horses to get me to go to an auction. Even though I had never been, for some reason I had the idea that I would be bored to tears, and that anything I might win would be nothing more than someone else’s junk. Now granted, all of that is a distinct possibility, but overall, I had no idea what I was missing!

During one particularly boring period of time during a holiday break, my wife suggested that we attend an auction that evening, just to “see what it was like”. I was so bored, and my only alternative was to go visit relatives, that I finally gave in and said “yes”. I was sorry as soon as I said it, but it was too late to back out. Besides, bored as I was, visiting relatives was a fate worse than attending an auction; at least I was sure it had to be.

The auction preview began at 4:00 p.m., with the auction starting at 6:00. As soon as I walked in, I knew I had made a mistake (or so I thought). I had never seen so much junk in one place in all my life (well, maybe my basement, but other than there)! Upon closer inspection, I found that there were some really nice items hidden away among the box lots of junk. I collect different types of pottery; Roseville, Weller, Rookwood, etc., and there were some very nice pieces that were going to be auctioned off. Of course, I was used to buying them at antique stores, etc., and although auction prices were supposed to be lower, I didn’t think the difference would be worth mentioning. Boy was I wrong!

Roseville pieces that retailed for several hundred dollars were being auctioned off for between $60-$80 bucks, some even less than that! I couldn’t believe it! Although some items went for quite a lot…much more than I would have paid…most were sold for very reasonable prices. It was becoming obvious to me that there were some terrific bargains to be had for the careful bidder. I was hooked!

Over the next couple of years, auctions allowed me to increase my collection of pottery very quickly. Unfortunately, it grew much too quickly. It soon became apparent that the rate our collection was growing would quickly consume all available storage space in the house, and then some. Something had to give…and by this time, I was hooked on auctions, so I wasn’t about to give them up. There was only one option…some things had to go.

If you’re a collector, you know how difficult it is to part with items in your collection. I think the phrase is “culling out.” Unfortunately, if I wanted to stay married, it appeared as if I didn’t have any choice in the matter, and so the very difficult task of culling the collection began (even more difficult with my wife in the background constantly muttering, “What have I done?”).

This was probably the most difficult thing I had ever done. Each piece in the collection was purchased for a reason, and having to choose which one stayed and which one didn’t was next to impossible. With the “help” of my over-eager wife, over a period of months we whittled the collection down to something reasonable. Now the next challenge…how to get rid of those items that didn’t make the cut.

To be continued.