I have become a fan of estate sales. I used to think they were too expensive and quit frankly, too depressing. It was very hard for me to see the entire life of a person put on display...even if it was just their material possessions.
Now I have learned the secret of getting a bargain....and I try to see the "story" of the person
instead of just "the end".
My favorite thing to look for at estate sales is of course: Books!
I discovered over the summer some of the secrets of the trade :) One estate sale had many wonderful books that were still unsold by the end of the sale. I asked the people running the sale what they would do with these books. That is when I found out about The Auction.
My first visit to The Auction was like traveling to another world. It was obvious that most of the people there were long time residents. Everyone had their favorite spot and brought along cushions for the folding seats and a thermos of coffee.
I handed over my driver's license and was given a card with the number 96. The Auction started outside and I was highly entertained as I watched the auctioneers talk up all the junk that was lined along the parking lot.
I had already walked around the inside of the auction building and found the boxes of books leftover from the estate sale I had been to. Anonimo, Garnet and Caspian arrived just as the auction was moving inside. Before we had a chance to even greet one another, they began auctioning off the boxes of books we wanted.
$20, $20 who will give me $20 a box? Any box from here to here $20.
$10, $10 who will give me $10 a box? Any box from here to here $10.
A thin woman with dark hair raised her card and pulled out a box of linens. Phew, she didn't even look at the books.
Anyone else? $10, $10 a box.
Should I? Shouldn't I? What was even going on here?
$5, $5 who will give me $5 a box? Any box from here to here $5.
I raised my number 96.
96, 96 gives me $5 a box. Who will give me 6?
An older man raised his card. The auctioneer immediately turned to me.
7? I nodded my head. He turned to the older man who shook his head no and walked away.
Woo, hoo $7 a box. Anonimo and I began dragging the boxes of books out of the way. 8 boxes total. We found a dolly and Anonimo, Caspian and Garnet loaded up the van while I kept my eye on one more box of sheet music in another lot.
Later that night we sat in the living room with old dusty books spread out everywhere. Hundreds of books.
We began to seperate by author and genre. As we stacked the poetry books, Anonimo stopped to look through a volume of Robert Frost. I glanced over his shoulder at the title page...
Honey? ummmm is that his signature right there?
Where?
Right there? Is that actually Robert Frost's autograph?
Garnet immediately went to the computer and searched google for his autograph. We held the book up to the computer screen and then began to hoot and holler.
Unbelievable, an autographed Robert Frost. We gently set it atop the computer desk
Garnet ran to get her copy of The Second Tree Around the Corner by EB White. I had purchased it for Garnet last Christmas at Goodwill for .15. When she opened it Christmas morning she discovered that it was autographed.
We now had 2 books for our "special" collection.
At the estate sale before The Auction, we had purchased a 12 volume set of Jane Austen for Garnet. She loves Jane Austen as much as I do. Total for the beautiful set $20.
Caspian was looking around ebay the other night and ran across an auction of a set exactly like this one. Starting bid $1,999.00.
I think I will keep going to second hand shops, estate sales and auctions.
sweet water memories
15 years ago
