I’m so scared, baby…..our first auction experience

Last week, while Amber was doing her normal routine on the internet (I can’t tell you what they are, because I’d have to kill you), she saw an ad for a furniture auction in Fort Worth.

When she told me about it, our eyes immediately met as if we both knew what the other was thinking (“Yea, we’re gonna need a babysitter”). So we dropped off Ramona with my brother and sister-in-law (Thanks Allen and Sara!) and headed over there.

The neighborhood was not one that we would normally venture into after dark (probably daytime either). Amber was not the biggest fan, but I convinced her to stick it out for the experience (and the blog, so uh…. you’re welcome). After perusing some of the merchandise, we went up to the front and signed up for a number. Here’s how we felt:

We sat down (near the back of course, in case a quick exit was needed) and waited for it to start. Here’s what the set up looked like:

Once the auction started, we mainly just sat and watched. We weren’t really sure what we were doing, and we weren’t interested in any of the stuff being auctioned.

I’m not sure what to think about the people who were bidding on the items. They definitely seemed to place a value on quantity instead of quality. Some were antique dealers, and the rest we’re really not sure.

The first item we bid on was this old green suitcase filled with old linens and doll clothes. We really just wanted the suitcase. Bidding started at $5 and we bid it all the way up to $20. There were 2 other people bidding against us. We were willing to go up to $30 for it, so we got out fairly low. I think the other people were mainly interested in the clothes, which was kinda funny especially since they wreak of smoke.

Then we sat around and waited and watched some more (we were there for about 4 1/2 – 5 hours total). After a while, they started loading up some artwork on the block. There were 5 pieces total, but only one caught my eye. It was a large vintage photo of a mountain range (about 16 x 20), mounted on foam board.

We started the bidding at $5 and no one bid against us. We gave the other artworks away to the dealer sitting behind us. $5 was plenty cheap and this sucker is really cool in person, total instagram feel, except authentic. It would cost more money than that to print out a photo this size. I’m going to add it to a series I’m working on called “Manly Artwork.”

After that, we sat and watched even more. The auction was ending, and it was “Pick and Choose” time. This meant if there was anything they didn’t get to that you wanted, you took it up to the front and it was put on the block. This is where we did the most damage.

We got these 2 dusty/dirty pieces for $5 each. We’d been looking for a dome for on top of the hutch. This one is smaller than what we are looking for, but we thought it’d look good on top of a succulent or something. The green bottle was really old and seemed like a good deal for $5. Here’s a zoomed in photo for the texture…

You’d think I would have cleaned them before I photographed them, but that’s not how I roll apparently.

Next, we bid on some vintage piano rolls. I thought they looked cool. At $5 per roll (we got 5), it was a bit of a splurge by auction standards, but I think they will look cool grouped together somewhere.

Here’s a look of one rolled out, in case we wanted to use it as a cheap art option.

The last bid that we won was this set of old books. It was not a steal at$10 for the set, but can you ever have enough cool looking old books lying around?

Overall, it was an enlightening experience. We’ll be more prepared next time we go (yes, there will definitely be a next time). There are a lot of gems to be found at places like these and since we’re not looking to resale the items we get, we generally are willing to pay more than the vendors.