Higgins Auction - I go shopping, so you don't have to...
Saturday morning I was up early, showered, breakfasted, and had printed out the e-mail from Amanda with what Tom and Amanda wanted me to bid on for them (They were in Vermont and missed the auction). I hit the road early and picked up some cash, just in case. I had e-mailed the auction house during the week, I wanted to know things like “Do I need to bring cash, when can I sign up for a bidders paddle, how do I pay for things?” etc. They had been supremely UNhelpful, I didn’t know much more than what I could figure out from the Web site. *sighs* So I pretty much went in prepared for anything. I had several hundred in cash on me, plus my checkbook, plus I paid my credit card balance down to zero on Friday night.
Preview hours on Saturday were from 9:00 to 11:00, with the auction starting at 11:00. I got to the Higgins a little bit before 10:00. And thankfully the parking lot wasn’t too full. I took that as a good sign. As I was walking across the street from the parking lot, some dude with a fancy mustache honked at me, rolled down the window and shook his fist at me shouting “Damned pedestrians!” (Yeah, it was Stephen. *grins*).
While I waited for them to come in, I got in line to get my bidding number. Yep, it was a $200 CASH deposit for that. This is the exact reason why I’d e-mailed them before hand, but the woman hadn’t mentioned anything about the deposit needing to be cash. Good thing I came prepared. Seriously, for a professional auction house, they were incredibly disorganized (at one point towards the end of the day they briefly lost track of an entire sheet of lots, prices paid, and winning bidder numbers).
Stephen and Alena and I checked out the first floor library. While they looked at the furniture, I made notes on which pieces Amanda had wanted to bid on. She’d been interested in one of the fancy carved chairs, but Stephen pointed out it was really rickety, so I figured with a toddler, not a good idea.
Then it was up to the second floor, where Stephen tried out the kid’s horsie with the authentic saddle. I looked at the oak trestle benches again. They were really nice, and really heavy. They looked like they broke down, but they didn’t, which was a shame. I crossed them off my list.
The arms and armor room was so crowded that they wanted you to leave your purse at the door. Um, no, not going to do that. I let Stephen and Alena take a look around while I went back into the Kids Gallery and marked up a new copy of the auction lots with what I wanted, what Tom and Amanda wanted (and what they were willing to bid) and a few other things. I’d made random notes the first time I went through. This time I used different colored pens, etc. (Because I’m a nerd like that!). Since I was the paddle holder, I knew I’d probably end up bidding for everyone, and I needed a way to keep it all straight.
Once they were done scoping out the weapons, we toured the rest of the building. Stephen and Alena noted that some of the electronics were high quality (like the sound mixing board) but not anything that they needed. Down in the basement, Stephen was interested in some of the tools. And we all drooled over some of the big wooden doors with beautiful iron hinges. And I showed them the Triumph of Maximilian, hidden back in a corner hallway. Then we headed out to the parking lot, and I gave Stephen one of the Landskencht posters that I’d picked up on Friday, returned his copy of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and loaned him the season one DVDs of Human Target. Alena texted Marc and Brittney to find out where they were, and of course, they were upstairs looking at the arms and armor. I suggested to Alena that we go grab seats, and it’s a good thing that I did, because we ended up in the back row, over in the corner. As it was, even a half hour before the auction started, we were lucky to find five seats in a row (Alex sat in the row in front of us). People were sitting on the floor and in the aisles. And it was a LONG time to be sitting on the floor. The auction ran five and a half hours.
Before things got started, Stephen and Marc tried to coordinate what they wanted to bid on with what Tom wanted to bid on, so we weren’t bidding against each other (which would have been hard with one bidding number, but you know what I mean….). We had a scratch pad with what lots we were bidding on, who wanted the item the most, and what their upper limit was. While Stephen was there, I let him do the bidding (because he’s tall and visible and knew what their limits were better than I did). Because Alena is due any day now, they didn’t expect to stay all day, so when they left, I got the paddle back and took over the bidding on things. Marc and Brittney left early too, because pregnant lady = baby needs to eat. Alex and I stayed all day and missed lunch. *sad hungry face* It ended up being a very long day, as there was a lot of stuff to sell. The only tricky part was when the item was a lot, and the bidding was the price for each thing multiplied by how many were in the lot, you had to be careful not to accidentally spend too much money (10 chairs at $2 a piece, a bargain at $20 for the lot. 10 chairs going for $25 each meant you spent $250 for the lot…).
Lots of details about the auction. There were almost 600 lots, you may not care… Most of these photos I snagged off the Auction web site because now that the auction is over, I'm expecting them to take them down.
I took VERY random notes on the auction catalog as the day went along. Some of these were notes because I know people were going to want to know what that thing they wanted actually ended up selling for. Some where my own WTFBBQ notes, and some were just because I was bored and needed something to do while I waited for the next item I planned to bid on to come up.
During the auction they had some really piss poor photography of each lot. I’m really glad I took good notes when I walked through the preview, because you really could not tell from the photos what things were. They were basically poorly lit, and in some cases completely dark (or in the case of lighting fixtures, just blobs of light). The person who took the photos on the auction house web page was clearly not the same person who took the photos for the slide show. Which is a pity.
The auction started with four lots of wrought iron sconces and lighting fixtures, then three lots of glass display cases. Then five iron chandeliers, then more sconces, candelabras, and assorted lighting. There were a LOT of lighting fixtures for sale during the day, I didn’t realize how many until they just kept showing photos of the damn things. Then there were several dozen classroom chairs, the stacking kind, in various lots or 10 or 12.
Lot 32 was the glass case with the cardboard standup of William Short in his Viking outfit. According to the auctioneer “There’s a lot of interest in this item.” There were multiple advance bids plus some bids from the room. I can’t remember what it went for (and didn’t write it down), but I think it was somewhere between $350 and $500. They should have put cardboard standups of Bill in all the glass cases, because I think that’s about the only display case they sold all day. And they had a lot of display cases.
Huge costume cases from the Princess Diana exhibit, not sure what the connection is there, did the Higgins ever show any of her clothes? Or were they bought from England? At any rate, nobody wanted them, and they had TONS of these things.
Several lots of folding tables and Banquet tables. Then MOAR wall sconces. Then a random lot that include a long Rubbermaid duster pole “I’m not sure what this is for.” The auctioneer said. “All those sconces!” I quipped. Everybody laughed. *grins*
Lot 55 was our first bid, Stephen bid on a small chest freezer, but it went for more than he wanted to pay.
Lot 72 was the first sale price I noted down for OMGWTF. A large wall poster (jousting themed) went for $275. A poster. I’m guessing they bid up the price for the memorabilia value…
More display cases. Lucite and then glass. Then antique carved stands that were the bases for the suits of armor. There was a small one that I wanted because it had a sort of a green man face carved on it. Then when they did the bidding, the auctioneer bid on the first one (way too expensive for my taste) then instead of doing separate bidding for the others, sold the rest of them at the same price. “Who wants another at [OMG price]? That one I was interested in was much smaller than the others, and decorated, so I was disappointed that he didn’t bid them separately. So I ended up not bidding on that one at all
Lot 111, The glass case/diorama with all the little lead soldiers went for $1,300 (I think Jeffrey Forgeng bought that).
Lot 112, The Renaissance saddle with horse went for $500. That sucker weighed a ton, but the saddle was worth at least that much a couple of grand according to a comment from Andy over on Facebook. BARGAIN!.
116 - 2 church pews went for $125
117 - A single dark wood bench went for $175
118 - A lot of six six foot long oak benches went for $100 each.
119 - And then the lot of four four foot benches went for even more ($200 each) even though they were shorter! And none of the benches broke down, even though they were made to look like they came apart.
An empty Dell server rack went for $175, which is a steal.
By noon we were only through 130 lots. At that pace, I figured we’d be there until 5:00 or 6:00. Which meant no lunch for me! (*sobs quietly that I didn’t eat a big enough breakfast*)
Whee, a whole bunch of furniture, tables, storage cabinets, shelves. Half of which had no interest (where were the used office supply resellers?).
I bought lot 139, a small rolling lecturn, for $30. I have a ginormous dictionary that needs a nice display/home.
Then we got to the contents of the kids gallery. I honestly didn’t think they’d sell this stuff. But the jousting horse, the archery display, the “try on a chain maile shirt” rack, even the large half a horse (that you can’t even sit on) all found buyers. The half a horse? Went for $110 (and the buyer has to dismantle it from the wall himself!).
Then we got into some office supplies. Printers, copiers. A fridge went for $25. A microwave went for $10. Stephen bought a Nikon camera for $40.
There was a lot of two dustpans and brooms. Really, they were selling off everything! There was a lot of random power strips and cords. (just what I need, more junk for the junk drawer! NOT). A bunch of monitors. More random electronics. I went to the bathroom and missed a dozen lots. The auctioneer was cruising along. That man didn’t waste any time (thank god, it was a long enough day as it was). A boombox. A lot of assorted calculators. Some old/crap computers. A bunch of slightly newer (Windows 7) computers. Scanners. A couple more lots of folding tables. A jousting poster went for $25. Four lots of maple bookcases. Those were nice, heavy though.
Another fridge for $25. A wall clock for $5. Another wall clock (think the ordinary plastic ones you see in every school and conference room). But this one had a Higgins sticker on it, so it went for way more than $5 (I didn’t write down what it went for, but I remember the bidding war and being puzzled that people were willing to pay that much for a cheap wall clock with a sticker on it!).
It’s 12:30 or so by now, and after an hour and a half, we finally get to what everyone has been waiting for, the reproduction weapons! Whoo! (and there was much rejoicing!). And this is when I started taking more notes, because these were the things people probably cared about prices on.
First lot (231 - 238), eight Italian parrying daggers. Bidding went to $140 each. The first bidder took four, and then the others went (at the same price) to four other people.
238 two wooden dussak went for $60 each.
240 Pair of leather gloves went for $37.50.
241 went to the Guild, 4 leather practice dussak went for $20 each ($80 total)
242 a long Benedictus blade (just the blade, no quillons or pommel) went for $200, which blew my mind. The quillons and pommel turned up later in lot 261 “assorted sword parts” and someone from the Higgins (Jeffrey? Mark?) spoke up and said they belonged with the Benedictus sword. The auctioneer just added them to that sale, without charging any extra for them, which I thought was a cool thing to do.
243 Three blades and sheaths went for $30 each
244 Lot of five fencing foils went for $15 each
245 a long two handed sword went for $275
246, a flail, went for $190. There was a lady across the room bidding hard for this one, which cracked me up. She really wanted it, but I don’t think she won the bidding.
247 Lot of three practice swords (one wood, two foam) went for $35 each.
248 basket hilt sword went for $175
249 Short sword went for $150
250 Lot of five bucklers, went for $25 each
251 Lot of 10 plastic swords (with a golf bag) went for $125 for the lot. These went to a guy from VA who has a Medival Manor type restaurant.
252 Lot of two wooden poleaxes went for $80 each
253 Lot of two wooden halberds went for $60 each
254 Lot of six assorted buckers went for $50 each (to the Guild)
255 Two fantasy daggers went for $50
256 Halberd end $40
257 Lot of 3 really hideous fantasy knives (think K-bars with those ugly rainbow wooden handles) went for $60 each. And OMG this couple who were obviously together were so excited to bid on them that they were bidding against each other. The auctioneer had to tell them to calm down. I was dying. OK, here’s a picture, but you really needed to see them out of the sheathes and see the serrated blades, to appreciate just how truly hideous they really are. I have no idea why the museum would even own junk like this.
258 Lot of four fantasy short swords $60 each
260 Assorted rubber stamps $60
262 Fencing uniform (including helm) $90
263 Sword, belt, shield (some age) $550 after spirited bidding. (I guess being “broken in” raises the price?!?)
264 resin helmet $100
265 Barbutte $150
268 Kettle helm with mail and arming coat $375
269 Copper Corinthian helmet $350
270 Greek cuirass $200
271 Armored breast plate $60
272 Lot of two metal visors, went for $125 each
273 Lot of 2 gorgettes, went for $150 each
274 Suit of armor on stand (stand not included), this one was heavily damaged from letting people bang on it, went for $250
275 Suit of armor on stand (stand not included) $375
276 Suit of armor on stand (stand not included) $1,300
277 Suit of armor on stand (stand not included) Toledo $500
280 leather/metal body armor repro (coat of plates) $225
281 Bassinet helmet $225
282 Bassinet helmet with guards $250
283 Pair of metal gauntlets $325
284 Roman style shield $125'
285 Costumes on box $100
286 Costumes in box, I’d noted when I was talking to Andy that one of the random tubs of costumes had not only 17th century pants and a doublet with period buttons, but a leather buff coat in it! I was bidding on this lot until I realized that I was bidding against Paul Kenworthy, so I stopped bidding. It went for $275, still a bargain, because that was a sweet buff coat. But he’ll get more use out if it than I would.
287 Assorted costumes $30
288 Powder flask, horn, and belt. This was the bandolier with charges and the period powder flask that all our guys were drooling over (nobody wanted the powder horn), but that Andy really wanted (because he has the gun that it goes with). It went for $200 to Andy, and I’m glad he took it home.
289 Morion helmet $175
290 Target shield $125
291 Armor, English style helmet, two breasts $300
292 Reproduction armor with stand, 1470s. This was the ONE sale of the day that really upset me. This armor was made for Andrew Feland. I remember when they ordered it, because that was back when I was hanging out at the Higgy. And before the sale, Andrew stood up and made a nice little speech where he explained, “This is my armor. It was made to my measure, and I’d really like to take it home today.” This was personal for him, and a lot of us backed off on bidding because of that. But not one guy. One guy decided to be an asshole. Andrew started the bidding at $500, and pretty much the only person bidding against him was this one guy. When they got to $1,000 Andrew said that was his top bid and he was out. And I was so pissed at this guy, that I decided to jump in on the bidding. The guy and I went back and forth up to $2,000, and then I was out and a third bidder pushed it up to $2,250 before it sold to the asshole. I was so mad! This was Andrew’s suit. If that guy just wanted display armor, there were four or five other suits he could have bought instead that went for much cheaper. I think he just decided to be an asshole. Grrrr. Between the bidding and my anger, I had such an adrenaline rush after this round of bidding that I was shaking and had to do some deep breathing to calm myself down.
293 Scale armor with helmet in box $225
294 Miniature armor with stand, 1590s $1,200
297 Marble statue base $150
299 Lot of 2 wrought iron candelabra went at $800 each
300 Wrought iron lectern $1,100
MOAR wrought iron, including candlesticks that went for $500 each
Lots and lots of really crap costuming, mostly from Museum Replicas, but some was cheap flammable poly that looked like it was the Ruby’s costume crap you can buy at Halloween. OMGWTFBBQ, someone bought this dress used for $110. It retails for $118 new.
327 lot of four spears $50
328 Long sword, scabbard, and belt $225
239 Sword, fantasy, Greek $87.50
330 Swept hilt rapier $250
331 Battleaxe $100
332 Longsword, German. I think this was the one that Tom wanted to bid on, but Stephen noted that it was damaged and would be an expensive repair. It sold for $475 to someone that I hope only plans to hang on their wall. Else they’re in for an unpleasant surprise.
333 Sword, Persian $225
334 Sword, Japanese Katana and Dagger $225
335 Long sword $450
336 Log of two fantasy swords $250 each
337 was the lot all our guys were interested in. It was an arquebus with a shot bag, but because it was in a big plastic gun case on the floor, I’d missed it on my initial walk through. But Tom had it on his list, and Stephen and Marc had also spotted it. Tom really wanted it, and was willing to go up to $400, but we won the auction at $350 (mostly because the Wolfe Argent contingent was happy to let us have it, since we’d be displaying it and it was more period appropriate for us than them).
340 Lot of two longbows and arrows. $175
341 Shield with lion $225
342 Kite shield $75
343 Lot of two Persian hooks. They looked like what Captain Hook wears in Peter Pan. The auctioneer explained that you wear these on your hands and use them to tear the flesh off your opponent. Then after he sold them to a very enthusiastic bidder for $60 each, he wondered what that said about the bidder? He sort of implied that because we had multiple bidders on this lot that we were a bunch of sick pups. And he might be right.
344 Copper bugle $50
345 Lot of 4 Crescent weapons $50 each
346 Lot of two Chinese pole weapons $100
347 Harpoon $50
348 Lot of five pole weapons $30 each
349 Lot of two lances $80 each. These were the enormous heavy lances that the jousting knights had in their hands in the display up in the Great Hall. Andy said that the fellow who originally lathed them stopped by to look at them during the preview.
350 Gargoyle casting $55
352 Brown & Sharpe Vernier $60
358 Tomb Rubbing (no idea of the size or quality, it was rolled up) $40
369 Chain maile chaps $100
364 A painting of a Knight by White, who turns out was the daughter of John Higgins (Thank you Jeffrey Forgeng for that tidbit of trivia), sold for $200. I would have thought this might have gone with the collection instead of to auction. I though it would have been one of John Woodman Higgin’s treasures. But then again, I’m sentimental like that.
367 was a human skull, mounted for education (that is, with the jaw wired on). Some of the museum staff were pretty upset this was included in the auction, because it’s an actual human remain. I was going to bid on it and give is an honored position in the Guild as a faux saint’s relic, but I was outbid when the bidding went up to $500. Just more than I was willing to pay for her (Andy said she was an asian woman).
And this is where I started to drop off taking notes….
360 Poleaxe $150
389 Sword, short, high quality. $375 (one of the items I had considered bidding on…)
396 Lot of two long swords, went for $175 each
397 was a lot of two flamberge Zweihanders. Tom and Marc were each going to take one. It would have been nice to have more than just Helga in the Guild as examples of a Zweihander, but the overweight dude sitting next to me got all excited and outbid us for it, paying $175 each for them. Which pissed me off, because he apparently only wanted ONE of them and then turned to us and tried to sell me the second one. Dude, if you didn’t want two swords, why didn’t you save yourself the money and just buy one? It would have been cheaper to just order a cheap wallhanger off the Internets for $70! Plus, I was trying to follow the auction while he was trying to whisper to me because the ONE thing I wanted was coming up, so I finally told him to talk to me later (and then I avoided him later, because I am not the cure for your buyer’s remorse buddy!).
After this Stephen and Alena headed out, and Marc and Brittney too. They all needed to eat (two pregnant ladies!), but Alex stayed to keep me company, because there was still a lot of auction still to go. It was only around 2:30, and the auction didn’t end until 4:30.
Lot 407 Wrought iron light pendant $325
Lot 408 was two wrought-iron stained glass sconces. One had the royal arms of England on it (red field, three lions), and the other had a heraldic shield on it that I couldn’t identify.
Lot 409 was two wrought-iron stained glass sconces with Landsknecht.
Amanda had been interested in both sets, and I really wanted the Landsknecht sconces. So I was going to bid on the first lot for Amanda and the second lot for myself. Since I didn’t want to end up bidding on the wrong lot, when I ducked out to go to the bathroom, I’d checked the lot numbers to make sure I was sure which lot was which (they were in the four corners of the front foyer, the Landsknecht were on either side of the Admissions desk). The auctioneer started off bidding, and it was pretty spirited. Since most of the other wrought iron lighting fixtures had gone for the $150 to $375 range, I was a little surprised that bidding went up to $600 dollars each for the first sconces. Then the auctioneer asked the winning bidder, “Do you want the second lot for the same price?” I couldn’t help myself, I blurted out, “NO” really loudly. Because those were my sconces he was about to casually give to someone else! “Or someone else can answer that for you.” He quipped. So we bid separately on the second set of sconces. And bidding went fast and furious. It was me and another woman (who had bought all kinds of stuff, and I just wanted this one thing!) fighting it out. The auctioneer was going so fast, that it really was a bit of a blur. I spent more than I wanted to, but I won. Honestly, my last bid was over the limit I’d set myself, if the other lady had made one more bid, they would have been hers. And like when I’d bid on Andrew’s suit of armor, once again I had a HUGE adrenaline rush and a case of the shakes when we were finished. (I wonder, do people get addicted to auctions like addicted to gambling because of the speed and danger?). Mark Millman turned around and gave me a high five after that auction ended.
445 Helmet ice bucket for $250
After this we had a long run of office equipment and supplies. Coat racks, stacking chairs, display cases, a shredder. They were selling two wheelchairs (no bidders). Safes, fireproof filing cabinets, signs, you name it.
Lot 487, the two throne chairs went for $800 each. Whoa.
Lot 458, the prayer bench, misericordia that Amanda was interested in, went for $475.
Lot 489 throne chair (the rickety one) went for $325.
Lot 446 assorted metalwares went to Alex for $50. I don’t think he even knew what he was buying. He just wanted something from the day, grabbed the number out of my hand, and bid on a lot that nobody else seemed interested in. Then immediately had buyer’s remorse. I know how that goes, I learned those lessons when I was his age too. I think he got some candlesticks and bowls, we’ll see when I go pick them up.
Lot 481, the Higgins Donation box went for $475. I’d thought about trying to pick this up for the Guild, but Stephen was right, it was pretty ugly. And I think it got a price bump from the nostalgia factor.
Lot 464 a small desk that Amanda had been interested in went for $160.
Lot 465 the castle doghouse, sold for $150.
Lot 468 was some assorted metalware, including a big stack of pewter plates that had obviously been through the dishwasher and would need to be refurbished. That went for $70.
478 was a lot of assorted books and publications. Random museum pamphlets. Essentially trash. It sold for $40. Good lord! (Especially considering they had a bin of the exact same stuff in the gift shop during viewing hours that said, “FREE” on it!)
478 was a lot of 50 hand painted lead soldiers that sold for $30 each (so $1,500 total. EEP when you stop to do the math!).
475 was a stamp collection with an arms and armor theme, sold to an antiques dealer from RI (that I’d chatted up in the hallways a couple times during the day) for $350.
480 was a huge oak post and beam archway that they weren’t going to auction except that someone said they should put it in the catalog. It went for $150.
481 Lot of framed prints went for $25 each (no idea how many in the lot, I hope the bidder didn’t spend way more than they expected on this one, those multiple lots were a killer)
482 was a lot of assorted prints and graphics that had a couple in there I wouldn’t have minded owning, but it went for $200. I didn’t love them that much.
483 was a lot of 9 cases of trash can liners. Seriously, they were selling anything that wasn’t nailed down. And some things that were…
484 was a surprise lot. The credenza at the top of the stairs when you walked into the Great Hall had been packaged up and sent to another museum (I think the auctioneer said in Chicago?). Who sent it back. Apparently it wasn’t authentic enough for them? No idea. But it was added to the auction at the last minute. It was really gorgeous, 15th or 16th century, dark wood with four female figures carved on the front like columns. It went for $2,750. Which was a steal. It was enormous though, no idea where you'd put it.
The next spirited auction was lot 489, the iron gates from the entrance to the gift shop. The guy who was bidding on it had given his card to his son, so it was really weird watching a kid (maybe 12 - 14 years old) bidding up to $1,500 for these iron gates. At one point he finally bowed out of the bidding, and then his father took over and jumped back in on the bidding. As we were discussing afterwards, sure, let your kid participate in the auction. But for Christ’s sake, who lets their kid “spend” $1,500 dollars for them?!!? What the hell does that teach your child about the value of money?
Lot 491, a modern (and rather ugly) iron table and four chairs also caused a bidding frenzy and went for $1,200.
494 Adams style (but not actually Adams apparently) antique desk went for $5,000.
495 Adams style table went for $350
496 Adams style demi lune table went for $500
501, the one really gorgeous antique looking piece that everyone knew about in advance, was a Dowry chest with 15th century elements (the entire thing wasn’t 15th century, just unknown parts). That sucker went for $12,000. *fans self* It was gorgeous, but it’s bigger than a coffin, so who has room for that in their house?
After we got to lot 510, everything else was in the basement. We took a short break. Everyone ran to the bathrooms (I left a smidge early and beat the lines, because I’m clever like dat.) The auctioneer got his first breather since the auction started. Poor guy. He was a trouper. He not only kept talking and kept things moving along at a lightning pace, but he cracked jokes and kept us all amused while he did it. But he was losing his voice if he tried to stand up straight, and straining his back if he tried to stoop down and use the microphones. So I’m sure he was beat by the end of the day. But he was unfailingly polite and professional the whole time. And I admire the hell out of the way he handled the crowd.
So, we trouped down to the basement. By this point most of the museum employees, renn faire crowed, frat boys, and general gawkers had left and we were pretty much down to the good old boys in flannel shirts with long hair and long beards looking for a deal on tools, with a couple of yuppy couples hanging on for some reason. And I stopped taking notes, except to keep track of when stuff that Stephen wanted to bid on came up, because I was pretty much exhausted by now.
549 a lot of 4 Milwaukee power tools and case went for $175.
552 a lot of four assorted vintage doors went for $600 a door.
555 B&D stand grider/polisher $100
556 Hobart Welder with tools $150
558 Central machiney drill press $125
559 Delta band saw $75
561 Lathe with bench $200
569 Delta table saw $75
575 Lot with two vices $150. I was bidding on this for Stephen, and misheard the auctioneer. I thought the bidding had gone over my limit, but it hadn’t, so I actually missed out on picking this up for Stephen. Whooops. I blame it on auction fatigue.
And finally we got to the last item I wanted to bid on, almost at the end of the auction, lot 580 (there were 592 lots). The Large Wall Mural Processional. Which is the Triumph of Maximilian.
I thought I’d be the only person bidding on this one, but this random businessman in khakis and a blue blazer was bidding against me. WTF? Bidding was fast and furious, and I guess he finally decided I wanted it more than he did (DAMN RIGHT I DID) and bowed out. I paid $500 for ten panels, which isn’t actually too bad, you’d pay at least that much for a good poster of these prints. Later, because I was curious, I caught up with him in the hallway and asked why the hell he’d been bidding on this. He was the guy who bought all the themed displays from the gift shop (see photo), and he wanted these to decorate his shop.
By this point I’m exhausted. Breakfast was a long time ago, and there’s been quite a bit of excitement (and those two adrenaline rushes) to wear me out. I wait for the crowd to clear the hallway, and snap some photos of my Triumph. Then we head upstairs and I hand in my bidding number and the guys asks, “Are you taxable.” I look at him and say, “I have no idea what that means.” Another thing they hadn’t bothered to explain when I e-mailed and asked what I needed to know about the auction. Apparently some people have tax exempt status? ( Maybe museums, schools and churches? I have no idea…) And they needed to know that when they were totaling up your bill. They asked for the last item number that I’d bid on, and then I knew I’d be there pretty much until the end, because my last item was lot 580. Oh well, time to settle in and get comfortable.
Alex and I stood around talking to folks that I knew (Andy, Paul K) and random other bidders. Finally they called my name. Luckily I’d kept a list of what we’d bought, and Andy had reminded me about the 15% buyers premium and the 6.25% sales tax, so I already knew the total before I went in. Thankfully it was under my credit card limit (which I keep low on purpose so I don’t overspend. Every time my bank tries to raise it I call and tell them to put it back down now please.) I paid my bill and left, totally forgetting to get confirmation on when we can pick things up. I think they said before the auction started that it’s from 9-5. I know the pickup days are Monday and Tuesday. I’m going to have to go back again for the scones, because they’re going to have an electrician in to remove all the lighting fixtures (and that was a $25 extra fee for each light). The building will be especially spooky once all the lights are ripped out.
Stephen called today, we’re going to try to head over first thing Monday morning, because he has conference calls in the afternoon and I have a hair appointment in the evening. I was already planning to work from home on Monday to do some research and make some phone calls to localization vendors (and brought home the laptop) so that works out fine.
TLDR:
It was a really long day. I came home with two wrought-iron, stained-glass sconces with Landsknecht on them, and a huge 10 panel (48 inch x 48 inch) reproduction of the Triumph of Maximilian by Hans Burgkmair. I spent a little bit more than I thought I would, but not so much that it’s going to be painful.
Preview hours on Saturday were from 9:00 to 11:00, with the auction starting at 11:00. I got to the Higgins a little bit before 10:00. And thankfully the parking lot wasn’t too full. I took that as a good sign. As I was walking across the street from the parking lot, some dude with a fancy mustache honked at me, rolled down the window and shook his fist at me shouting “Damned pedestrians!” (Yeah, it was Stephen. *grins*).
While I waited for them to come in, I got in line to get my bidding number. Yep, it was a $200 CASH deposit for that. This is the exact reason why I’d e-mailed them before hand, but the woman hadn’t mentioned anything about the deposit needing to be cash. Good thing I came prepared. Seriously, for a professional auction house, they were incredibly disorganized (at one point towards the end of the day they briefly lost track of an entire sheet of lots, prices paid, and winning bidder numbers).
Stephen and Alena and I checked out the first floor library. While they looked at the furniture, I made notes on which pieces Amanda had wanted to bid on. She’d been interested in one of the fancy carved chairs, but Stephen pointed out it was really rickety, so I figured with a toddler, not a good idea.
Then it was up to the second floor, where Stephen tried out the kid’s horsie with the authentic saddle. I looked at the oak trestle benches again. They were really nice, and really heavy. They looked like they broke down, but they didn’t, which was a shame. I crossed them off my list.
The arms and armor room was so crowded that they wanted you to leave your purse at the door. Um, no, not going to do that. I let Stephen and Alena take a look around while I went back into the Kids Gallery and marked up a new copy of the auction lots with what I wanted, what Tom and Amanda wanted (and what they were willing to bid) and a few other things. I’d made random notes the first time I went through. This time I used different colored pens, etc. (Because I’m a nerd like that!). Since I was the paddle holder, I knew I’d probably end up bidding for everyone, and I needed a way to keep it all straight.
Once they were done scoping out the weapons, we toured the rest of the building. Stephen and Alena noted that some of the electronics were high quality (like the sound mixing board) but not anything that they needed. Down in the basement, Stephen was interested in some of the tools. And we all drooled over some of the big wooden doors with beautiful iron hinges. And I showed them the Triumph of Maximilian, hidden back in a corner hallway. Then we headed out to the parking lot, and I gave Stephen one of the Landskencht posters that I’d picked up on Friday, returned his copy of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and loaned him the season one DVDs of Human Target. Alena texted Marc and Brittney to find out where they were, and of course, they were upstairs looking at the arms and armor. I suggested to Alena that we go grab seats, and it’s a good thing that I did, because we ended up in the back row, over in the corner. As it was, even a half hour before the auction started, we were lucky to find five seats in a row (Alex sat in the row in front of us). People were sitting on the floor and in the aisles. And it was a LONG time to be sitting on the floor. The auction ran five and a half hours.
Before things got started, Stephen and Marc tried to coordinate what they wanted to bid on with what Tom wanted to bid on, so we weren’t bidding against each other (which would have been hard with one bidding number, but you know what I mean….). We had a scratch pad with what lots we were bidding on, who wanted the item the most, and what their upper limit was. While Stephen was there, I let him do the bidding (because he’s tall and visible and knew what their limits were better than I did). Because Alena is due any day now, they didn’t expect to stay all day, so when they left, I got the paddle back and took over the bidding on things. Marc and Brittney left early too, because pregnant lady = baby needs to eat. Alex and I stayed all day and missed lunch. *sad hungry face* It ended up being a very long day, as there was a lot of stuff to sell. The only tricky part was when the item was a lot, and the bidding was the price for each thing multiplied by how many were in the lot, you had to be careful not to accidentally spend too much money (10 chairs at $2 a piece, a bargain at $20 for the lot. 10 chairs going for $25 each meant you spent $250 for the lot…).
Lots of details about the auction. There were almost 600 lots, you may not care… Most of these photos I snagged off the Auction web site because now that the auction is over, I'm expecting them to take them down.
I took VERY random notes on the auction catalog as the day went along. Some of these were notes because I know people were going to want to know what that thing they wanted actually ended up selling for. Some where my own WTFBBQ notes, and some were just because I was bored and needed something to do while I waited for the next item I planned to bid on to come up.
During the auction they had some really piss poor photography of each lot. I’m really glad I took good notes when I walked through the preview, because you really could not tell from the photos what things were. They were basically poorly lit, and in some cases completely dark (or in the case of lighting fixtures, just blobs of light). The person who took the photos on the auction house web page was clearly not the same person who took the photos for the slide show. Which is a pity.
The auction started with four lots of wrought iron sconces and lighting fixtures, then three lots of glass display cases. Then five iron chandeliers, then more sconces, candelabras, and assorted lighting. There were a LOT of lighting fixtures for sale during the day, I didn’t realize how many until they just kept showing photos of the damn things. Then there were several dozen classroom chairs, the stacking kind, in various lots or 10 or 12.
Lot 32 was the glass case with the cardboard standup of William Short in his Viking outfit. According to the auctioneer “There’s a lot of interest in this item.” There were multiple advance bids plus some bids from the room. I can’t remember what it went for (and didn’t write it down), but I think it was somewhere between $350 and $500. They should have put cardboard standups of Bill in all the glass cases, because I think that’s about the only display case they sold all day. And they had a lot of display cases.
Huge costume cases from the Princess Diana exhibit, not sure what the connection is there, did the Higgins ever show any of her clothes? Or were they bought from England? At any rate, nobody wanted them, and they had TONS of these things.
Several lots of folding tables and Banquet tables. Then MOAR wall sconces. Then a random lot that include a long Rubbermaid duster pole “I’m not sure what this is for.” The auctioneer said. “All those sconces!” I quipped. Everybody laughed. *grins*
Lot 55 was our first bid, Stephen bid on a small chest freezer, but it went for more than he wanted to pay.
Lot 72 was the first sale price I noted down for OMGWTF. A large wall poster (jousting themed) went for $275. A poster. I’m guessing they bid up the price for the memorabilia value…
More display cases. Lucite and then glass. Then antique carved stands that were the bases for the suits of armor. There was a small one that I wanted because it had a sort of a green man face carved on it. Then when they did the bidding, the auctioneer bid on the first one (way too expensive for my taste) then instead of doing separate bidding for the others, sold the rest of them at the same price. “Who wants another at [OMG price]? That one I was interested in was much smaller than the others, and decorated, so I was disappointed that he didn’t bid them separately. So I ended up not bidding on that one at all
Lot 111, The glass case/diorama with all the little lead soldiers went for $1,300 (I think Jeffrey Forgeng bought that).
Lot 112, The Renaissance saddle with horse went for $500. That sucker weighed a ton, but the saddle was worth at least that much a couple of grand according to a comment from Andy over on Facebook. BARGAIN!.
116 - 2 church pews went for $125
117 - A single dark wood bench went for $175
118 - A lot of six six foot long oak benches went for $100 each.
119 - And then the lot of four four foot benches went for even more ($200 each) even though they were shorter! And none of the benches broke down, even though they were made to look like they came apart.
An empty Dell server rack went for $175, which is a steal.
By noon we were only through 130 lots. At that pace, I figured we’d be there until 5:00 or 6:00. Which meant no lunch for me! (*sobs quietly that I didn’t eat a big enough breakfast*)
Whee, a whole bunch of furniture, tables, storage cabinets, shelves. Half of which had no interest (where were the used office supply resellers?).
I bought lot 139, a small rolling lecturn, for $30. I have a ginormous dictionary that needs a nice display/home.
Then we got to the contents of the kids gallery. I honestly didn’t think they’d sell this stuff. But the jousting horse, the archery display, the “try on a chain maile shirt” rack, even the large half a horse (that you can’t even sit on) all found buyers. The half a horse? Went for $110 (and the buyer has to dismantle it from the wall himself!).
Then we got into some office supplies. Printers, copiers. A fridge went for $25. A microwave went for $10. Stephen bought a Nikon camera for $40.
There was a lot of two dustpans and brooms. Really, they were selling off everything! There was a lot of random power strips and cords. (just what I need, more junk for the junk drawer! NOT). A bunch of monitors. More random electronics. I went to the bathroom and missed a dozen lots. The auctioneer was cruising along. That man didn’t waste any time (thank god, it was a long enough day as it was). A boombox. A lot of assorted calculators. Some old/crap computers. A bunch of slightly newer (Windows 7) computers. Scanners. A couple more lots of folding tables. A jousting poster went for $25. Four lots of maple bookcases. Those were nice, heavy though.
Another fridge for $25. A wall clock for $5. Another wall clock (think the ordinary plastic ones you see in every school and conference room). But this one had a Higgins sticker on it, so it went for way more than $5 (I didn’t write down what it went for, but I remember the bidding war and being puzzled that people were willing to pay that much for a cheap wall clock with a sticker on it!).
It’s 12:30 or so by now, and after an hour and a half, we finally get to what everyone has been waiting for, the reproduction weapons! Whoo! (and there was much rejoicing!). And this is when I started taking more notes, because these were the things people probably cared about prices on.
First lot (231 - 238), eight Italian parrying daggers. Bidding went to $140 each. The first bidder took four, and then the others went (at the same price) to four other people.
238 two wooden dussak went for $60 each.
240 Pair of leather gloves went for $37.50.
241 went to the Guild, 4 leather practice dussak went for $20 each ($80 total)
242 a long Benedictus blade (just the blade, no quillons or pommel) went for $200, which blew my mind. The quillons and pommel turned up later in lot 261 “assorted sword parts” and someone from the Higgins (Jeffrey? Mark?) spoke up and said they belonged with the Benedictus sword. The auctioneer just added them to that sale, without charging any extra for them, which I thought was a cool thing to do.
243 Three blades and sheaths went for $30 each
244 Lot of five fencing foils went for $15 each
245 a long two handed sword went for $275
246, a flail, went for $190. There was a lady across the room bidding hard for this one, which cracked me up. She really wanted it, but I don’t think she won the bidding.
247 Lot of three practice swords (one wood, two foam) went for $35 each.
248 basket hilt sword went for $175
249 Short sword went for $150
250 Lot of five bucklers, went for $25 each
251 Lot of 10 plastic swords (with a golf bag) went for $125 for the lot. These went to a guy from VA who has a Medival Manor type restaurant.
252 Lot of two wooden poleaxes went for $80 each
253 Lot of two wooden halberds went for $60 each
254 Lot of six assorted buckers went for $50 each (to the Guild)
255 Two fantasy daggers went for $50
256 Halberd end $40
257 Lot of 3 really hideous fantasy knives (think K-bars with those ugly rainbow wooden handles) went for $60 each. And OMG this couple who were obviously together were so excited to bid on them that they were bidding against each other. The auctioneer had to tell them to calm down. I was dying. OK, here’s a picture, but you really needed to see them out of the sheathes and see the serrated blades, to appreciate just how truly hideous they really are. I have no idea why the museum would even own junk like this.
258 Lot of four fantasy short swords $60 each
260 Assorted rubber stamps $60
262 Fencing uniform (including helm) $90
263 Sword, belt, shield (some age) $550 after spirited bidding. (I guess being “broken in” raises the price?!?)
264 resin helmet $100
265 Barbutte $150
268 Kettle helm with mail and arming coat $375
269 Copper Corinthian helmet $350
270 Greek cuirass $200
271 Armored breast plate $60
272 Lot of two metal visors, went for $125 each
273 Lot of 2 gorgettes, went for $150 each
274 Suit of armor on stand (stand not included), this one was heavily damaged from letting people bang on it, went for $250
275 Suit of armor on stand (stand not included) $375
276 Suit of armor on stand (stand not included) $1,300
277 Suit of armor on stand (stand not included) Toledo $500
280 leather/metal body armor repro (coat of plates) $225
281 Bassinet helmet $225
282 Bassinet helmet with guards $250
283 Pair of metal gauntlets $325
284 Roman style shield $125'
285 Costumes on box $100
286 Costumes in box, I’d noted when I was talking to Andy that one of the random tubs of costumes had not only 17th century pants and a doublet with period buttons, but a leather buff coat in it! I was bidding on this lot until I realized that I was bidding against Paul Kenworthy, so I stopped bidding. It went for $275, still a bargain, because that was a sweet buff coat. But he’ll get more use out if it than I would.
287 Assorted costumes $30
288 Powder flask, horn, and belt. This was the bandolier with charges and the period powder flask that all our guys were drooling over (nobody wanted the powder horn), but that Andy really wanted (because he has the gun that it goes with). It went for $200 to Andy, and I’m glad he took it home.
289 Morion helmet $175
290 Target shield $125
291 Armor, English style helmet, two breasts $300
292 Reproduction armor with stand, 1470s. This was the ONE sale of the day that really upset me. This armor was made for Andrew Feland. I remember when they ordered it, because that was back when I was hanging out at the Higgy. And before the sale, Andrew stood up and made a nice little speech where he explained, “This is my armor. It was made to my measure, and I’d really like to take it home today.” This was personal for him, and a lot of us backed off on bidding because of that. But not one guy. One guy decided to be an asshole. Andrew started the bidding at $500, and pretty much the only person bidding against him was this one guy. When they got to $1,000 Andrew said that was his top bid and he was out. And I was so pissed at this guy, that I decided to jump in on the bidding. The guy and I went back and forth up to $2,000, and then I was out and a third bidder pushed it up to $2,250 before it sold to the asshole. I was so mad! This was Andrew’s suit. If that guy just wanted display armor, there were four or five other suits he could have bought instead that went for much cheaper. I think he just decided to be an asshole. Grrrr. Between the bidding and my anger, I had such an adrenaline rush after this round of bidding that I was shaking and had to do some deep breathing to calm myself down.
293 Scale armor with helmet in box $225
294 Miniature armor with stand, 1590s $1,200
297 Marble statue base $150
299 Lot of 2 wrought iron candelabra went at $800 each
300 Wrought iron lectern $1,100
MOAR wrought iron, including candlesticks that went for $500 each
Lots and lots of really crap costuming, mostly from Museum Replicas, but some was cheap flammable poly that looked like it was the Ruby’s costume crap you can buy at Halloween. OMGWTFBBQ, someone bought this dress used for $110. It retails for $118 new.
327 lot of four spears $50
328 Long sword, scabbard, and belt $225
239 Sword, fantasy, Greek $87.50
330 Swept hilt rapier $250
331 Battleaxe $100
332 Longsword, German. I think this was the one that Tom wanted to bid on, but Stephen noted that it was damaged and would be an expensive repair. It sold for $475 to someone that I hope only plans to hang on their wall. Else they’re in for an unpleasant surprise.
333 Sword, Persian $225
334 Sword, Japanese Katana and Dagger $225
335 Long sword $450
336 Log of two fantasy swords $250 each
337 was the lot all our guys were interested in. It was an arquebus with a shot bag, but because it was in a big plastic gun case on the floor, I’d missed it on my initial walk through. But Tom had it on his list, and Stephen and Marc had also spotted it. Tom really wanted it, and was willing to go up to $400, but we won the auction at $350 (mostly because the Wolfe Argent contingent was happy to let us have it, since we’d be displaying it and it was more period appropriate for us than them).
340 Lot of two longbows and arrows. $175
341 Shield with lion $225
342 Kite shield $75
343 Lot of two Persian hooks. They looked like what Captain Hook wears in Peter Pan. The auctioneer explained that you wear these on your hands and use them to tear the flesh off your opponent. Then after he sold them to a very enthusiastic bidder for $60 each, he wondered what that said about the bidder? He sort of implied that because we had multiple bidders on this lot that we were a bunch of sick pups. And he might be right.
344 Copper bugle $50
345 Lot of 4 Crescent weapons $50 each
346 Lot of two Chinese pole weapons $100
347 Harpoon $50
348 Lot of five pole weapons $30 each
349 Lot of two lances $80 each. These were the enormous heavy lances that the jousting knights had in their hands in the display up in the Great Hall. Andy said that the fellow who originally lathed them stopped by to look at them during the preview.
350 Gargoyle casting $55
352 Brown & Sharpe Vernier $60
358 Tomb Rubbing (no idea of the size or quality, it was rolled up) $40
369 Chain maile chaps $100
364 A painting of a Knight by White, who turns out was the daughter of John Higgins (Thank you Jeffrey Forgeng for that tidbit of trivia), sold for $200. I would have thought this might have gone with the collection instead of to auction. I though it would have been one of John Woodman Higgin’s treasures. But then again, I’m sentimental like that.
367 was a human skull, mounted for education (that is, with the jaw wired on). Some of the museum staff were pretty upset this was included in the auction, because it’s an actual human remain. I was going to bid on it and give is an honored position in the Guild as a faux saint’s relic, but I was outbid when the bidding went up to $500. Just more than I was willing to pay for her (Andy said she was an asian woman).
And this is where I started to drop off taking notes….
360 Poleaxe $150
389 Sword, short, high quality. $375 (one of the items I had considered bidding on…)
396 Lot of two long swords, went for $175 each
397 was a lot of two flamberge Zweihanders. Tom and Marc were each going to take one. It would have been nice to have more than just Helga in the Guild as examples of a Zweihander, but the overweight dude sitting next to me got all excited and outbid us for it, paying $175 each for them. Which pissed me off, because he apparently only wanted ONE of them and then turned to us and tried to sell me the second one. Dude, if you didn’t want two swords, why didn’t you save yourself the money and just buy one? It would have been cheaper to just order a cheap wallhanger off the Internets for $70! Plus, I was trying to follow the auction while he was trying to whisper to me because the ONE thing I wanted was coming up, so I finally told him to talk to me later (and then I avoided him later, because I am not the cure for your buyer’s remorse buddy!).
After this Stephen and Alena headed out, and Marc and Brittney too. They all needed to eat (two pregnant ladies!), but Alex stayed to keep me company, because there was still a lot of auction still to go. It was only around 2:30, and the auction didn’t end until 4:30.
Lot 407 Wrought iron light pendant $325
Lot 408 was two wrought-iron stained glass sconces. One had the royal arms of England on it (red field, three lions), and the other had a heraldic shield on it that I couldn’t identify.
Lot 409 was two wrought-iron stained glass sconces with Landsknecht.
Amanda had been interested in both sets, and I really wanted the Landsknecht sconces. So I was going to bid on the first lot for Amanda and the second lot for myself. Since I didn’t want to end up bidding on the wrong lot, when I ducked out to go to the bathroom, I’d checked the lot numbers to make sure I was sure which lot was which (they were in the four corners of the front foyer, the Landsknecht were on either side of the Admissions desk). The auctioneer started off bidding, and it was pretty spirited. Since most of the other wrought iron lighting fixtures had gone for the $150 to $375 range, I was a little surprised that bidding went up to $600 dollars each for the first sconces. Then the auctioneer asked the winning bidder, “Do you want the second lot for the same price?” I couldn’t help myself, I blurted out, “NO” really loudly. Because those were my sconces he was about to casually give to someone else! “Or someone else can answer that for you.” He quipped. So we bid separately on the second set of sconces. And bidding went fast and furious. It was me and another woman (who had bought all kinds of stuff, and I just wanted this one thing!) fighting it out. The auctioneer was going so fast, that it really was a bit of a blur. I spent more than I wanted to, but I won. Honestly, my last bid was over the limit I’d set myself, if the other lady had made one more bid, they would have been hers. And like when I’d bid on Andrew’s suit of armor, once again I had a HUGE adrenaline rush and a case of the shakes when we were finished. (I wonder, do people get addicted to auctions like addicted to gambling because of the speed and danger?). Mark Millman turned around and gave me a high five after that auction ended.
445 Helmet ice bucket for $250
After this we had a long run of office equipment and supplies. Coat racks, stacking chairs, display cases, a shredder. They were selling two wheelchairs (no bidders). Safes, fireproof filing cabinets, signs, you name it.
Lot 487, the two throne chairs went for $800 each. Whoa.
Lot 458, the prayer bench, misericordia that Amanda was interested in, went for $475.
Lot 489 throne chair (the rickety one) went for $325.
Lot 446 assorted metalwares went to Alex for $50. I don’t think he even knew what he was buying. He just wanted something from the day, grabbed the number out of my hand, and bid on a lot that nobody else seemed interested in. Then immediately had buyer’s remorse. I know how that goes, I learned those lessons when I was his age too. I think he got some candlesticks and bowls, we’ll see when I go pick them up.
Lot 481, the Higgins Donation box went for $475. I’d thought about trying to pick this up for the Guild, but Stephen was right, it was pretty ugly. And I think it got a price bump from the nostalgia factor.
Lot 464 a small desk that Amanda had been interested in went for $160.
Lot 465 the castle doghouse, sold for $150.
Lot 468 was some assorted metalware, including a big stack of pewter plates that had obviously been through the dishwasher and would need to be refurbished. That went for $70.
478 was a lot of assorted books and publications. Random museum pamphlets. Essentially trash. It sold for $40. Good lord! (Especially considering they had a bin of the exact same stuff in the gift shop during viewing hours that said, “FREE” on it!)
478 was a lot of 50 hand painted lead soldiers that sold for $30 each (so $1,500 total. EEP when you stop to do the math!).
475 was a stamp collection with an arms and armor theme, sold to an antiques dealer from RI (that I’d chatted up in the hallways a couple times during the day) for $350.
480 was a huge oak post and beam archway that they weren’t going to auction except that someone said they should put it in the catalog. It went for $150.
481 Lot of framed prints went for $25 each (no idea how many in the lot, I hope the bidder didn’t spend way more than they expected on this one, those multiple lots were a killer)
482 was a lot of assorted prints and graphics that had a couple in there I wouldn’t have minded owning, but it went for $200. I didn’t love them that much.
483 was a lot of 9 cases of trash can liners. Seriously, they were selling anything that wasn’t nailed down. And some things that were…
484 was a surprise lot. The credenza at the top of the stairs when you walked into the Great Hall had been packaged up and sent to another museum (I think the auctioneer said in Chicago?). Who sent it back. Apparently it wasn’t authentic enough for them? No idea. But it was added to the auction at the last minute. It was really gorgeous, 15th or 16th century, dark wood with four female figures carved on the front like columns. It went for $2,750. Which was a steal. It was enormous though, no idea where you'd put it.
The next spirited auction was lot 489, the iron gates from the entrance to the gift shop. The guy who was bidding on it had given his card to his son, so it was really weird watching a kid (maybe 12 - 14 years old) bidding up to $1,500 for these iron gates. At one point he finally bowed out of the bidding, and then his father took over and jumped back in on the bidding. As we were discussing afterwards, sure, let your kid participate in the auction. But for Christ’s sake, who lets their kid “spend” $1,500 dollars for them?!!? What the hell does that teach your child about the value of money?
Lot 491, a modern (and rather ugly) iron table and four chairs also caused a bidding frenzy and went for $1,200.
494 Adams style (but not actually Adams apparently) antique desk went for $5,000.
495 Adams style table went for $350
496 Adams style demi lune table went for $500
501, the one really gorgeous antique looking piece that everyone knew about in advance, was a Dowry chest with 15th century elements (the entire thing wasn’t 15th century, just unknown parts). That sucker went for $12,000. *fans self* It was gorgeous, but it’s bigger than a coffin, so who has room for that in their house?
After we got to lot 510, everything else was in the basement. We took a short break. Everyone ran to the bathrooms (I left a smidge early and beat the lines, because I’m clever like dat.) The auctioneer got his first breather since the auction started. Poor guy. He was a trouper. He not only kept talking and kept things moving along at a lightning pace, but he cracked jokes and kept us all amused while he did it. But he was losing his voice if he tried to stand up straight, and straining his back if he tried to stoop down and use the microphones. So I’m sure he was beat by the end of the day. But he was unfailingly polite and professional the whole time. And I admire the hell out of the way he handled the crowd.
So, we trouped down to the basement. By this point most of the museum employees, renn faire crowed, frat boys, and general gawkers had left and we were pretty much down to the good old boys in flannel shirts with long hair and long beards looking for a deal on tools, with a couple of yuppy couples hanging on for some reason. And I stopped taking notes, except to keep track of when stuff that Stephen wanted to bid on came up, because I was pretty much exhausted by now.
549 a lot of 4 Milwaukee power tools and case went for $175.
552 a lot of four assorted vintage doors went for $600 a door.
555 B&D stand grider/polisher $100
556 Hobart Welder with tools $150
558 Central machiney drill press $125
559 Delta band saw $75
561 Lathe with bench $200
569 Delta table saw $75
575 Lot with two vices $150. I was bidding on this for Stephen, and misheard the auctioneer. I thought the bidding had gone over my limit, but it hadn’t, so I actually missed out on picking this up for Stephen. Whooops. I blame it on auction fatigue.
And finally we got to the last item I wanted to bid on, almost at the end of the auction, lot 580 (there were 592 lots). The Large Wall Mural Processional. Which is the Triumph of Maximilian.
I thought I’d be the only person bidding on this one, but this random businessman in khakis and a blue blazer was bidding against me. WTF? Bidding was fast and furious, and I guess he finally decided I wanted it more than he did (DAMN RIGHT I DID) and bowed out. I paid $500 for ten panels, which isn’t actually too bad, you’d pay at least that much for a good poster of these prints. Later, because I was curious, I caught up with him in the hallway and asked why the hell he’d been bidding on this. He was the guy who bought all the themed displays from the gift shop (see photo), and he wanted these to decorate his shop.
By this point I’m exhausted. Breakfast was a long time ago, and there’s been quite a bit of excitement (and those two adrenaline rushes) to wear me out. I wait for the crowd to clear the hallway, and snap some photos of my Triumph. Then we head upstairs and I hand in my bidding number and the guys asks, “Are you taxable.” I look at him and say, “I have no idea what that means.” Another thing they hadn’t bothered to explain when I e-mailed and asked what I needed to know about the auction. Apparently some people have tax exempt status? ( Maybe museums, schools and churches? I have no idea…) And they needed to know that when they were totaling up your bill. They asked for the last item number that I’d bid on, and then I knew I’d be there pretty much until the end, because my last item was lot 580. Oh well, time to settle in and get comfortable.
Alex and I stood around talking to folks that I knew (Andy, Paul K) and random other bidders. Finally they called my name. Luckily I’d kept a list of what we’d bought, and Andy had reminded me about the 15% buyers premium and the 6.25% sales tax, so I already knew the total before I went in. Thankfully it was under my credit card limit (which I keep low on purpose so I don’t overspend. Every time my bank tries to raise it I call and tell them to put it back down now please.) I paid my bill and left, totally forgetting to get confirmation on when we can pick things up. I think they said before the auction started that it’s from 9-5. I know the pickup days are Monday and Tuesday. I’m going to have to go back again for the scones, because they’re going to have an electrician in to remove all the lighting fixtures (and that was a $25 extra fee for each light). The building will be especially spooky once all the lights are ripped out.
Stephen called today, we’re going to try to head over first thing Monday morning, because he has conference calls in the afternoon and I have a hair appointment in the evening. I was already planning to work from home on Monday to do some research and make some phone calls to localization vendors (and brought home the laptop) so that works out fine.
TLDR:
It was a really long day. I came home with two wrought-iron, stained-glass sconces with Landsknecht on them, and a huge 10 panel (48 inch x 48 inch) reproduction of the Triumph of Maximilian by Hans Burgkmair. I spent a little bit more than I thought I would, but not so much that it’s going to be painful.