Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's Off to the Auction I Go

One of my new obsessions is the Thursday night sale at the local auction house. I've only recently worked up the nerve to go to the auction; the idea of it always kind of intimidated me. What if I coughed and inadvertently bid on a big nasty jar of goo? What if I got carried away and paid an outrageous sum for an old set of JFK's golf clubs? Very intimidating.

But it really isn't. The auctioneers are entertaining, the event lasts between 60 and 90 minutes (depending on how entertaining the auctioneers feel like being), and I can be home in time to view Survivor! with Nicholas (another obsession). Now, it's a little less fun when you have to drag an uninterested five-year old princess with you, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do--so I stuffed my purse with Nintendo games and Kit Kat bars, and away we went!

Here is a shot of my stuff. Not a huge haul, but not bad for an hour. Most items are headed to the soon-to-be-announced Etsy shop.

This huge (heavy!) Victorian framed mirror was ridiculously cheap! Maybe I should start thinking of having a shop for some of these too-tough-to-ship items. I'm pretty sure it will be painted shabby-chic white at some point. And the mirror part is already distressed!

Detail of the mirror. Ignore both the grime and Leo admiring his reflection.

Cool "Old Maid" card game in pretty good condition (most of the cards are not even separated) except for the spot on the front of the box where the auction house put the identification sticker. What? Seriously? Did they not realize that the sticker adhesive would damage the lid and devalue the piece? THE AUCTION HOUSE? I might have to have a word.

Box of cookie cutters. Box is beat-up, but cutters are fine.

Nice old glass compote which I would like to see displaying my vintage Shiny-Brite Christmas ornaments. I like its graceful shape. Right now it's holding the collection of buttons I also won. I didn't take a close-up photo of the old bottle-with-stopper next to it that you can see in the main photo.

More buttons that were in the same lot still on their original cards.

Hand-painted woman's photo. About 12x18 inches in size. I like her shoes.

I'm having buyer's remorse over the HUGE stack of paper ephemera I stopped bidding on. Old almanac pages and more. It was quite a pile. Dreamed about them all night. Sigh. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.

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Just wanted to let you know about a special giveaway that's going on at 52 Flea. Laura is celebrating her one-year anniversary with a bunch of cool prizes. All you have to do is leave a comment on her blog before Monday, February 22 and you're entered! I think it's fabulous that she has only been blogging for a year and is featured in the current issue of Somerset magazine. Congratulations, Laura!

There are all kinds of giveaways, prizes and swaps out here in this vintage blogland. Most of you know about them, but for those friends out there who are new to this I will post what I find. Spread the blog love!

Comments

[gabrielle]

Wow, really great finds!

[Tamarah Charter]

Hello Gina ** insert frantic waving here ** ...!!

I've been away & have just popped in to catch up....!!! Loving your auction haul.....Now HURRY UP & get that Etsy shop up & going....I need to lighten you of some of that 'loot'... :o) !!!

And (bad grammer I KNOW) I'm way ENVIOUS of all that chippiness you've got going on in your bedroom....YUMMO....!

Cheers for now from Oz,
Tamarah :o)

[barbara]

Hi, Gina - so glad you left a comment so I could find your blog. I'd have bought everything you did (and my cat would have looked identical to yours posing by the mirror!) Looking forward to reading your earlier posts.

[Suzanne Cooke]

You have the bug!!! I love going and picking at the auctions. The regrets are the worst. I have issues with some long ago auction regrets. There's always those should have bid!!! Have fun!!