Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Auction Day

This past week we spent a day at a farm auction.

This one was kind of unique, one of those once-in-a-lifetime chances, as the family selling out were old order Amish farmers. They planned to move back east somewhere (Iowa or Ohio, etc.)

I realized, while walking around their place, that this auction would be much like one if we were to ever (God forbid!) sell out. Generations and years of accumulated stuff, from antiques to knick-knacks to junk, stuff buried out in the trees, rusty machinery, etc. It was grand.

We picked up a few small items at the sale. The place was absolutely PACKED with people - hundreds of people tromping down this poor family's place -- until it was a hog-wallow muddy mess. Steven wanted some special items-- a hand-crank seed sorter and an old cast iron forge with hand-cranked bellows. But both items went too high -- to the out of state antique dealers who were there and drove up prices on everything.

I tried to stay back in this photo and not get any of the Amish in it,
since they prefer to not have their photo taken.
Doesn't really show just how many hundreds of people were there.
It was like a Carhartt coverall convention!


Steven (left) and Mickey (a neighbor and friend) look over the old forge
and some of the other equipment offered. The wagon there in
the background went for about $4000.


We were there from 8:30 am to after 5 pm -- finally had to get back home to get firewood cut for the forecasted storm. And they weren't done yet!

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