Wednesday, May 26, 2010

House Clearing


After many years of working in old houses, living in an old house, finding value in what people throw away, and a strong desire to get rid of some stuff from the house, I loaded up the truck with as much antique furniture as it would hold. This is actually all the stuff left over from the past weekends yard sale. People jumped all over the little crap we were selling , but no one bought a single item of furniture. Instead of taking it to Goodwill and taking the tax deduction, we took it to an auction.


After dinner last night I drove down to the Eastern Shore and got into the que for the twenty dollar field at Crumpton. The auction is actually called Dixon's Auctions, but it is called the Crumpton Auction by everyone that goes there. You line the stuff up and the opening for an item is $20. If no one bids, they slide an item over, and another, and another until they get a $20 bid.



This is my lot. It starts at the milk crock and ends at the Duncan Phife sofa.


The auctioneer goes down the rows and it all sells. Often for less than you expect, but sometimes for more than you would have ever thought.


There is many acres of items. This is the ten dollar field. Minimum bid taking the item, items, or lot offered will pay at least ten dollars.


At this auction you never know what you might find. I kept hoping to find something I wanted to buy, but nothing showed up. Instead, I just walked around and took hundreds of photos. Here are a few of my more favorite ones from the crop...




















About midday I headed for home. A nice, but not huge roll of bills in my pocket. The Chesapeake Bay was looking so beautiful from the bridge. This weekend I will be doing a charter fishing trip on the Bay. Hopefully we catch a cooler full of Rock (stripped bass to all you outside of Maryland).

6 comments:

nmbosa said...

Cool post Frank. You are a pretty talented photographer.

rg coleman said...

Fun pictures, interesting story!

Frank Yensan said...

Thank you for the compliments, but I am trying hard to be 1/4 as good as Chris Vile aka Aluminumidler

Aluminium Idler said...

Frank... you're my star pupil. Great photos, there's nothing more I can teach you; your eye is honed beautifully. Though I'd probably keep that Barbie Doll fantasy to yourself !

Chris

Sugarfoot said...

Totally fascinating. I could kick around all day at an auction like that.

Anonymous said...

Greetings from Switzerland!
cruiser54