A Small Sale….

but lots of fun!

Thanks to all who attended our Saturday June 16 auction. This auction was unusual for us.  It was an estate from Scarborough, and was mainly household items and used furniture with some antique pieces as well. Our sales are usually mostly antiques, and usually 25-30 different consignors, rather than one full estate. This sale drew about 1/2 the number of people we usually get, and the total dollar sales about 1/4 of our average antique consignment…and it was a success! Now you might be saying, with half the bidders and 1/4 the dollar value, how could you say the sale was a success? The truth is, the objective of this sale was to sell everything regardless of price, cover the expenses of the auction, and not have anything left over to dispose of after the sale. The family pays the expenses on a sale like this, and I work on a commission. Obviously they want the sales to cover the expenses, empty the contents of the house and then move on. I had a sales total in mind I thought would make the family happy, and compensate me adequately…and the sale went 30% above that figure.  Everyone was happy! The family had spent months cleaning out the house, organizing the remaining contents, and it just gets to the point where everything has to go.  That becomes the only objective. We were selling things for $1…which I usually do not do, and big lots for a couple of dollars…and even a sofa for one dollar! I just wanted to help the family dispose of the contents, and have fun doing it. We certainly succeeded in doing that! The crowd started out small, as I predicted, and then built up by 11:00, and much of the crowd stayed with us throughout the afternoon. Lots of good deals on practical household items, and even though the prices on the antique items seemed low compared to our usual antique auctions, overall it all averaged out. I have no intentions of building my business doing general household auctions. We do very well with our monthly antique auctions, and that is my livelihood. However, this past sale was something different for us, and myself, staff and those attending, all had a pretty good time! But now we move on to our large antique auction on Saturday June 23, and the only dollar bills will be the ones spent at the food booth!