Remembering One Particular Auction….

the one that never happened!

This upcoming Sept 24 auction, marks an anniversary of sorts for me.  It was one year ago this upcoming weekend that we thought we were going to do our first sale in Pottageville. The key phrase here is “I thought we were going to do a sale”. For those of you unfamiliar with what happened, let me enlighten. I had a huge sale planned for our debut in the Pottageville hall.  Some of the nicest, and biggest pieces of furniture we have ever had, and a great selection of quality smaller items. I had two cube vans full of furniture, plus everything that was dropped off during the two days it took to set up the sale. I was feeling very good about the new location. Friday night at 5:00 pm the sale was almost completely set up.  I sent the entire crew home, and Mom and I were putting the finishing touches on the  Saturday. auction. A very nice young lady showed up from King Township, but she unfortunately was there to drop a bombshell on us. There had been some “miscommunication” concerning the booking of the hall. We had the hall booked until 12:00 am Saturday.  So I thought, what’s the problem?  Well 12:00 am Saturday is when the booking ended…that means just after midnight Friday night. We did not have the hall booked for Saturday, and it had been booked for another event. We were told there was no way around it, we would have to have everything removed from the hall Friday night. Now there is just Mom and I sitting in a hall crammed full with over 100 pieces of furniture and over 400 other assorted items…and now we were going to have to empty the hall? We were both stunned and thought this was going to be impossible.  It took two full days just to transport and set up everything and now we had just hours to move it out? We didn’t have any choice, so I called back my outstanding crew, and fortunately everyone was available.  I called some of the consignors, and my brother Brian as well, and we just started tearing it all down and hauling. Some went back to consignors, some got piled up in Mom’s garage, and the remainder went back to my storage.  At 4:00 am Charlie and I dropped off the last items at my storage. We did get it done.  What seemed impossible was accomplished. This was a nightmare scenario and I had never heard of any auctioneer going through this.  Sure, sales do get cancelled due to snowstorms etc, but at least you would have a day or so to remove the items.  We had only hours. I still shudder when I think of it. However, two weeks later the auction did go on, and it was a success. Every auction thereafter in Pottageville has been good for us, and I look forward to many more years there!  It was one of the best moves I have made….but it got off to a very rocky start! So once again I have to thank my outstanding staff and family and friends.  Mom, Dave and Carol Beasley, Don Garner and his wife Audrey, Charles McAteer, Raymond and Cecile Bates, my brother Brian, sister Kris and brother-in-law Gerry, and some consignors who showed up to take their items back until the next sale. When I needed the help, everyone came through for me. It is one auction I will never forget! Rob IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS ABOUT THIS OR ANY OTHER ARTICLE, FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME AT rob@robsageauctions.com  ALWAYS NICE TO HEAR FROM YOU!